‘Keeping in touch’ on the Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS)

Oliver Tatum and Angie Osborn

Understanding Society Research Conference 2013

Outline

• WAS background

• Longitudinal issues

• Experiment design

• Research findings

• Future plans

• Questions

WAS background

Wealth & Assets Survey (WAS)

Longitudinal survey of private households in GB

All adults over 16 years (excluding 16-18 year olds in FT education)

Consortium of government departments

Collects data on:

a) value of all personal savings, assets and debt;

b) level of saving for retirement;

c) financial advice: frequency and types received;

d) attitudinal (attitudes to saving, financial acuity, wellbeing, health)

WAS background: Survey topics

Property wealth• House value minus Mortgage values• Other Property – Buy to let/ 2nd homes (incl. Overseas)

Physical wealth• Vehicles, House contents and Collectables

Financial wealth• Assets: Current / Savings/ Investment accounts/ Shares/ Trusts• Liabilities: Loans / Credit Cards/ Store cards/ Mail order/ HP

Pension wealth• Employer sponsored & Individual Personal pensions• Retained pensions (previous employment)• Pension from a Spouse or Partner (current or former)

Distribution of Total Household Wealth, Great Britain, 2008/10

WAS background: Media coverage

WAS background: Survey design

Random sample, stratified by Postcode

Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF)

Wealthiest 10% Postcodes over-sampled (3:1)

All private households in GB (excl. north of Caledonian Canal, the Scottish Islands and the Isles of Scilly)

Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI)

Responses weighted using census data to allow results to be generalised to GB population

WAS background: Survey design

Re-interview households every two years

Follow original sample members to new addresses

Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4

July 06–June 08 July 08-June 10 July 10-June 12 July 12-June 14

Keeping In Touch Exercise telephone (KITE) 4 months (previously 3 months) before follow up

Year 1 Year 2 Year 1 Year 2 Year 1 Year 2 Year 1 Year 2

WAS background: Survey design

Wave 1 62,400 households sampled 55,829 households eligible 30,595 achieved household interviews

Wave 2 Wave 1 respondents re-interviewed Wave 1 non-contacts re-attempted 20,170 achieved household interviews

Wave 3 & Wave 4 Wave 1&2 respondents re-interviewed Wave 2&3 non-contacts & soft refusals re-attempted New panel boost :

• 12,000 new addresses in wave 3• 16,000 new addresses in wave 4

Longitudinal issues

Attrition: • Maintaining WAS longitudinal sample over time by

maximising response at next wave

Tracking: • Accurately tracking WAS original sample members

who move address (local/distant) between waves

Engagement: • Keeping respondents interested in & engaged with

WAS over time

Longitudinal issues: Current measures

Anticipatory: • various contact details collected• nominated persons contact details • likelihood of moving in the next year checked• respondent change of address cards• incentives for participation

Between wave: • telephone ‘keep in touch exercise’ (KITE) • UK address changes service

In wave: • interviewers trace local movers in the field• pre-paid respondent letter left with old address • distant movers reissued to another interviewer

Longitudinal issues

Attrition: • Maintaining WAS longitudinal sample over time by

maximising response at next wave

Tracking: • Accurately tracking WAS original sample members

who move address (local/distant) between waves

Engagement: • Keeping respondents interested in & engaged with

WAS over time

Value for money: • Using resources required to address these issues

as efficiently/effectively as possible

Aims of the Experiment

• To measure the impact of two KITE methods on response rates for field work

• To establish the best timing for issuing survey newsletters to respondents

• To measure the effectiveness of two KITE methods to identifying eligible and ineligible movers

• To provide supporting information to make an informed decision about the cost-effectiveness of assessed treatments.

Experiment Design (1)

KITE

KITE

Newsletter

KITE +Newsletter

No treatment

KITE

Experiment Design (2)

KITE Interview

• ~ 5 min CAPI interview

• 4 months before field interview

• Up-date on household composition and contact details

Newsletter2-page leaflet Easy-to-read graphsMedia headlines and user

feedbackHighlighting importance

to participateContact details

Newsletter

Experiment Design (3)

