In this paper, we study attrition in a household panel survey, where in the first
wave those with a matched landline number were surveyed by telephone, while
those without received a face-to-face visit. In the second wave, the face-to-face
mode was dropped. We find among the first wave face-to-face households a high
likelihood to attrite due to "no contact" rather than due to "cannot be tracked"
or "refusal". Socio-demographic characteristics have the expected effects. For
example households with young children, with a short-term residence permit,
or one-person households cannot be tracked, while those with a face-to-face
visit in the first wave, or foreigners with a mother tongue that is not offered in
the survey refuse more often. More first wave calls and contacts are associated
with all reasons to attrite, in particular with refusal. Based on the findings, we
give recommendations to tailor fieldwork to decrease attrition.