1. Input Presentation for Working Group 6
Data Collection Methods and Field Work
Claudia Santos-Hövener

2. Data Collection Methods for EHIS
Member states
Valid percentages
Paper and pencil interviews (PAPI)
BE, BG, CZ, EE, HR, HU, GR, LV, LT, MT, PL, RO, SI, SK
64 %
(52 %)
Computer assisted interviews (CAPI)
AT, CH, CY, ES, FR, LV, PT, TR
(IE, IT, NL, UK)
36 %
(44 %)
Computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI)
CH, DE
(NL, UK)
9 %
(15 %)
Self-administered questionnaire
AT, BE, CH, CY, FR , HR, MT
(IT, NL, UK)
32 %
(37 %)

3. Feedback on Data Collection from Member States (1)
Data collection method
Category
Themes
Paper and pencil interviews (PAPI)
Practicalities and convenience
Cheaper than CAPI (CZ,EE)
Expensive (HR, LT, PL)
easy for organisation and distribution (CZ, BE)
lots of paper; data entry (HR, LT, SI, EE)
Easier to handle for interviewers (e.g. in remote areas) (LT)
Quality of data
more prone to mistakes (CZ, BE)
Many missing values (CH)
no way to check for inconsistencies (CZ, MT)
Lots of data cleaning required (MT, EE,
Response rate low (AT)
Other
Respondents feared for their confidentiality (RO)
Works well (CY, SI)

4. Feedback on Data Collection from Member States (2)
Data collection method
Category
Themes
Computer assisted interviews
(CAPI)
Advantages
Advantage of having plausibility and coherency checks included (AT, ES. FR,PT)
Regular transmission of data possible during field phase (AT)
Allows correcting answers during the interview when respondent changes her/his mind (ES, FR, AT)
Enables easy implementation of filters and links (LV)
Less mistakes in responses (compared to PAPI) (LV)
Mode of choice when interviewing elderly people (FR)
Respondents prefer CAPI (LV)
Problems
More expensive (FR)
Show cards don’t work with the elderly and persons with low level of education (RO)
Problems for interviewers: safety, technical issues (HR)
Computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI)
Good experience, most parts of EHIS questionnaire can be carried out in a CATI mode (DE)

5. Other Concerns Regarding Data Collection
Category
Sub-theme
Response/
Participation Rate
How can we increase participation rate? (BE)
EHIS should not be conducted in the summer months due to low response rates (HR, MT)
Minorities
Minorities or other population subgroups in interest should be sampled in the future (HR)
Include institutionalized persons in data collection (LT)
Implementation of EHIS into national surveys
How can we combine EHIS (or other European surveys) with national health surveys? (IT)
Reduce the number of indicators to those really comparable, and make it possible for countries to include with national questions in order to have only one HIS per country (IT)
Issues with data collection
How can we make the EHIS work for all data collection methods? (DE)
Use of PAPI created problems in data validation as skips were not always adhered to (MT)
Use of CATI makes it impossible to use show cards (NL)
Seasonal considerations regarding data collection (HR, MT)
Can countries add own questions if needed/wanted?