Mainstage Month 07

/10

08/1

0

09/1

0

10/1

0

11/1

0

12/1

0

01/1

1

02/1

1

03/1

1

04/1

1

05/1

1

06/1

1

07/1

1

08/1

1

09/1

1

10/1

1

11/1

1

12/1

1

01/1

2

02/1

2

HAS1011

HAS1012HAS1101

HAS1103 Newsletter posted

HAS1104HAS1105 HAK interviewHAS1106HAS1107 HAS mainstage interviewHAS1108

HAS1109

HAS1110HAS1111HAS1112HAS1201HAS1202

Distribution of Sample Members

Hypothesis testing

1. H0: The individual’s field interview outcome is independent from the experiment group

2. H0: The individual’s field interview outcome is independent from the length of time between posting the newsletter and the field interview

3. H0: The resident status at the field interview is independent from the experiment groups

Hypothesis Testing (1)

1 2 1 3 1 4N 3,228 3,027 3,228 3,150 3,228 3,058Column % 65.3 65.5 65.3 65.6 65.3 68.0N 1,162 1,114 1,162 1,127 1,162 1,006Column % 23.5 24.1 23.5 23.5 23.5 22.4N 358 317 358 300 358 266Column % 7.2 6.9 7.2 6.3 7.2 5.9N 197 164 197 224 197 169Column % 4.0 3.6 4.0 4.7 4.0 3.8N 4,945 4,622 4,945 4,801 4,945 4,499Column % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0Design DFPearson's Chi2F-StatisticP-value

95410.6762.1160.097

9536.6921.1900.3120.797

Ineligible

9511.9630.337

Total

Experiment Group

Response

Non-response (non-contact/ refusal)Unknown eligibility

Interview Outcome

H0: The individual’s field interview outcome is independent from the experiment group.

Hypothesis Testing (2)H0: The individual’s field interview outcome is independent from

length of time between posting the newsletter and interview.

4 5 6 7 8 9N 1,085 1,028 1,044 1,029 875 1,024Column % 67.4 65.7 66.6 66.9 66.6 67.0N 361 354 341 364 316 384Column % 22.4 22.6 21.8 23.7 24.1 25.1N 117 116 123 86 82 59Column % 7.3 7.4 7.8 5.6 6.3 3.9N 46 67 60 59 40 61Column % 2.9 4.3 3.8 3.8 3.1 4.0N 1,609 1,565 1,568 1,538 1,313 1,528Column % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0Design DFPearson's Chi2F-StatisticP-value

93638.4181.2780.209

Total

Non-response (non-contact/ refusal)Unknown eligibility

Ineligible

Interview Outcome No. of months between NL and W3

Response

Hypothesis Testing (3)

H0: The resident status is independent from the experiment groups.

1 2 1 3 1 4N 4,139 3,928 4,139 3,955 4,139 3,790Column % 83.7 85.0 83.7 82.4 83.7 84.2N 177 130 177 136 177 134Column % 3.6 2.8 3.6 2.8 3.6 3.0N 74 83 74 186 74 140Column % 1.5 1.8 1.5 3.9 1.5 3.1N 555 481 555 524 555 435Column % 11.2 10.4 11.2 10.9 11.2 9.7N 4,945 4,622 4,945 4,801 4,945 4,499Column % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0Design DFPearson's Chi2F-StatisticP-value 0.232 0.000 0.000

Non-mover - non-contact/ eligible

951 953 9547.516 35.7221.430 10.321 6.511

Mover - eligible

Mover - ineligible/ unknown

Type of Mover Experiment Group

Non-mover - contact/ eligible

56.591

Total

Summary (1)

H0: The individual’s field interview outcome is independent from the experiment group

KITE and newsletter together do have some positive effects on response at the field stage

Summary (2)

H0: The individual’s field interview outcome is independent from the length of time between posting the newsletter and the field interview

This test did not show any conclusive evidence on the best time to post newsletters

Summary (3)

H0: The resident status at the field interview is independent from the experiment groups

The KITE interviewer does have an effect on the identification of movers

Conclusion

• Continue KITE interviews positive impact on identifying movers and tracing them at new location

• Consider introduction of periodical newsletters positive impact on response rates in combination with KITE interviews

Future plans

Attrition and response measures:• Introduce mailed out newsletter for previous respondents • Introduce key WAS results factsheet for field interviewers• Email KITE for telephone KITE non-contacts• Incentives testing: unconditional £5 voucher with advance

letter for boost addresses (Apr–Sep 2013)

WAS outputs:• WAS Wave 3 results scheduled December 2013• Wave 5 development

Wave 5 pilot in October 2013 Wave 5 launch scheduled for July 2014

Questions / Comments?

Oliver Tatumoliver.tatum@ons.gsi.gov.uk

Angie Osbornangie.osborn@ons.gsi.gov.uk