ESRA 2025 Preliminary Program

Monday 14 July    Tuesday 15 July    Wednesday 16 July    Thursday 17 July    Friday 18 July   

All time references are in CEST

Video interviewing for survey data collection: beyond the pandemic 2
Session Organisers	Mr Tim Hanson (ESS HQ (City St Georges, University of London)) Mr Matt Brown (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL) Professor Gabriele Durrant (NCRM, University of Southampton)
Time	Tuesday 15 July, 15:30 - 17:00
Room	Ruppert 002

Video interviewing became a more common method for survey data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic, having been used less often before this point. It was often used as an alternative to in-person interviewing during periods when this wasn’t possible. Following the pandemic, there were questions over whether video interviewing would remain a viable and effective mode for surveys – and if so, in which contexts. Our session seeks to shed renewed light on this topic.

We invite submissions from researchers and practitioners who have used video interviewing for quantitative survey data collection. This includes use of video interviewing beyond the pandemic and studies carried out during the pandemic that have future implications for the method. Evidence to date suggests that it is feasible to carry out survey interviews via video platforms (Carr et al., 2023) and that the quality of video interviewing is comparable with in-person interviewing (Endres et al., 2023). However, the current evidence base is quite limited, and more evidence is needed to inform the future of video interviewing.

Submissions on various topics relating video interviewing are welcome. This includes: experimental studies that compare video interviewing with other modes (e.g. based on data quality or measurement); impact of video interviewing on response rates, representativeness and nonresponse; interviewer effects associated with video interviewing; analysis of paradata from video interviews; use of video interviewing in different contexts (e.g. standalone versus complementary mode, for longitudinal versus cross-section studies); practical lessons relating to the administration of video interviews, including development of bespoke platforms; use of video interviewing for complex survey tasks; and use of both live and recorded video interviewing.

This session is being organised in partnership with the Survey Data Collection Methods Collaboration (‘Survey Futures’), funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council.

Keywords: Video interviewing

Papers

Assessing the Impact of Video Interviewing on Survey Measurement and Data Quality: Evidence from an Experimental Study

Dr Marc Asensio (UCL) - Presenting Author
Mr Matt Brown (UCL)
Professor Gabriele Durrant (University of Southampton)
Mr Tim Hanson (University of London)

Amid declining response rates and rising survey costs, identifying reliable and cost-effective data collection methodologies is crucial. Technological advancements and widespread technology adoption offer promising opportunities for this goal. During the COVID-19 pandemic, video interviewing surged when in-person interviewing became unfeasible. In the UK, video interviewing was adopted in studies such as the National Child Development Study, the 1970 British Cohort Study, and the European Social Survey.

The novelty of video interviewing means its impact on measurement and data quality remains underexplored. Although literature on this topic has gradually emerged, experimental evidence comparing data quality between video, web, and in-person surveys is still lacking. This study addresses this gap using data from an experiment where participants (N=1,510) were randomly assigned to complete a survey via video, web, or in-person. We compare various aspects of measurement and data quality across the three modes, including completion time, item nonresponse, satisficing, and social desirability bias.

Much is known about mode differences between web and in-person surveys. Video interviewing shares features with both, and as such our analyses aim to determine whether data collected by video more closely resembles web or in-person data. Understanding the impact of video interviewing on measurement and data quality is vital to assess its potential as a post-pandemic survey data collection mode.

Using an Appointment Booking Tool for Conducting Live Video Interviews in a Household Panel Study

Mr Jonas Kemmerling (infas - Institute for Applied Social Sciences) - Presenting Author
Mr Thomas Weiß (infas - Institute for Applied Social Sciences)

In contrast to other methods of data collection, video interviewing does not simultaneously act as a method of contacting the target population. Usually, interviewer-administered surveys are conducted in a way that interviews are conducted right at the first contact or an appointment is arranged instead. For video interviews, this approach is not possible since target persons cannot be contacted using a videoconferencing tool. For conducting video interviews in the context of a household panel study (German SOEP Innovation Sample, SOEP-IS), we developed an online appointment booking tool allowing respondents to book appointments for a video interview themselves.
The SOEP-IS sample can be divided into two broader groups: households who are used to being contacted by an interviewer offline (CAPI or CATI, offliners) and households who participated in a web-survey (CAWI, onliners). We exploit this sample structure to investigate whether booking an appointment is determined by panel experience (onliners vs. offliners, number of participations) or sociodemographic factors like age or education. Applying a logistic regression on booking an appointment (yes/no) we can provide insights on which subsamples and populations can be reached with this new approach.
Furthermore, we collect paradata on the usage of the appointment booking tool. Based on the number of logins, the time between invitation and appointment booking, and the access path (mail vs. email) we can provide descriptive information on how the appointment booking tool was used in the context of SOEP-IS and can be used for other surveys and beyond the scope of video interviewing.
At the time of submission of this abstract, fieldwork is still ongoing. However, first results show that there is potential in using the appointment booking tool not only for video interviews but also to simplify appointment-making in other interview modes.

