Podcast

Survey response rates during Covid

What happened to Understanding Society during the Covid pandemic?

A sign in a window reading "Thank you for social distancing", illustrated with two human figures standing 2m apart

In this episode, we’re looking at methodology. Pablo Cabrera Alvarez, a Senior Research Officer at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, talks about survey response rates and what happened to Understanding Society during the Covid pandemic, when interviewers couldn’t get to see participants face to face.

Covid 19 Health and wellbeing Survey methodology

What else is Understanding Society doing?

Calendar Year 2023 data now available

The latest release of our Calendar Year datasets can now be accessed via the UK Data Service.

22 Oct 2025

Professor Annette Jäckle debates survey methods on BBC Radio 4

The Deputy Director of Understanding Society, Professor Annette Jäckle, has featured on a BBC Radio 4 programme to unpick the reality behind a recent headline about young people.

15 Oct 2025

Innovation Panel Competition is now open

Field an experiment or suggest questionnaire content for the next wave of the Innovation Panel.

09 Oct 2025

Photo of people crossing a busy city street

How do you build a survey that works?

Peter Lynn, Associate Director of Understanding Society, tackles the question in an article in Nature: Human Behaviour

01 Oct 2025

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ESRC Institute for Social and Economic Research University of Essex

The Economic and Social Research Council is the primary funder of the study
The Study is led by a team at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex.