ESRA 2025 Program
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Making surveys more inclusive and equitable: strategies, actions and challenges |
| Session Organisers |
Dr Véronique SIEGLER (Office for National Statistics (ONS))
Line Knudsen (National Centre for Social Research (Natcen))
|
| Time | Tuesday 15 July, 13:30 - 15:00 |
| Room |
Ruppert B - 0.22 |
In today's diverse society, ensuring inclusivity in social surveys is essential for generating accurate, representative, and meaningful insights that can shape policies. Without a comprehensive approach to inclusivity, there is a risk of omitting important voices and producing skewed findings. Additionally, inclusivity carries an ethical responsibility to ensure that all groups, particularly marginalised ones, are heard. This session will explore how researchers can adopt a holistic approach to inclusivity across all stages of the survey process, from respondent engagement , sampling and questionnaire design to data analysis requirements. Key to this discussion is the concept of intersectionality—people’s experiences are shaped by multiple, interconnected factors, and ignoring this complexity can lead to oversimplified approaches to inclusivity.
Barriers to inclusivity in social surveys are wide-ranging, including accessibility issues, cultural insensitivity, technological challenges, and lack of trust amongst certain communities or disenfranchised individuals. The aim of this session is to reflect on how to overcome these barriers, to share successes, challenges and lessons learned. The session will provide a platform for researchers to present innovative strategies and approaches that ensure inclusivity, contributing to a more equitable future for social surveys.
We invite papers that address a variety of topics, including but not limited to:
• Inclusivity for individuals experiencing physical or mental health issues, or neurodiversity.
• Overcoming demographic or identity-based barriers.
• Engaging hard-to-reach groups.
• Addressing the complexities of intersectionality in social surveys.
• Building trust in social surveys.
• Leveraging alternative data to address inclusivity challenges.
• Inclusivity in the context of non-traditional data sources.
We particularly welcome submissions from researchers across different sectors—academia, national statistics, and private research organisations. This session aims to inform future strategies and best practices for enhancing inclusivity in social surveys.
Keywords: inclusivity, equity, accessibility, intersectionality, hard-to-reach, trust, barriers, alternative data
Papers
Enhancing Inclusivity and Representation: Accessible Design of the GP Patient Survey
Miss Molly Dawson (Ipsos) - Presenting Author
The GP Patient Survey (GPPS) is a crucial source of information for understanding patient experiences within the National Health Service (NHS) in England. This national survey is sent to around 2.5 million patients aged 16 or over and plays a vital role in informing policy and improving primary healthcare services. However, to ensure its findings reflect the population, it is essential that the survey is as accessible as possible. This abstract explores the accessible design of the GPPS, highlighting how these contribute to inclusivity and representation within social surveys.
Given the survey's scale and push-to-web methodology, ensuring inclusivity for all invitees presents challenges. A proactive approach is taken by embedding accessibility within the survey's design. This includes:
• Using clear and simple language, validated by cognitive testing with patients, consultation with lived experience partners and the Plain English Campaign's Crystal Mark standard (https://www.plainenglish.co.uk/services/crystal-mark/7-the-crystal-mark-standard.html).
• Offering diverse formats: 14 additional languages, Braille, large print, British Sign Language videos, and an accessible online platform compatible with screen readers.
These adaptations actively reduce participation barriers, promoting a more inclusive and representative data collection process, aligning with the goals of social surveys in Official Statistics to minimise total survey error. By reducing barriers, the GPPS strengthens its ability to provide robust, reliable data reflecting all patient experiences, including those often marginalised. As a result, the GPPS is widely used to understand inequalities in healthcare experience.
This presentation will discuss the practical implications of these accessibility measures and their contribution to a more equitable and representative understanding of NHS patient experiences. It will also explore the potential of these formats to inform best practices for other social surveys, promoting more inclusive data collection methodologies.
From Sampling to Collection. Strategies that make surveys more inclusive and equitable in Ireland
Mr Tony Kelleher (Central Statistics Office) - Presenting Author
Ms Fiona O'Riordan (Central Statistics Office)
11th Conference of the European Survey Research Association (ESRA)
From Sampling to Collection.
