Missing Data in Sociological Research: An Overview of Recent Trends and an Illustration for Controversial Questions, Active Nonrespondents and Targeted Samples

In an age of telemarketers, spam emails, and pop-up advertisements, sociologists are finding it increasingly difficult to
achieve high response rates for their surveys. Compounding these issues, the current political and social climate has decreased
many survey respondents’ likelihood of responding to controversial questions, which are often at the heart of much research
in the discipline. Here we discuss such implications for survey research in sociology using: a content analysis of the prevalence
of missing data and survey research methods in the most cited articles in top sociology journals, a case study highlighting
the extraction of meaningful information through an example of potential mechanisms driving the non-random missing data patterns
in the Religion Among Academic Scientists dataset, and qualitative responses from non-responders in this same case. Implications
are likely to increase in importance given the ubiquitous nature of survey research, missing data, and privacy concerns in
sociological research.