Do respondents using smartphones produce lower quality data? Evidence from the UK Understanding Society mixed-device survey

Some social surveys in the UK have either transitioned to online data collection or are in the process of transitioning. The COVID-19 pandemic forced rapid moves to online data collection for some surveys. There are still some concerns regarding the quality of data produced by respondents using smartphones for survey questionnaire completion.

This paper uses the first available in the UK, large-scale mixed-device survey, Understanding Society Wave 8, where 40% of the sample were assigned to an online mode of data collection. It allows comparison of data quality between different devices. Different data quality and differential reporting indicators are assessed.

The results suggest that even when the questionnaire is not optimised for a smartphone, we should not be concerned about respondents using smartphones in social surveys, even for longer surveys, such as Understanding Society, as break-off rates are very low and data quality between devices is not very different.