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Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to our upcoming session "Survey experiments with hard-to-survey populations: Solutions or new challenges?" at the 11th Conference of the European Survey Research Association (ESRA) 2025 in Utrecht.

To participate, please submit your abstract (maximum 300 words) via the ESRA conference portal: https://www.europeansurveyresearch.org/conference/utrecht-2025/call-for-abstracts/ 

For detailed session information please visit: https://www.europeansurveyresearch.org/conf2025/sessions.php?sess=138 

Or read the session details below.

We look forward to your contributions!

Best regards,

Armin Küchler

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Session details

Populations such as the homeless, elderly, irregular migrants, LGBTQIA+ individuals, victims of violence, and stigmatized peole (e.g., individuals living with HIV or disabilities) are frequently underrepresented in general population surveys because they are particularly hard to reach. To address this issue, methodologies like respondent-driven-sampling and social media targeting have been developed. 

However, reaching such populations is just the first hurdle; successfully conducting surveys with these groups presents additional complexities: Researchers are often interested in precisely those sensitive topics that make the groups difficult to reach, leading to low trust in the survey process and a higher social desirability bias or non-response to certain questions. Additionally, marginalized individuals may encounter difficulties with traditional survey frameworks due to factors such as low education, language barriers, or illiteracy, making it challenging for them to appropriately respond to questions or given formats. Health issues may further undermine survey quality.

Survey experiments, including factorial surveys and conjoint analyses, are increasingly used to tackle these challenges. In surveys with conventional populations, these methods were able to reduce social desirability through indirect questioning and were comprehensible to the participants due to their holistic design. However, there is limited research on the effectiveness of these experiments when working with hard-to-survey populations. Do these methods enhance comprehension and response quality? Can they effectively minimize social desirability bias and non-response? How do they compare to traditional direct questioning techniques? How can survey experiments be adapted to reflect the specific contexts and experiences of specific hard-to-survey populations? 

This session will explore these questions, examining benefits and limitations of survey experiments within the context of hard-to-survey populations. In doing so, we aim to advance methodological approaches and improve the quality and inclusivity of survey research for often-overlooked research groups.

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