2016
DOI: 10.17813/1086/671x-21-1-83
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Response Problems in the Protest Survey Design: Evidence from Fifty-One Protest Events in Seven Countries*

Abstract: Protest surveys are increasingly used to tackle questions related to participation in social movements. However, it is unclear whether they generate useful and valid data. This study puts the protest survey design to the test by relying on data of 51 demonstrations (2009–2011) in seven European countries. We use data on 15,000 protest participants combined with screener questionnaires and extensive debriefing records of the interviewer teams. We account for noncontact (fieldwork problems), immediate and delaye… Show more

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Cited by 63 publications
(58 citation statements)
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“…Ninety-one people refused to participate in the study, representing a refusal rate of 16.3%. It is worth noting that our refusal rates are consistent with other studies that use this methodology and are substantially lower than those studies that rely on mailed back questionnaires, which can suffer from delayed refusal bias (for a full discussion of this methodology, see Walgrave et al 2016, see also Walgrave and Verhulst 2011). Table 1 presents the reported attendance, the number of survey participants, and the refusal rates for each of the protests.…”
Section: Methodssupporting
confidence: 85%
“…Ninety-one people refused to participate in the study, representing a refusal rate of 16.3%. It is worth noting that our refusal rates are consistent with other studies that use this methodology and are substantially lower than those studies that rely on mailed back questionnaires, which can suffer from delayed refusal bias (for a full discussion of this methodology, see Walgrave et al 2016, see also Walgrave and Verhulst 2011). Table 1 presents the reported attendance, the number of survey participants, and the refusal rates for each of the protests.…”
Section: Methodssupporting
confidence: 85%
“…Only 2.6% of mail-back respondents were complete novices, compared to 5.5% of interviewees. 7 These differences are consistent with other protest surveys (Walgrave, Wouters, & Ketelaars, 2016) and express the need for slight caution in the interpretation of the results. Women are slightly over-represented, even though they remain in fewer numbers to men at most demonstrations that were surveyed.…”
Section: The Protest Survey Datasupporting
confidence: 78%
“…Unfortunately, rather low response rates are common for protest surveys. Reviewing the method, Walgrave, Wouters, and Ketelaars () report an average response rate of 32% for protest surveys across 51 demonstrations. Nevertheless, response biases in protest surveys are generally small and problems are most likely to occur when researchers compare demonstrations across issues (in this study, all events were aimed at austerity measures).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%