1. Interactive tools for large-scale social surveys
Sarah Butt (ESS ERIC) and Brian Kleiner (FORS)
8th ESRC Research Methods Festival
5th July 2018
Developing and running large scale surveys is costly and complex often involving many different stakeholders and stages/processes taking place over a prolonged period of time Increasingly survey producers are looking to harness technology and identify online tools to help them increase the efficiency and effectiveness of data collection.
The EC funded SERISS project – Synergies for Europe’s Infrastructures in the Social Sciences – has invested heavily in developing a suite of online tools to support different stages of the survey lifecyle
Today we want to showcase some of these tools which we hope may be of interest and could potentially be adopted by other survey infrastructures Project has a particular focus on cross-national surveys such as ESS but tools also relevant to large scale national surveys
Main body of session – presentation of three different tools for questionnaire design, fieldwork management and survey management but first by way of intro want to say a bit about the SERISS project as a whole and also reflect on some of the opportunities and challenges which working with interactive online tools can present

2. Tools are becoming increasingly important
Increased emphasis on developing research infrastructures
Requirement for data to be F(indable), A(ccessible), I(nteroperable), R(eusable)
Cost pressures and the need to do more with less
Second answer to this is that online tools can help to overcome some of the challenge

3. Interactive tools can meet surveys’ needs to …
Share info/co-ordinate activity across multiple stakeholders
Transfer and process large amounts of data quickly
Streamline different stages of the survey lifecycle
Document complex and lengthy decision-making processes
Share/reuse information across survey waves, different countries, etc.
First question is Why develop and use online tools? First answer to this is that online tools can help to overcome some of the challenges faced by large scale social surveys

4. Developing tools is resource intensive
It requires:
A large-scale team and close collaboration between tool developers and content experts i.e. end users
Careful documentation (e.g. in event the team changes)
Investment in promotion and training for users
Ongoing development and maintenance
Developing tools is, however, resource intensive.
Individual survey infrastructures need to consider relative value of developing own tools vs purchasing commercial products/adapting existing tools – and once developed consider how to recoup investment by for e.g. making tools available to other tools. So
SERISS project - money and combined expertise to develop tools. Focus on developing tools which can be adapted and adopted by different survey infrastructures.

5. A collaboration between:
A collaboration between:
European Social Survey (ESS ERIC)
Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE ERIC)
Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA ERIC)
Generations and Gender Programme (GGP)
European Values Study
WageIndicator Survey
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No

6. SERISS aims to …
Address key challenges for cross-national data collection e.g. accurately representing the population, achieving equivalence through translation
Break down barriers between social science infrastructures via training and networking events and the development of shared online tools to facilitate harmonised data collection and documentation.
Embrace the future of the social sciences by examining the legal and ethical challenges associated with new forms of data, developing a cross-national probability-based web survey and exploring automated coding for socio-economic variables
Aims to strengthen social science research across Europe and beyond and equip social science infrastructures to play a major role in addressing key societal challenges and ensure that national and European policy making is built on a firm socio-economic evidence base

8. Questionnaire Fieldwork Survey Management Data harmonisation
Questionnaire Design and Documentation Tool (QDDT)
Translation Management Tool (TMT)
Fieldwork management system (FMS)
Survey Management portal
Questionnaire
Fieldwork
Question variable Database (QVDB)
Survey Management
Coding module for socio-economic variables
Variable harmonisation
hub
Data harmonisation

9. Focus today on… Questionnaire Design and Documentation Tool (QDDT)
Fieldwork management system (FMS)
Survey Management portal (SMaP)
Focus on….

10. https://github.com/DASISH/qddt-client/wiki
QDDT:
FMS:
Survey management portal:
Contact Eveylyn
Can find out more about these tools via SERISS website and also dedicated sites shown on slide
Presenters happy to stay and answer questions./give you a demo of the tools in the break

11. www.seriss.eu @SERISS_EU seriss@city.ac.uk
Find out more
@SERISS_EU