Nonresponse Bias in Sample Surveys

Nonresponse is an increasing problem in sample surveys and student surveys are no exception. When nonrespondents differ from respondents in meaningful ways, respondents may not be representative of the population. Hence, analyses of survey data may be biased and not generalizable to the population. In this chapter we provide an overview of nonresponse bias and discuss how to assess the potential for bias in survey results and steps that can be taken to address bias during and after data collection. An example bias analysis is provided.