Continued and On-Time Participation in a Weekly Online Survey

Jennifer S. Barber, University of Michigan
Heather Gatny, University of Michigan

This paper describes a new and innovative approach to measuring relationships, contraception and unintended pregnancy among young women. The project begins with a 60-minute in-person interview about family background and current relationship characteristics. At the conclusion of the interview, respondents are enrolled in an ongoing journal, which consists of a 5-minute survey via phone or web occurring weekly for 2.5 years. We have so far enrolled over 700 young women in the study and have experienced excellent baseline response rates and journal participation. The current paper describes the study, its design strengths and weaknesses and analyzes the factors associated with attrition and on-time participation.