Innovative data collection strategies: Istat survey on « wellbeing and safety of people »
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71014/sieds.v80i4.493Abstract
The ISTAT survey "Wellbeing and Safety of People" analysed subjective well-being and perceived safety in Italy. It involves a sample of about 25,000 individuals aged 16–75, with 21,000 Italians interviewed via CATI (telephone) and 4,500 foreigners via CAPI (face-to-face). A key innovation was the contact strategy for CATI interviews: participants received an informative letter and a reminder, encouraging them voluntarily provide a phone number through a toll-free number or an ISTAT webpage (via tax code or QR code). Another methodological novelty was the formation of interview quartets, prioritizing individuals who had proactively shared their contact details, thereby reinforcing the link between voluntary action and participation. This paper has the goals to assess the impact of the communication strategy and reminders on response rates and participation patterns by age and geographical area. The approach offers useful insights to improve citizen engagement in future surveys and could serve as a replicable model to reduce territorial inequalities in participation.
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