Nonresponse in the Recruitment of an Internet Panel Based on Probability Sampling

In this paper we study the selectivity in the recruitment of respondents for one of CentERdata's Internet panels (the CentERpanel). This recruitment is based on a probability sample. It involves three stages: participation to a first telephone interview, willing to be re-contacted and final agreement to participate in the Internet panel. By matching data of the recruitment process with registries of Statistics Netherlands we are able to distinguish selectivity with regard to age and income in all stages and with pc-ownership in the latter two stages only. Interestingly, we hardly find any selectivity with key variables on living conditions. Finally we will make some explicit recommendations for the recruitment process.