Strand Leaders: Professor Gabriele Durrant, University of Southampton, and Dr. Alessandra Gaia, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, University College London
Managing and understanding survey nonresponse is important in order to ensure representativeness and inclusiveness in surveys of the UK general population, to minimise non-response bias, and to inform design decisions that may have implications for survey costs and/or for measurement issues.
This research strand investigates two important components of the management of survey non-response. The first is the practice of following up web non-respondents in other modes and the second is the use of targeted monetary incentives for respondents.
The first component of the strand, investigating follow-up of web non-respondents, explores the nature of coverage and non-response biases in web surveys, the extent to which follow-ups in other modes reduce these biases, whether any reduction in bias might be outweighed by measurement differences between modes, and whether any biases could be reduced by weighting. Cost implications between mode strategies are also considered. A key question is whether nonresponse follow-ups are still needed to web-surveys. The findings directly inform decisions about survey designs to minimise under-representation and maximise inclusivity. A practitioner guide will be produced and associated online learning resources, as well as scientific papers reporting the empirical research. A practitioner workshop will also be held.
The second component of the strand, investigating the use of targeted monetary incentives, will review existing practices, carry out an evidence review, and run an empirical field experiment. Outputs will include a code of ethics, a practitioner guide and a scientific paper reporting the findings of the experiment.
Both projects work closely with survey agencies throughout, to ensure relevance of research questions and applications for survey practice.