Renaming your survey to increase response rates

Statisticians aren’t really known for giving snappy names to things. Often surveys are named to be very precise, or what it says on the tin to what a statistician would understanding. For example the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy Survey has the amazing acronym LCREES. Which is pronounced el kree or el krees like L-trees, but with an l instead of a t.

However these names can be a problem when you’re trying to convince members of the public to complete a survey. These people, or respondents, as we call them in survey research lingo are often time poor. They’re busy going about their days and often won’t spend much time looking deeply at survey names or topics. There’s probably only a few unconscious seconds before they delete an email invitation, or put it in the bin if it’s printed.

So how do you get around this? You make your survey name better. Sounds a bit obvious, doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised. Research folk are often immersed in whatever they’re doing.

The Understanding Society survey is a great example of a survey being renamed, or having an alternative name for the public.

It says what it does on the tin.

It’s punchy.

It’s short.

It can be used to convince people. Dare I say, the name is quite sexy. As far as statistics and social research goes.

And what is it called by statisticians? The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS).