1. ESF-Evaluation Partnership Meeting, Brussels, 9th October 2018
Online ESF-Questionnaire
ESF-Evaluation Partnership Meeting, Brussels, 9th October 2018

2. Online ESF-Questionnaire
Motivation
Why did we develop an online survey?
Idea and design
What influenced the design of the online survey?
How to use the online survey?
Outlook
What needs to change to have a paperless process?

3. Why did we develop an online survey
Initial situation:
Participants and beneficiaries have to fill out paper-based questionnaires (entry, exit and 6 months after exit). The entry questionnaire has to be signed to declare that the given information is true.

4. Why did we develop an online survey
Initial situation:
Beneficiaries have to transfer the data to the Intermediate Bodies and the Management Authority via a website. Data has to be typed into the website (likewise AIR in SFC).

5. Why did we develop an online survey
Initial situation: Data entry form

6. Why did we develop an online survey
Initial situation:
The system validates the data while typed, yielding various differences in questionnaires and database (many beneficiaries correct the data without documentation, violating the audit trail -> information should be traceable from SFC back to the questionnaires).

7. Why did we develop an online survey
Initial situation:
Validation routines

8. Why did we develop an online survey
Initial situation:
Intermediate bodies have to check a sample of the questionnaires for errors, all questionnaires are checked when the error rate is above a certain threshold. Errors can be categorized into:
misunderstanding of the questionnaires
data input-errors
documentation errors of corrections

9. Why did we develop an online survey
Initial situation:
Beneficiaries have to correct the errors via the website and document the corrections on the questionnaires to secure the audit trail.

10. Why did we develop an online survey
The described process leads to a considerable workload both, at beneficiaries and Intermediate Bodies (IB) level.
Thus, an Online ESF-Questionnaire was developed,
to ease the workload and inspection effort and
to eliminate a considerable amount of errors.

11. What influenced the design of the online survey
Two demands guided the development of the Online ESF-Questionnaire:
It has to provide an added value for beneficiaries and participants
It has to reduce the error rate in questionnaires and reduce workload at beneficiary and IB level

12. What influenced the design of the online survey
The first demand is fulfilled by
Providing an easy procedure to unlock the Online ESF-Questionnaire for the beneficiaries
Optimizing the Online ESF-Questionnaire for smartphones
Providing multiple language support for the users (participants)
Foregoing a user specific log-in procedure, using a time-limited open log-in instead

13. How to use the online survey

14. How to use the online survey
Login:

15. How to use the online survey

16. How to use the online survey
The second demand (reduced error rate and workload) is fulfilled by
Live validation routines
Relieving beneficiaries from error prone paper-to-website retyping
Reducing audit effort/workload of IBs

17. How to use the online survey

18. How to use the online survey

19. How to use the online survey
IBs can reduce their effort in checking questionnaires by comparing timestamps online and on paper
-> identical timestamps prove that the signature on the paper questionnaire refers to the transmitted data.

20. What needs to change to have a paperless process
The described process still needs paperwork: At present, the entry questionnaires have to be
printed after they are filled out via the Online ESF-Questionnaire and
signed to declare that the given information is true (audit trail).
Note: The questionnaires for the information on exit and 6 months after exit can be filled out online by beneficiaries w/o using the paper-based questionnaires.

21. What needs to change to have a paperless process
In order to allow a truly digital process, two changes are necessary:
The need to sign questionnaires has to be revoked (typical for some German federal states). As this would not be necessary for register data, Audit Authorities (and the European Commission) need to recognize that the potential quality of survey data is at the same level as the potential quality of register data.
The signature of the declaration of consent to the data-protection terms and conditions has to be made obsolete by obtaining this declaration digitally.

22. Thank You!