The reasons for attrition: we (still) haven't got a clue

This paper describes a small survey (attrition survey) undertaken to ascertain reasons of attrition and non-response in questionnaire responses from student participants as part of a larger longitudinal survey (longitudinal study). Due to difficulties in retaining participants within the longitudinal study, determining reasons for attrition and non-response became important; mainly. The questionnaire employed in the longitudinal study was developed by the Cambridge Management Institute (CMI) and is widely known as the HEGI instrument or the SPEED network questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to be completed three times by the participants; one pre-test and two post-tests. Following 18 months of problems of attrition, questions were raised about its value and whether it was suitable to be administered in the environment and setting within which we were using it, in traditional semesters in higher education. Therefore, the subsequent attrition survey was undertaken to look at a number of factors that the authors believed were significant in causing the high rates of attrition and non-response. This data was obtained using a very short questionnaire sent to a proportion of the sample originally part of the longitudinal study. The factors deemed to be of potential significance were plenty and are discussed at detail throughout the paper. Predominantly, issues concerning web-based and paper-based survey methods were also of significance as the former becomes more prevalent but raises the question, how do response rates compare with traditional methods? This was a further area of concern for the authors because a change to the survey mode i.e. distribution and completion method from paper to online was reluctantly introduced as a cost-saving measure. This paper will report the results of the attrition survey in relation to the participants’ responses about reasons for attrition and non-response.