A Nonresponse Bias Correction using Nonrandom Followup with an Application to the Gender Entrepreneurship Gap

Abstract

We develop a nonresponse correction applicable to any setting in which multiple attempts to contact subjects affect whether researchers observe variables without affecting the variables themselves. Our procedure produces point estimates of population averages using selected samples without requiring randomized incentives or assuming selection bias cancels out for any within-respondent comparisons. Applying our correction to a 16% response rate survey of University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduates, we estimate a 15 percentage point male-female entrepreneurial intention gap. Our estimates attribute the 20 percentage point uncorrected within-respondent gap to positive bias for men and negative bias for women, highlighting the value of within-group nonresponse corrections.

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Reproductions