Survey mode change by necessity: Evaluating survey dataset performance in a global pandemic

Publication type

Understanding Society Working Paper Series

Series Number

2025-05

Series

Understanding Society Working Paper Series

Authors

Publication date

May 20, 2025

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic affected how surveys were administered. Web based designs were used instead of face-to-face (F2F) interviewing, and data collection was more frequent. Changes were made with limited information about impacts survey estimate non-response biases and their causes. We examine the extent to which information on such questions in pre-pandemic surveys was predictive of similar in pandemic surveys in two Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) datasets: the main survey and the COVID-19 Study. We find that main survey information was of limited predicted value for the COVID-19 Study. The implications of these findings are then discussed.

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