English to Polish Social Sciences Surveying

All SHARE respondents who were interviewed in any previous wave are part of the longitudinal sample. If they have a new partner living in the household, the new partner is eligible for an interview as well, regardless of age.

Sample attrition means that respondents drop out from the survey over time. The reasons for the drop-out can be multifarious. For a longitudinal sample which was drawn randomly at the beginning of the data collection process, sample attrition would not pose any challenges if the attrition occurs randomly – which is not the case in reality.

Furthermore, some questions for the longitudinal sample are only asked if there was a change since last interview, e.g. marital status.