Strategies that make surveys more inclusive and equitable in Ireland
Abstract
Social data is key to a properly functioning society. Our age, our sex, our educational attainment, are we working? do we have a warm coat? have we experienced discrimination? is data that informs government, researchers, and the citizen about our lives.
The task of collecting social data has changed considerably over the last 5-10 years though. Falling response rates have posed real challenges to ensuring quality representative data collections. The CSO has been active in moving to a multi-mode environment, (similar to other NSOs) and adapting survey design to suit the requirements of the respondent. Providing choices for the respondent is part of this work but to do this, it is important to understand their requirements.
This work spans across several processes from sampling to collection. CSO continually reviews sample, design, availability of administrative data to reduce burden and collection modes.
Some of our initiatives are below and we continue to learn about our respondents from our respondents.
• The CSO have reviewed our sample design to ensure they are efficient, and the sample is as close to the target as possible.
• We are mindful of literacy challenges in questionnaire design. We use simple language when formulating questions and designing questionnaires.
• We engage with advocacy groups early and often to ensure that everyone is being represented and all voices are heard.
• The CSO knows how important the concept of Trust is to our respondents and we continue to treat this agreement between us and them as an important agreement.
There is no one solution to ensuring everyone participates in these important surveys, but it important to continually review and modify to ensure the collection of
Co-producing longitudinal survey research in the Born in Bradford Age of Wonder study
Dr David Ryan (Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, BD9 6RJ, Bradford, UK ) - Presenting Author
Dr John Pickavance (Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, BD9 6RJ, Bradford, UK )
Dr Katy A. Shire (Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, BD9 6RJ, Bradford, UK )
Professor Rosemary R.C. McEachan (Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, BD9 6RJ, Bradford, UK )
Background:
Since 2007, the Born in Bradford (BiB) longitudinal birth cohort study has been following the health and wellbeing of over 13,500 people across Bradford, one of the most ethnically and socio-economically diverse cities in the UK. The cohort is now experiencing adolescence, and since 2022, BiB Age of Wonder (AoW) has been capturing the journey through adolescence and adulthood for the BiB cohort and their peers. With up to 30,000 adolescents involved over a seven-year period, AoW is one of the world’s largest studies of adolescence, and places large scale, representative survey data collection at its core.
Methods:
Survey data on health and wellbeing (including mental health, socioeconomics, and physical health) is collected annually from students in years 8, 9, and 10. Surveys are delivered in schools either online using computers or offline using tablets. All aspects of the AoW surveys are co-produced with young people, teachers, and parents to ensure alignment with schools’ and students’ changing needs and priorities.
Results:
Survey data was collected on over 9,500 adolescents in the academic year 2023/2024. Over 60% of respondents were from ethnic minority groups, while over 25% were eligible for free school meals (a commonly-used proxy measure for socioeconomic deprivation in the UK). Offering diverse survey delivery models to schools, minimising survey length and co-designing measures with young people enabled response rates of over 65%. Responsive dissemination efforts via interactive data dashboards helped to bolster study effectiveness and sustain participant engagement.
Conclusion:
Embracing co-production, partnering with young people and schools, and enacting responsive research practices has enabled AoW to collect large-scale, representative survey data on adolescents’ health and wellbeing across Bradford. In doing so, AoW provides a model for co-producing longitudinal survey research in secondary schools.
Designing an inclusive approach to an ethnic minority boost in a large face-to-face survey
Mrs Beverley Bates (National Centre for Social Research)
Mrs Sarah Morris (National Centre for Social Research)
Mrs Mari Toomse-Smith (National Centre for Social Research) - Presenting Author
Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) is a flagship mental health survey in England. Our client on the survey, NHS England, wished to add an ethnic minority boost to the survey to improve the information that is available on the mental health of specific ethnic groups. We worked with a communications agency focused on minority communities to create an inclusive and culturally sensitive communications and fieldwork strategy. In the presentation, we will give an overview of what worked about this approach in particular and what were wider issues that eventually resulted in the ethnic minority boost not meeting its aims. We will also explore whether an even more inclusive approach would be feasible in the context of a large survey and ask the wider question of whether boosts of any small group are still viable in face-to-face surveys.
