The Importance of Mixed-Mode Designs: Now and in the Future

The Importance of Mixed-Mode Designs: Now and in the Future course provides an essential introduction to the importance of mixed-mode survey designs and their central role in modern data collection. Due to declining participation rates, shrinking budgets, increased privacy concerns, and increasingly fragmented communication, mixed-mode designs are an essential solution to these challenges.

In this course, you will learn the historical evolution of survey methods, from interviewer-administered face-to-face and telephone surveys to today’s web-based surveys across multiple platforms. Through a discussion of survey modes, you will learn how each mode carries different cost, speed, and measurement considerations.

You will learn how to apply the Total Survey Error framework as a guiding principle for understanding how different mixed-mode designs impact representation, nonresponse, coverage, and measurement. You will learn how to apply principles of tailored survey design to make design decisions that align with research objectives, population needs, and operational constraints. Finally, you will be able to identify key mixed-mode designs and know how each can be used to optimize participation and data quality.

By the end of the course, you will be able to think critically about mode choice, mode sequence, and design trade-offs in your own mixed-mode survey research.

As the first course in a three-course series, this course serves as a conceptual foundation for conducting mixed-mode survey research and contains promotions for additional courses to deepen your understanding of mixed-mode survey design and implementation.