This project conducts a number of analyses on likely impacts of survey design and respondent characteristics on the results of the Mannheim Innovation Panel (MIP), the ZEW’s annual innovation survey. The project focuses on the impact of the following three aspects on whether or not innovation activities –and which type of innovation  are being reported:

1. The role of the respondent’s position in the firm (function, hierarchy) and her/his experience with the survey (number of participations).
2. The role of changes in the wording of questions and the layout of the questionnaire.
3. The of role of the survey mode (paper, online, telephone)

The results of this project are expected to better assess the impact of changes in the survey design on observed changes in the firms’ innovation activities. In perspective, the findings may be used to adjust tabulated results to avoid impacts from changes in the survey design. In addition, microeconometric analysis may use the findings to control for the impact of survey design and respondent characteristics. The project uses information from all 22 survey waves of the MIP.