The 'WIN' project was set up in 2016 and had the goal to design and test innovative data collection strategies in social research. WIN stands for 'Waarneem Innovatie Netwerk', which in english means 'Data collection Innovation Network. The project was set up as a collaborative project between the data quality group at Utrecht University, and Statistics Netherlands. The focus of the project was on how to use mobile phones and wearable devices to improve the collection of human behavior data, and improve official statistics. We have developed our own open-source smartphone app system, and published many articles. The project was finished after 10 successful years in 2025.
Researchers often use panel data to study change and stability of social patterns. However, repeated interviewing can affect respondents’ attitudes in a panel study by raising awareness and triggering reflection processes on surveyed topics …
Rising survey costs, increasing internet usage, and restrictions during the pandemic have accelerated a shift from face-to-face (CAPI) to web-based interviews (CAWI). This paper analyses the consequences of this shift for the comparability of …
Back after a long pause. Panel surveys traditionally interview respondents at regular intervals, for example monthly or yearly. This interval is mostly chosen for practical reasons: interviewing people more frequently would lead to a large respondent burden, and a burden on data processing and dissemination. For these practical reasons, panel surveys often space their interviews one year apart. Many of the changes (e.g. changes in household composition) we as researchers are interested in occur slowly, and annual interviews suffice to capture these changes.
Instead of separating out mode effects from nonresponse and noncoverage effects through statistical modeling, it is perhaps better to design our mixed-mode surveys in such a way so that mode effects do not occur. The key principle in preventing the mode effects from occurring, is to make sure that questionnaires are cognitively equivalent to respondents. This means that no matter in which survey mode the respondents participate, they would give the same answer.