Innovation in online data
collection for scientific
research
The Dutch MESS project
Marcel Das
MESS Project
Purpose: to build an advanced data
collection environment for the social
sciences





2
9-4-2015
Maximal opportunities for innovation
Multidisciplinary
Fast
Cost effective
Easy to use for everyone in the scientific
community
Central element MESS project:
the LISS panel
 Online panel of 5,000 households
 8,000 individuals (>= 16 years)
 Questionnaires each month, 30 min.
 Incentive € 15 (≈ ₩ 21,500) per hour
3
9-4-2015
 At no cost if for scientific use
LISS panel
 Online interviews as method, but:
 Probability sample drawn from address
sampling frame of Statistics
Netherlands
 Includes households without Internet
access (less than 15%): CentERdata
provides equipment
4
9-4-2015
 Contacted by letter, telephone or visit
simPC
Very small and silent
Only the most frequently used functions
Automatic maintenance, virus protected
Simple operation and readable screens
5
9-4-2015
Installation and support
Non-response patterns
Similar to those of other leading
scientific panels
Superior to commercial access and
volunteer panels:
- no coverage problems
- no self-selection
6
9-4-2015
Attention for attrition
Refreshment sample in 2009 (stratified)
and 2011 (random), in close collaboration
with Statistics Netherlands
7
9-4-2015
Number of registered households by subsamples; Jan 2008 - July 2012
Source: Scherpenzeel et al. 2012
Non-Internet
households
(Leenheer and Scherpenzeel, 2012)
 Who are they?
 Do we get them in the panel?
 Are participants representative?
 Do they stay in the panel?
 Do they stay representative or do they
start to use the Internet more frequently?
9
9-4-2015
Results of study
Who are
they?
 Differ in many ways from Internet hh
Get them in
the panel?
 Difficult to get into the panel
Representative?
 In panel: representative with respect to
age, household size and origin
Stay in the
panel?
 Loyal and reliable panel members
Stay representative?
 About half remain “Non-Internet”
10
9-4-2015
 Using Internet does not change the
answers to questions
Use of the LISS panel
 New data collection
Academic researchers, irrespective of
nationality, can use the LISS panel at no
cost
 Proposals can be submitted throughout the
year (see http://www.lissdata.nl)
 Available data (free of charge)
11
9-4-2015
 Proposed studies
 Longitudinal core study
Longitudinal Core Study
Questions were designed in close collaboration
with experts in the relevant fields
Core study borrows from various national and
international surveys (to facilitate
comparisons with other data sources)
Topics: Household and family, Economic
situation and housing, Work and schooling,
Social integration and leisure, Health,
Personality, Religion and ethnicity, Politics
and values
12
9-4-2015
Wave 5: Nov 2011 to June 2012
Innovation
in data collection methods
13
9-4-2015
Advanced weighing scales
Device that measures body weight and fat
percentage, wirelessly transmitted to LISS
database
Provided to 1,000 households
in LISS panel
2011: 80,000 measurements
14
9-4-2015
Data can be linked to a wealth of
socioeconomic variables
Weekly weight cycle
15
Source: Kooreman and Scherpenzeel, 2012
Accelerometer study
Device provides aggregate indices of activity
through the day (24 hours)
Wearing the device for 8 days
September 2012: feasibility pilot
among 200 LISS respondents
16
9-4-2015
International collaboration:
American Life Panel (ALP)
English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA)
Smartphone data
collection
Time Use Research (TUR)
usually carried out using questionnaires
and diaries
current technology: smartphones and
“apps”
17
9-4-2015
Also: after consent, connect diary to
movements measured by GPS
Pilot experiments
(Fernee et al., 2012)
Currently < 25% of LISS respondents has
smartphone with Internet access
Explore the possibility to loan smartphones
to LISS respondents
50 respondents with Android smartphone
 download app from Android Play-store
50 respondents without Android smartphone
 app was already installed
18
9-4-2015
Response
19
9-4-2015
Day 1: Wednesday
Smartphone
owners (50)
Inexperienced users
(50)
Day questions uploaded
(complete)
40
27
Partially complete
2
15
No observations
3
7
Never logged in
5
1
Day 2: Saturday
Smartphone
owners (50)
Inexperienced users
(50)
Day questions uploaded
(complete)
37
46
Partially complete
9
1
No observations
3
0
Never logged in
1
3
Smartphones: next
steps
September 2012: start collecting the actual
TUR data on iPhones, Android (loan)
smartphones
(in cooperation with The Netherlands Institute for Social Research)
One year: each month a different batch of
about 170 respondents
20
9-4-2015
Next to the TUR study:
- Project measuring travel behavior (GPS)
- Software development for smartphones
Linking to admin data
Expands the possibilities for scientific
research enormously
Statistics Netherlands offers a remote
access facility to (registered) researchers
21
9-4-2015
First project: merging
LISS data about minimal and adequate
expenditure levels during retirement
with
administrative data on pension
entitlements and various asset categories
LISS data: archive and DDI
 Disseminated through website / data
archive: http://www.lissdata.nl
 Database is based on DDI 3: one of the
first implementations of version 3
(DDI = Data Documentation Initiative,
International XML-based standard for
data documentation)
22
9-4-2015
 Supports ‘Baskets’, allowing researchers
to create and download custom datasets
www.lissdata.nl