What’s the point of asking? A review of the reliability of self-reported measures of sexual behaviour
Event
Remodelling social surveys – trade-offs and opportunities
Discussion on how we are transforming survey design and data collection activities, introducing our REMoDEL Approach.
At this survey methodology seminar, we discussed how we are transforming data collection activities, introducing our REMoDEL Approach. 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 involves 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 colleagues discuss how we are transforming data collection activities, introducing our REMoDEL Approach. REMoDEL stands for Review, Evaluate, Model, Design, Experiment and Launch.
This approach provides a clear, systematic process for transforming social surveys and generating robust evidence around the trade-offs involved. The webinar focuses on the British Social Attitudes (BSA) transformation programme, which aims to explore the feasibility of transitioning BSA to a mixed-mode design.
The team summarise steps taken so far, exploring key findings on sample composition and comparative estimates, and will outline future plans based on these findings.
Speakers
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Peter CornickDirector of the Centre for Social Survey Transformation National Centre for Social Research
Peter Cornick is the Director of the 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 has a particular focus on evaluating the impact of methodological choices in national and official statistics, and has a keen interest in transitioning face-to-face surveys to mixed-mode designs. He is currently overseeing the British Social Attitudes (BSA) Transformation Programme, a three-year programme to review the end-to-end design of the BSA and explore the feasibility of transitioning the survey from a face-to-face design to a web-first design.
Peter joined NatCen in 2016, having previously worked in the Social Research Institute at Ipsos MORI and in the Government & Social Research Unit at ICM. He brings a wealth of experience of survey design and delivery. He has worked in applied social research for more than 15 years and has led some of country’s foremost social research studies, including the British Social Attitudes survey and the National Travel Survey.
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Shanna ChristieResearch Director National Centre for Social Research
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.
She is focused on transforming and enhancing established large-scale social surveys. This currently includes leading an experiment as part of the British Social Attitudes Transformation Programme. It also involves designing and implementing a study which aims to transition the traditional and long-standing paper travel diary on the National Travel Survey to a digital approach.
Shanna has previously been involved in several innovative and complex methodological changes including introducing the interviewer-led biological module on the Scottish Health Survey – the first of its scale in the UK – and trialling the collection of dried blood spots with the general population. She has also led two projects using digital methodologies – Realigning Children’s Services which involved an online health and wellbeing census with school pupils and a field test of Intake24, an online food diary.
She has a keen interest in developing research designs that are fit-for-purpose and that make use of innovative and digital methodologies, balancing this with a need to maintain time series data as much as possible and ensure inclusivity among the population.
