Alternative indicators for the risk of non-response bias: a simulation study

The growth of nonresponse rates for social science surveys has led to increased concern about the risk of nonresponse bias. Unfortunately, the nonresponse rate is a poor indicator of when nonresponse bias is likely to occur. We consider in this paper a set of alternative indicators. A large-scale simulation study is used to explore how each of these indicators performs in a variety of circumstances. Although, as expected, none of the indicators fully depicts the impact of nonresponse in survey esti mates, we discuss how they can be used when creating a plausible account of the risks for nonresponse bias for a survey. We also describe an interesting characteristic of the FMI that may be helpful in diagnosing NMAR mechanisms in certain situations.