Implementation of online questionnaires in the General Household Survey in Hong Kong

Abstract

The General Household Survey (GHS) of Hong Kong is a monthly household survey on labour force characteristics and household income. Traditionally, data collection was conducted via face-to-face interviews through field visits and computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI). In July 2017, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) introduced an online questionnaire (OQ) in the GHS to enhance its services to survey respondents. Considering the importance of GHS statistics, the tight monthly survey cycle and the complexities involved in adding a new data collection mode, a phase-by-phase approach was adopted with close monitoring of data quality of the survey estimates. With satisfactory trial results, the OQ was fully implemented in the GHS in January 2019. Being a convenient and privacy-assured channel, the OQ helps entice sampled households to respond to the GHS and increases the contact rate of those households who are more difficult to reach by the conventional data collection methods. During COVID-19 when face-to-face interviews had to be adjourned, the OQ provided a powerful channel for data collection. With targeted messages appealing for response by OQ sent to sampled households in a more proactive manner, the take-up rate of the OQ increased by as much as 10 percentage points, partly compensating the loss due to the suspension of field visits such that monthly labour force statistics could continue to be published during the epidemic. The paper was prepared under the kind mentorship of Ms Lisa Bersales, former Chief Statistician of the Philippines.