National Survey for Wales - design of next contract

Description

Engaging with marketplace on (1) the deliverability of potential requirements, and (2) comments on a review of the options carried out during 2021. Potential requirements include a random sample social survey with an achieved sample of 12,000 adults a year across Wales. The contract would cover fieldwork from 2023-24 to approx 2027-28, with a set-up and testing phase from summer 2022 until March 2023. The budget is likely to be around GBP 1.6m - GBP 1.8m in each of the fieldwork years, excluding VAT. Lot 1: Proposed design of the National Survey for 2023-24 onwards The survey design is not yet finalised, but is currently expected to be: 1. A random sample of households across Wales contacted by post and asked to provide a contact telephone number via an online contact form / phone line / text message; 2. Random selection of one adult within that household to take part; 3. Telephone interview with the respondent; then (in most years) 4. Online self-completion section with the same respondent. In cases where a telephone number is not provided, an interviewer may visit the address to carry out an in-person interview (followed in most years by a CASI section). The survey would take around 40 minutes in total (telephone / CAPI interview plus any online / CASI section). We are interested to know: a. Would the design outlined above be deliverable for your organisation? b. Are there any changes to the design that would make it more deliverable, while still delivering a random sample survey of 12,000 respondents a year? The approach is similar to the current National Survey for Wales approach, except that visits to addresses are currently limited to a respondent selection plus obtaining a phone number for the respondent in order to carry out a subsequent telephone interview; and currently only a subset of respondents are asked to complete an online section following the telephone interview. For more information on the current design, see https://gov.wales/national-survey-wales-quality-report-january-2021-onwards-html. There is more background on the National Survey for Wales at www.gov.wales/nationalsurvey. Options review The methodology being considered for 2023-24 onwards is based on an options review carried out for Welsh Government during 2021 by NatCen / Southampton University. We are also keen to have comments on the draft report from other contractors who may be interested in carrying out the survey. As well as any general comments on the report we are interested to know if there are any key points that you would disagree with; or other design options or methodological issues/solutions that should be considered further. We will provide any such comments to the review contractor, to be reflected in the final report. We will not provide the review contractor with organisation names or with any responses to questions a and b above. We would be grateful to have your thoughts by midday on 24 January 2022. Additional information: see attached