New approaches to biomeasure collection in social surveys |
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| Coordinator 1 | Ms Anne Conolly (National Centre for Social Research ) |
| Coordinator 2 | Dr Erica Wong (CLS, UCL Institute of Education) |
| Coordinator 3 | Dr Colter Mitchell (University of Michigan) |
| Coordinator 4 | Dr Jonathan Burton (ISER, University of Essex) |
| Coordinator 5 | Mrs Christine Woods (ISER, University of Essex) |
| Coordinator 6 | Dr Shaun Scholes (UCL) |
The inclusion of biomeasures is an important feature of many social research surveys, providing the objective measurement of a wide range of health indicators. Recent shifts in survey research methodology, for example remote and mixed-mode approaches, pose challenges for the successful implementation of biomeasure data collection, including development of new approaches.
Biomeasures include a range of anthropometric (e.g. height, weight, waist), functional (e.g. grip strength, balance), and sensory (e.g. hearing) measurements, as well as biological samples (e.g. blood, saliva, urine), other physiological health measurements (e.g. blood pressure, lung function), and device-based measurement of physical activity.
Historically, biomeasure data has primarily been collected in participants’ homes or at clinics. Data collection is commonly administered by those with medical training and expertise (such as nurses), by trained field interviewers or self-administered by participants. The growing trend towards remote survey methods requires the development of new approaches in biomeasure data collection. These include biological samples by mail, app-based data collection, device-based measurement and the application of correction factors to self-reported anthropometric data. These alternative approaches often present survey researchers with a range of challenges that present risks to data quality.
This session invites survey practitioners to share their experiences of developing and implementing new approaches to biomeasure data collection. We welcome submissions relating to:
• Innovative approaches to the collection of biomeasures
• Comparisons of different biomeasure collection approaches
• Respondent-led collection of biomeasures
• Maximising response to and/or representativeness of biomeasures
• Maximising data quality and validity of biomeasures
• Ethical challenges in the remote collection of biomeasures (e.g. relating to consent, feedback of results, etc.)
Papers need not be restricted to these specific examples.