Marginaal: Het lijk uit de kast: non-respons in het Nationaal Kiezersonderzoek

The National Election Study has been conducted at the time of parliamentary elections in the Netherlands since 1971. Over the years it has developed into a widely used forum for opinions on the attitudes & behaviors of Dutch voters. Now, however, Gerard Visscher (1995) has called into question the validity of the studies, considering that nonresponse had climbed from 21% in 1967 to 53% in 1994. Moreover, the number of respondents who could not be reached (due to absence or illness) had increased from 12% to 43%. Such findings lead to doubt of assertions that the number of those seriously interested in politics has risen sharply from 54% to 79%. The election studies clearly have become a poor example of a longitudinal study, due to increasing nonresponse. The problem of differential nonresponse should be taken more seriously. 8 References. M. Meeks