ESRA 2027 sessions by theme
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Bridging National and Cross-National Panels: Towards a Shared Methodological Agenda |
| Coordinator 1 | Dr Ruxandra Comanaru (European Social Survey HQ (City St George's, University of London)) |
| Coordinator 2 | Dr Gianmaria Bottoni (University of Naples Federico II) |
| Coordinator 3 | Dr Yuri Pettinicchi (NIDI - The Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute) |
| Coordinator 4 | Professor Marcel Das (Centerdata (Tilburg University)) |
| Coordinator 5 | Ms Loren Ma (European Social Survey HQ (City St George's, University of London)) |
Session Details
Globally, high-quality national panels operate alongside cross-national panels at different scales facing different constraints, but many methodological challenges are shared. While methodological discussions often happen within national or infrastructure-specific communities, opportunities for systematic exchange between panel researchers remain limited. Rather than seeing them as competing approaches, this session proposes that they are complementary sources of methodological knowledge. National panels allow for detailed testing and country-specific innovation, while cross-national panels offer experience in harmonisation, comparability, and applying methods across different contexts. More exchange between these research communities could help improve survey quality and panel methods generally.
This session invites submissions exploring strategies for data collection on national or cross-national panels (or both), and the impact that design choices have on data quality and survey outcomes. Topics may include but are not limited to mode effects and mode choice, sequential and concurrent mixed-mode designs, attrition and respondent engagement, recruitment and contact strategies, push-to-web strategies, and innovations in self-completion data collection in national or cross-national panels. Additionally, we welcome contributions exploring the role of AI in panel research, its potential applications, methodological implications and the associated risks of these developments. Contributions from survey practitioners, infrastructure managers, and academic researchers are encouraged.
Ultimately, the session aims to create a forum in which panel researchers move beyond infrastructure-specific perspectives and collectively consider how collaboration, knowledge exchange and methodological experimentation can contribute to enhancing data collection through panel studies. By bringing together researchers from national and cross-national panel infrastructures, the session seeks to showcase methodological developments and identify shared research priorities and opportunities for future collaboration. The session serves as a first step towards building a stronger community of researchers working on panel and survey methodology across different national and cross-national contexts.
