Remodelling social surveys – trade-offs and opportunities

In recent years there has been a trend towards face-to-face surveys exploring push-to-web, web-first and mixed-mode options.

This process has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown how fragile reliance on a single mode can be.

But switching approaches or implementing mixed-mode designs involve complex trade-offs regarding representation, measurement, respondent experience, time and cost, which are rarely fully understood.

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen)’s new Centre for Social Survey Transformation has been launched to explore the lessons learned from the last two years and to help understand these trade-offs.

At this survey methodology seminar, NatCen will discuss how they are transforming data collection activities, introducing their REMoDEL approach. REMoDEL stands for Review Evaluate Model Design Experiment Launch.

This approach provides a clear, systematic process for transforming social surveys and generating robust evidence around the trade-offs involved.

The webinar will focus on the British Social Attitudes (BSA) transformation programme, which aims to explore the feasibility of transitioning BSA to a mixed-mode design.

The team will summarise steps taken so far, exploring key findings on sample composition and comparative estimates, and will outline future plans based on these findings.

Finally, NatCen will explore the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for social surveys.
About the speakers:

Peter Cornick

Peter Cornick is the Director of NatCen’s Centre for Social Survey Transformation. In this role he leads multidisciplinary teams to deliver methodological, analytical and developmental research projects.

He advises on methodological challenges, helping survey commissioners and methodologists to investigate and understand complex problems and processes.

He brings a wealth of experience in survey design and delivery. He has worked in applied social research for more than 15 years and has led some of the country’s foremost social research studies, including the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey and the National Travel Survey.

Shanna Christie

Shanna Christie is a Research Director within the Centre for Social Survey Transformation.

She has over ten years of experience using predominantly quantitative research methods and has developed significant expertise in survey methodology.

Shanna is currently leading an experiment as part of the BSA Transformation Programme.

It also involves designing and implementing a study that aims to transition the traditional and long-standing paper travel diary on the National Travel Survey to a digital approach.

Shane Howe

Shane Howe is a Senior Researcher in the Centre for Social Survey Transformation.

His experience focuses on quantitative methods with an emphasis on a survey and questionnaire design.

He has recently been part of several projects which aim to understand the impact of shifting modes on survey data and minimise disruption to trend series data.

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 (Thursday, 27th January 2022)