New forms of data collection: mobile/web 2 |
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| Convenor | Dr Emanuela Sala (Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Università di MIlano Bicocca ) |
| Coordinator 1 | Dr Mario Callegaro (Google) |
| Coordinator 2 | Dr Teresio Poggio (Faculty of Economics and Management Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) |
To save cost, we all have a wish that we only need to program one instrument that works both for interviewer-administered and self-administered surveys. However, developing one instrument for multi-mode surveys poses nontrivial challenges for question design (i.e. how the question is asked), instrument design (i.e. layout) and programming (i.e. complex code).In this presentation, we will discuss the challenges in designing and implementing multi-mode survey instruments from a methodological and technological perspective. We will also share our strategies for addressing these challenges and best practices that we developed during this process.
Using technology based assessment tools (e.g. tablets, laptops, e-pens) often implies unexpected challenges. Within NEPS these challenges consist of the amount of produced data, the corresponding data flow regarding the collaboration with data collection institutes and data protection, as well as the cooperation of the participants and the institutions conducting the surveys.
Within the presentation the experience of these and similar topics as well as the differences between paper-and-pencil administered and technology based studies will be shown. Conclusions regarding the consequent advantages and disadvantages with a focus on technical, organizational and financial aspects will be drawn.
Starting in 2012, a CAPI version of the Day Reconstruction Method was given to 2,050 respondents of the SOEP Innovation Sample. For each episode of the previous day, respondents reported up to two activities and a general rating of pleasantness. In 2014, the Experience Sampling Method was used with around 250 respondents, who were given smart phones, and they used them to complete short questionnaires on what they were currently doing and how they were feeling. In combination, the data allow connecting global ratings of life satisfaction with episodic reconstructions of the previous day, and realtime measurements of wellbeing.
The probability based web panel Elipss ensures that all respondents answer identically designed questions by equipping the entire panel with the same touch-screen tablet. However two specific challenges have to be overcome: to deal with the heterogeneity in digital proficiency of a general public and to meet the expectations of researchers in this digital mobile environment. In this paper we will present and critically discuss the choices made during pilot study of Elipss to conceive and produce an appropriate design for questionnaires.