Internet Interviewing Will Become the Dominant Survey Mode in the Social Sciences in the Next 10–20 years
The Third LCSR International Workshop is being held in Saint Petersburg from April 26–30, 2013. Marcel Das, Director of CentERdata since 2000, and Professor of Econometrics and Data Collection at Tilburg University, talked to the HSE News Portal beforehand about the topic he would present to the workshop; Innovation in Online Data Collection for Scientific Research.
The Third LCSR International Workshop, is being held in Saint Petersburg from April 26–30, 2013. Marcel Das, Director of CentERdata since 2000, and Professor of Econometrics and Data Collection at Tilburg University, talked to the HSE News Portal beforehand about the topic he would present to the workshop; Innovation in Online Data Collection for Scientific Research
Among the topics under discussion are: the transformation of values in Russia and throughout the world, subjective well-being and quality of life, inter-confessional relations, and migration. Marcel Das (Tilburg University), Stefan Hradil (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), Arye Rattner (University of Haifa), Benjamin Lind (HSE),and Malina Voicu (EUROLAB, GESIS) are delivering the five key lectures.
Members of LCSR network are presenting their projects and winners of the 6th call for associate membership are submitting their proposals at the workshop. Researchers have come from universities in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Germany, Israel, USA, Italy, Denmark and Luxembourg.
(Ronald Inglehart (University of Michigan, USA, and HSE), Christian Welzel (Leuphana University, Germany, and HSE), Eduard Ponarin (HSE, Saint-Petersburg, Russia) are the key experts giving feedback.)
Marcel Das, Director of CentERdata since 2000, and Professor of Econometrics and Data Collection at the Department of Econometrics and Operations Research of the Tilburg School of Economics and Management, talked to the HSE News Portal beforehand about Innovation in Online Data Collection for Scientific Research: the Dutch MESS Project
— Marcel, you are going to introduce a new method on Internet data collection. What's the main challenge in this approach?
— CentERdata has been collecting data via the internet since the year 2000. There are several challenges in online data collection. First of all, most online panels (throughout the world) are based on self-selection. Only those persons who register participate in the questionnaires. This may lead to serious biases. To study the general population one should rely on a random sample. Drawing such a random sample may be a challenge as well, but this holds for all methods of data collection.
Second, the existing online panels only involve respondents who have access to the internet. For a general population study this may (again) lead to serious biases. At CentERdata we run several online panels and households that could not otherwise participate are given a computer and broadband access. In this way we can still reach the entire population with the internet as a method of data collection. The technological developments also create many new opportunities for asking questions innovatively or collecting data in other ways than through survey questions (e.g. the collection of biomarkers, physical performance measures, time use, and subjective well-being).
— What's your view on the role of the internet in modern life in general?
— The internet has changed our lives and will change them further. Look, for example, at the way in which we communicate and interact nowadays (and compare this with one decade ago). I also believe that Internet interviewing will become the dominant survey mode in the social sciences in the next 10–20 years, largely replacing written, face-to-face, and telephone interviewing. Internet penetration is increasing fast all over the world and among all socioeconomic groups.
— Tell us about your interaction with HSE researchers?
— I met a few people from HSE at a conference held at Qatar University (18-20 March, 2013; The Rise in Public Engagement: The Region and the World). This conference was organized in close collaboration with the World Values Survey Association. After listening to my talk in Qatar the deputy director of LCSR, Tatiana Karabchuk asked me whether I was willing to give a presentation at the Third International Workshop of the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (HSE). This will be my first interaction with HSE researchers.
Anna Chernyakhovskaya, specially for HSE news service