Respondent-Centric Approach: An Overview of Research at ONS to Motivate and Engage Our Survey Respondents (303568)

Keywords: questionnaire design, pre-testing methods, interviewer-respondent interaction, engagement, motivation, gamification, response

Like many other National Statistical Institutes around the world, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is taking forward an ambitious program of work to transform its entire statistical operation for business and social survey data collection. The two key strategic features of this program include a commitment to using existing administrative data sources within the data collection process (from sampling to survey content) as well as introducing online data collection as the default mode.

For social surveys this vision of a future data collection model presents substantial research and survey response challenges. All social surveys in the UK are voluntary and achieving response is heavily reliant upon the rapport built between an interviewer and a potential respondent in a face-to-face interaction. ONS is investing heavily in researching how best we can create this strong connection with a respondent in an online self complete approach.

We are taking a mixed approach to address the challenges whereby we are combining traditional research methods such as in-depth interviewing and focus group with novel methods such as guerrilla pop-up testing to learn what engages and motivates respondents; our previous research has highlighted the importance of considering this through the whole respondent journey, from letter to questionnaire. We are also considering the value of taking a behavioral economic approach, promoted with considerable success of the UK's Behavioural Insight team. In doing this we are applying four main principles to any interaction - make it Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely. Today’s society is very much transactional therefore we are focusing on the reciprocity technique with the aim of ‘giving back’ to the respondent to enhance their experience and harness a commitment from them to take part in our surveys. This talk focuses on the work being done by ONS' Survey Data Collection Research team to develop a respondent-focused experience.