On September 28th 2023, the Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) hosted the traditional annual conference Online Panels and Mixed Survey Modes in collaboration with the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS) and the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ). The programme consisted of presentations from SURS, NIJZ and CSI, as well as a joint discussion.
The aim of the event was to exchange experiences and insights on the latest trends in the collection, analysis and comparison of survey data in Slovenia and internationally.
Survey implementers highlighted the importance of motivated and engaged interviewers, quality questionnaires and the use of QR codes on respondent letters as good practices to encourage participation in surveys.
On the topic of data provider profiles and (non-)participation in surveys, SURS highlighted traditional written communication (short texts, use of pictograms and clear basic information about the surveys), slow responses to information from the field, usability of the website, organisation of the work and low awareness of SURS among young people as possible areas of improvement for participation in surveys. They also produced an analysis of the persons involved in statistical surveys (the ‘personas’) and presented for each of them the factors that are important for their participation in the surveys. They highlighted the upgrading of internal processes, adapting communication to the younger generations and monitoring and analysis of non-response as important guidelines for the future.
NIJZ also shared their experience of conducting research over the last three years. The importance of cooperation and exchange of views and experiences of all those involved, including the sponsor, the contractor, the interviewers and the selected persons, was highlighted. They note that online panels are excellent for quick assessments, that postal surveys are “in” again due to the pandemic; even the youngest groups are keen to participate, but postal surveys are quite expensive. An interesting finding is that participants in health surveys value results and outputs more than practical rewards.
SURS also presented Smart Survey Implementation (SSI), an international project with the strategic goal of innovative and powerful statistical production. The project will test respondents’ willingness to use smart functionalities through the People-Centred Data Collection Methods (Načini zbiranja podatkov po meri ljudi – NZP) survey, with results to be available in 2024.
An open-source tool for weighting and analysing survey data has been developed at CSI. The estimates of the variables of the online probability panels were also compared with the official SURS and NIJZ estimates as well as the estimates of the non-probability (commercial) online panels. The main factors that may lead to differences between the estimates are the mode of interviewing, the duration of the interview and the rewards. The cost per unit accuracy of probability panels compared to commercial panels, which are approximately one times cheaper, was also analysed. In general, for larger surveys, non-probability online panels with larger samples (at the expense of lower costs) cannot compensate for bias. It is therefore essential for a good quality non-probability online panel to prevent bias in the estimates. The potential of probability online panels compared to official surveys will be further explored in the project Probability online panels in national statistics for persons and households.
Materials and presentations are available here.