Methods for Within-household Selection in Surveys without Field Interviewers |
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| Coordinator 1 | Dr Nhlanhla Ndebele (European Social Survey HQ, City St George's, University of London) |
| Coordinator 2 | Dr Ruxandra Comanaru (European Social Survey HQ, City St George's, University of London) |
| Coordinator 3 | Professor Peter Lynn (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex) |
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the declining quality of interviewer-led and the promise of self-completion survey data collection has led social surveys to transition to surveys without field interviewers. However, this is not without its challenges. For probability-based surveys, the random selection of participants within households is challenging in the absence of field interviewers. This is particularly the case for sampling frames with no named lists of individuals, such as address-based sampling frames. Interviewer-led surveys often use the Kish method. However, this method is too complex to implement in the absence of field interviewers and quasi-random methods are used instead, with implications for participant selection.
This session aims to investigate methods and the impact of participant selection within households in surveys without field interviewers. The session welcomes paper submissions on various aspects related to within-household selection methods in probability-based self-administration or mixed-mode (with a component of self-administration) surveys. Topics may include, but are not restricted to, the following areas:
• Evaluation of the success or accuracy of within-household selection methods;
• Comparisons of alternative approaches to within-household selection, including between interviewer-led and self-administration surveys;
• New or novel methods for within-household selection.
We encourage papers from researchers from different disciplines and sectors, including academia, national statistics, and research agencies. We particularly welcome contributions that use experimental designs, and/or other designs that can inform future strategies for surveys conducted without field interviewers.
The session is proposed by Research Strand 4 of the Survey Futures project, “Surveys without Field Interviewers”. Survey Futures (surveyfutures.net) is a multi-institution collaboration research programme funded by the UKRI-ESRC, focusing on ensuring large-scale social surveys in the UK can innovate and adapt in a changing environment.