Video-Interviewing as Part of a Multi-Mode Design in Panel Studies: Insights From the Field

Ms Julia Witton (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)) - Presenting Author
Dr Carina Cornesse (GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences)
Dr Markus Grabka (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin))
Professor Sabine Zinn (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Humboldt University of Berlin (HUB))

Based on previous research from other countries, computer-assisted live video interviewing (CALVI) can be expected to be a useful addition to existing mixed-mode survey designs.
To assess CALVI’s feasibility in a German household panel survey, we included a hypothetical inquiry on respondents’ willingness to participate in video interviews during the 2022 data collection wave of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Of 22,549 respondents with valid answers, 39% indicated a willingness to participate in CALVI.
Based on these findings, we pretested CALVI in a separate survey setting. In the pretest, 73 target persons scheduled a video appointment, and 46 completed an interview. All participants consented to the recording of the interview, and 44 of them enabled their cameras. On average, the interviews were 106 minutes long. We find high levels of satisfaction among both respondents (85% positive) and interviewers (94% positive) and little item nonreponse or survey break-off.
Building on the pretest, we implemented CALVI in the ongoing wave of the SOEP Innovation Sample (SOEP-IS), targeting a mix of households interviewed in the previous wave using either CAWI or computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). Our study employs a stratified randomized experimental design, with 50% of the panels’ CAPI households as well as 25% of CAWI households encouraged to switch to CALVI. This design allows us to evaluate which households transition to CALVI based on their data collection mode in the previous wave.
In our presentation, we will share findings from the hypothetical willingness-to-participate inquiry, pretest outcomes, and experimental fieldwork results, including response rates, sample composition, and data completeness. Additionally, we will discuss practical lessons learned and the implications of CALVI for improving the efficiency and quality of panel data collection.

How does video interviewing affect measurement and data quality? Evidence from the 1970 British Cohort Study

Dr Sebastian Kocar (Research Fellow at the University of Queensland ) - Presenting Author
Mr Matt Brown (Senior Survey Manager, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL)
Dr Gabriele Durrant (Professor in Social Statistics and Survey Methodology Director of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM))
Professor George Ploubidis (Professor of Population Health & Statistics | Director of 1958NCDS & 1970BCS)
Mrs Carole Sanchez (Survey Manager, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL)

Using live video interviewing to conduct social surveys is relatively new, but interest in this mode accelerated considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic. Video interviewing may offer several benefits for conducting social surveys including cost-efficiency through reduced travel expenses, the ability to more easily reach geographically dispersed participants, greater convenience and scheduling flexibility. When used as an additional mode in a mixed mode survey, video interviewing could potentially enhance response rates and reduce non-response bias.

Video interviewing shares many features with in-person interviewing and a major attraction is that, at least in theory, this should result in minimal differences in measurement effects or data quality between these two modes. However, there is as yet limited evidence as to whether this is really the case.

The 1970 British Cohort Study, a multi-disciplinary longitudinal birth cohort study in the UK, made extensive use of video interviewing in its recently completed Age 51 Survey. Around half of all interviews were conducted via video with the remainder conducted face-to-face, providing an opportunity for comprehensive analysis of any measurement differences between the modes.

To control for non-random (self-)selection into the mode, we use the rich life-history data collected in previous waves along with propensity score weighting as a method for causal inference. Using this approach, we can robustly evaluate the impact of video interviewing in comparison to in-person interviewing on various aspects of measurement and data quality. These include satisficing, social desirability bias, answer order effect, consent to linkage of administrative data, performance in a series of in cognitive assessments and item non-response.

Our findings will provide vital evidence on the impact of video interviewing on measurement and data quality, helping to determine whether video interviewing has a long-term future as a mode.