Contact Modes and Participation in App-Based Smartphone Surveys: Evidence From a Large-Scale Experiment

Smartphone apps are increasingly being used for population-based survey research. Recruiting people to sign up an app-based is, however, less straightforward compared traditional surveys, which risks inflating nonresponse as well the potential bias. By means of experiment with over 44,000 recently registered job seekers, we present causal evidence on effects using different contact modes (email, postal letter, or preannouncement letter and email) participation rates in panel survey. Further, detailed administrative register data, investigate whether differentially affect We also examine mode making has a lasting effect momentary assessments collected experience sampling method (ESM). Overall, email invitation strategy maximizes stand-alone letters emails, do not differ significantly terms rates. Stand-alone approach perform better than emails when it comes submitted ESM episodes.