Some surveys ask respondents for consent to be recontacted for follow-up surveys after the initial
part of the survey has been completed. Based on an experiment, we compare three options for
asking for this panel consent: choice (yes/no), opt-in, and opt-out.We analyse panel consent rates
and compare consenters with non-consenters against a comprehensive set of socio-demographic
characteristics, political attitudes, and survey-related variables in a probability-based web survey.
In a second step, we analyse consenters’ actual participation in the first follow-up wave.
The opt-out option yields higher panel consent rates than the other two options. Based on
socio-demographic variables, panel consenters and non-consenters are most similar to each
other in the choice design, and most different in the opt-out design. Based on typically biased
variables, such as political interest or how the survey was perceived, the opt-out design performs
better than the opt-in design in terms of consent, followed by the choice design. When it comes
to actually participating in the first follow-up wave, the three panel consent options work in
a similar way to giving consent. Overall, these findings speak in favour of the opt-out design,
followed by the opt-in design.