Implementing innovations in surveys often results in uncertainty concerning how different design decisions will affect key performance indicators such as response rates, nonresponse bias, or survey costs. Thus, responsive survey designs have been developed to better cope with such situations. In the present study, we propose a responsive survey design that relies on experimentation in the earlier phases of the survey to decide between different design choices of which—prior to data collection—their impact on performance indicators is uncertain. We applied this design to the European Values Study 2017/2018 in Germany that advanced its general social survey-type design away from the traditional face-to-face mode to self-administered modes. These design changes resulted in uncertainty as to how different incentive strategies and mode choice sequences would affect response rates, nonresponse bias, and survey costs. We illustrate the application and operation of the proposed responsive survey design, as well as an efficiency issue that accompanies it. We also compare the performance of the responsive survey design to a traditional survey design that would have kept all design characteristics static during the field period.

中文翻译：

---

使用响应式调查设计来创新自我管理的混合模式调查

在调查中实施创新通常会导致不确定性，即不同的设计决策将如何影响关键绩效指标，例如响应率、不响应偏差或调查成本。因此，已经开发了响应式调查设计以更好地应对这种情况。在本研究中，我们提出了一种响应式调查设计，该设计依赖于调查早期阶段的实验来决定不同的设计选择——在数据收集之前——它们对绩效指标的影响是不确定的。我们将此设计应用于德国的 2017/2018 年欧洲价值观研究，该研究将其一般社会调查型设计从传统的面对面模式推进到自我管理模式。这些设计变化导致不确定性，即不同的激励策略和模式选择顺序将如何影响响​​应率、不响应偏差和调查成本。我们说明了拟议的响应式调查设计的应用和操作，以及随之而来的效率问题。我们还将响应式调查设计的性能与传统的调查设计进行了比较，传统的调查设计将在现场期间保持所有设计特征不变。