SRM Special Issue: Transitioning to Self-Completion Modes of Data Collection in Social Surveys in Europe

Guest Editors

Michael Collins (University College Dublin)

Olga Li (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Olga Maslovkaya (University of Southampton)

Christof Wolf (GESIS Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences and University Mannheim)

Submission due

October 31, 2026

Description

Across Europe, long-standing survey programmes have moved or are in the process of moving from interviewer-administered to self-completion modes of data collection. While offering opportunities for cost reduction, faster data collection, and greater respondent convenience, the shift to self-completion poses new challenges for survey quality, representation, and measurement.

Survey Research Methods is seeking contributions for a special issue on Transitioning to Self-Completion Modes of Data Collection in Social Surveys in Europe. The purpose of the special issue is to discuss the challenges and opportunities of moving from mainly face-to-face to self-completion modes. The Guest Editors welcome papers that advance our understanding of the implications of this transition for data quality, measurement, comparability, and inclusion, with a primary emphasis on comparative European surveys that are currently undergoing, or have already undergone, this change. Studies focusing on a single country within a comparative survey, as well as papers based on national surveys, are also welcome if their findings have broader methodological relevance for comparative or cross-national research.

In particular, the Guest Editors invite submissions on the following topics:

• Data quality and comparability (measurement issues arising from mode change, questionnaire design, adapting questions for web and mobile devices, layout and visual presentation, and strategies to ensure comparability across modes and over time);
• Mixed-mode approaches (design and implementation of mixed-mode strategies, factors influencing mode choice, empirical evidence of mode effects, and maintaining comparability across modes);
• Operational and cost implications (effects of the transition on fieldwork organization, sampling frame adaptation, survey efficiency, and overall costs, including resource allocation and data processing);
• Representativeness and inclusivity (ensuring adequate coverage of hard-to-reach and digitally excluded populations, addressing barriers related to access, literacy, and language, considering interviewer role in supporting participation through knock-to-nudge follow-ups or interviewer-assisted completions, and promoting inclusivity and accessibility in survey design).

We welcome contributions that provide methodological insight and practical evidence from ongoing transitions and that offer guidance on how future self-completion surveys can remain high-quality, inclusive, and comparable over time.

Policies

Reviewing policies follow the usual standards of SRM. Each submitted paper will be assigned to one of the Guest Editors for the special issue. The supervising Guest Editor will then select two expert reviewers. Those reviews and the Guest Editor's review will inform a recommendation to the Journal Editor, who makes the final decision.

Authors submitting to this special issue are expected to serve as reviewers for other papers submitted to the issue.

Submissions

To submit your contribution, please go to the SRM website upload the article as a PDF, just like a standard SRM article. Please clearly indicate that your submission is intended for this specific special issue in the field for Author comments.

Papers should be prepared according to the author guidelines. Accepted papers must adhere to SRM's implementation of the Transparency and Openness Promotion guidelines of the Center for Open Science. See the author guidelines for a detailed description of those policies.

Prospective authors are invited to email any questions about their proposed papers to the Guest Editors: Micheál L. Collins, Olga Li, Olga Maslovskaya, Christof Wolf