How well do web panel surveys measure behaviour in the general population and can they be improved? A comparison with a national probability sample. (360G-Wellcome-084840_Z_08_A)

£252,403

Despite the dramatic growth in the use of online/web surveys for market research and opinion polling, web methods are not widely used in the UK for collecting epidemiological or surveillance data (or for academic research)(1). Most web surveys rely on quota sampling from volunteer web panels (WPs) run by market research companies.* While volunteer WPs will increase in importance (5,6,12-15), there are well-founded concerns about their representativeness. Research in the US and Europe has shown that WPs have problems with coverage, sampling and non-response (1-8). There has been little UK research comparing results from WPs with high-quality probability samples to explore how WPs can be used to make inferences about the general population and/or to develop estimation methods to use WP data (1,4,6,8,9-11,12,16-21). This enhancement grant aims to exploit an ideal opportunity to compare results from WPs with Natsal3, and to address deficiencies in the literature, eg: comparing a WP with a CASI probability sample; using WPs for asking about sensitive behaviours (most studies have focused on political attitudes and consumer behaviour). This new work was not envisaged or costed in the original Natsal grant; it has in part arisen from an experiment in the development phase to offer a short web questionnaire to Natsal respondents who declined the main interview. We are requesting funds to commission WP samples from three leading UK survey organizations, which will be carried out in two stages alongside two waves of Natsal3 fieldwork.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 252403
Applicant Surname Johnson
Approval Committee Science Enhancement Committee
Award Date 2011-10-06T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2011/12
Grant Programme: Title Enhancement
Internal ID 084840/Z/08/A
Lead Applicant Prof Dame Anne Johnson
Partnership Value 252403
Planned Dates: End Date 2013-11-30T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2011-12-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region Greater London