1. A new Fieldwork Management and Monitoring Tool for the European Social Survey Sarah butt
NTTS 2017
16th March 2017

2. ESS fieldwork monitoring
National fieldwork organisations responsible for monitoring
Send weekly/fortnightly updates to National Coordinator (NC)
NC updates the ESS Core Scientific Team (CST)
Decentralised
Updates provided in different formats
Hard to get a consistent picture across countries
Lack of real time data
Interviewers complete detailed Contact Form for each sample unit
Many countries still reliant on paper CF
Full picture not available until fieldwork ends
Play up CF

3. ESS fieldwork monitoring – Contact Form
Play up CF

4. ESS coordinating a H2020 cluster project: Synergies for Europe’s Research Infrastructures in the Social Sciences ( )
Collaboration between six infrastructures:
Aim to break down barriers between social science infrastructures via development of shared online tools to facilitate harmonised data collection and documentation

5. Fieldwork Management and Monitoring System (FMMS)
Two components:
Mobile “app” to replace paper contact form and enable data collection on the doorstep; stand alone app not linked to CAPI; designed for mobile devices but can be also used on laptops
Centralised case management system (CCMS) to manage the transfer of information between interviewers and agency; enable access to up-to-date contact data by the NCs and CST; produce standardised fieldwork progress reports
Collaboration with CentERdata, University of Tilburg

7. App Works on Windows, Android and IOS mobile devices
Mention key advantages/strengths

8. CCMS Accessed online via secure log in
3 user roles: agency, NC and CST

9. Implementation challenges
Scoping study with ESS fieldwork agencies and NCs (2016)
Cross-national variation: Sample frames, IT infrastructure, in-house systems, survey culture, legal framework

10. Implementation challenges
Scoping study with ESS fieldwork agencies and NCs (2016)
Cross-national variation: Sample frames, IT infrastructure, in-house systems, survey culture, legal framework
Data security: Transfer of personal data to a central server in NL
Technology: Availability of mobile devices, lack of local IT support, interviewers reluctant to adopt new technology?
Agency resistance: have own in-house systems, loss of autonomy, perceived lack of trust

11. Data upload portal

12. Challenges remain
Compliance: Will countries upload data? Will data be in the right format and of sufficient quality?
Key indicators: What can/should we monitor in “real time”?
Communication: How will tool help (or hinder) communication between stakeholders (agency, NC, CST)?

13. Next steps https://seriss.centerdata.nl Develop data upload portal
Refine FMMS “app” based on scoping study feedback
Deployment on local servers
Translation into multiple languages
Test app and data upload portal as part of ESS Round 9 pilot (Autumn 2017)

14.
@ESS_Survey
With thanks to: Lennard Kuijten, Iggy van der Wielen (CentERdata)
Elena Sommer (ESS ERIC HQ)
Yvette Prestage, Sally Widdop (formerly ESS ERIC HQ)