Chapter 20: Data Quality and Completeness Issues in Multiday or Panel Surveys

Purpose — The paper aims at an improvement of the understanding, how mobility is reported in longitudinal surveys and to develop ideas how to assess the completeness of the reported mobility.

Methodology/approach — Analyses of data quality and completeness are performed on the multiday and multiperiod data of the German Mobility Panel. Distinctions are made between differing reporting behaviours of individuals who either reported three times, two times or only once.

Findings — It can be shown that the reporting behaviours are different depending on the number of repetitions. The results illustrate that on the one hand individuals who repeat the survey in a consecutive wave tend to report with greater motivation, endurance and accuracy. On the other hand, participants who have not reported completely and accurately are more likely to drop out. These effects positively influence the quality and completeness and therefore the reliability of recorded mobility figures in multiperiod mobility surveys.

Practical implications — The analytical possibilities of combined multiday and multiperiod data in terms of the assessment of data quality will be demonstrated. Hints to identify such types of survey artefacts are presented.