Effectiveness of Using Quick Response (QR) Codes in Survey Invitation Letters: Experiment Conducted in Generations and Gender Survey in the UK

Abstract

In the first wave of the UK’s Generations and Gender Survey, conducted as an online-only,probability-based survey, an experiment was carried out to examine the impact of providingQuick Response (QR) codes with URLs versus just URL links in the invitation and reminderletters. The aim of the experiment was to investigate differences in participants’ likelihoodof engaging with the survey, as well as in the quality of the data collected, between the twoexperimental conditions. The results suggest that respondents who received letters with a QRcode were more likely to participate and to use smartphones, rather than PCs/desktops, tocomplete the survey compared to those who received letters with only URL links. The finding isimportant because QR codes could be leveraged to encourage respondents to use smartphonesfor surveys that require additional tasks to be completed via mobile devices. No significantdifferences in data quality were observed between the two conditions, indicating that QR codesshow promise for future survey data collection. However, the experiment did not determinewhether the observed effects were specifically associated with participants using the QR codeto access the questionnaire. Future studies offering QR codes for online survey access shouldensure that the data on how respondents access the survey (via QR code or URL) is collected.This will allow for a more in-depth analysis of the factors associated with the different methodsof survey access.