Opportunities and Challenges of Live Video Interviewing: Experiences from across Seven Major UK Social Surveys

Use of live video interviewing as a method to conduct surveys became more common during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the UK, this mode of data collection was implemented in major social surveys for the first time. This paper investigates the use of LVI, focussing on opportunities and barriers, and collating evidence and experiences from seven major social surveys in the UK, with an emphasis on longitudinal surveys.

The specific aims are the investigation of: uptake and response rates to LVI, the characteristics of those that responded via LVI, and the feasibility of collecting complex elements via LVI, such as consent, cognitive assessments and sensitive questions. One of the main findings is that LVI in the UK surveys analysed was used in different ways: either as the only/primary survey mode when in-person/face-to-face data collection was not possible, or as a complementary mode in mixed-mode designs.

The results suggest that, if LVI were the only or primary data collection mode, response rates would be notably lower than in alternative modes – for both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. There is also some evidence that lower response rates in LVI could potentially lead to an increase in representation bias. On the other hand, there are encouraging findings, including that once respondents agree to participate via LVI, this mode proves to be a suitable approach for collecting complex elements. This is a key finding since previous research has identified limitations of other remote methods for collecting this kind of data, which is an important component of many studies, especially longitudinal studies.

Overall, the evidence from this study suggests that LVI, under certain conditions, can be a suitable complementary data collection mode in a mixed-mode survey design, offering potentially more cost-efficient fieldwork. We identify particular feasibility advantages for longitudinal surveys. An increase in LVI uptake in both longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys may be expected over time as online working becomes increasingly common and some barriers to LVI can be addressed. Further LVI development of fieldwork procedures are required.

This is a draft document. An earlier version of this working paper has been submitted for peer-review. Please do not cite without permission of authors.