ESRA 2027 sessions by theme
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Methodological challenges in transitioning panel surveys to web |
| Coordinator 1 | Professor Mark Trappmann (IAB) |
| Coordinator 2 | Dr Janine Bernhardt (DJI) |
| Coordinator 3 | Dr Jonas Beste (IAB) |
| Coordinator 4 | Dr Arne Bethmann (SHARE) |
Session Details
Over the past decade, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, many panel surveys that had traditionally been administered by interviewers (by telephone or face-to-face) have introduced web surveys either as an additional mode of data collection or as the sole mode. Ensuring continuing participation of populations that typically benefit from interviewer assistance (such as older adults, unemployed individuals, or families) poses particular challenges in this transition process.
A mode switch in an existing panel survey raises numerous methodological challenges, especially when transitioning from interviewer-administered to self-administered data collection. Potential topics for the session include, but are not limited to:
• Instrument design considerations for transitioning to mixed-mode or web-only surveys
• Communicating design changes to respondents and interviewers
• Mode sequence designs and the assignment of respondents to modes in mixed-mode surveys
• Respondent self-selection into modes in mixed-mode surveys
• Adaptive and responsive survey designs in the transition to web
• Fieldwork management in household and multi-actor web surveys
• Addressing components traditionally requiring interviewer presence (e.g. record-linkage consent, physical measurements, cognitive tests)
• Providing assistance to respondents needing support
• Cross-national survey considerations and harmonization challenges
• Effects of mode switches on panel attrition and attrition bias
• Identifying and correcting for mode-related measurement effects
• Disentangling selection into modes from mode-related measurement effects
• Effects of mode switches on estimates of change over time
• Communicating the implications of mode switches for data quality and comparability to data users
We welcome empirical evidence, methodological innovation, and practical experience from panels at any stage of this transition, including transitions that did not go as planned. Our aim is to move from isolated single-study accounts towards cumulative, transferable guidance for panels facing this decision.
