Keeping the oldest old – A framework for survey adaptations to improve panel retention in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Panel attrition is and remains a major challenge for maintaining long-running panel surveys, especially for vulnerable groups. The oldest old are such a vulnerable group and at the same time are the fastest growing group of the population, which makes them an important group of investigation in SHARE. With this project, we want to detect the most prominent events and changes in old age that lead to panel attrition, besides the physical death of respondents, and identify potential areas for interventions throughout the whole survey lifecycle. The overarching aim of the project is to develop survey adaptations that make SHARE more fitting for the oldest old and, by this, tackle preventable dropout in a panel study. The project will consist of three steps: (1) Identification of underlying causes of attrition regarding the oldest old; (2) Identification of potential intervention areas; and (3) Implementation of field adaptions.