The ELIPSS Panel

A tool devised for research

The Longitudinal Online Survey for the Social Sciences (ELIPSS) gives any individual or organisation involved in social science research an opportunity to conduct questionnaire-based surveys with a representative sample of residents of metropolitan France over the age of 18.

Every month, the panellists are asked to complete one or more surveys, each lasting a total of around 20 minutes, using the instrument of their choice  (laptop computer, tablet, smartphone).

The ELIPSS team supports the research teams in designing and drafting their questionnaires and in conducting the different phases of the survey process: programming, testing, data collection, progress monitoring and reminder operations, ultimately providing the initiators of the survey project with a data file for analysis. Together with their documentation, these data are then made available to the whole scientific community for secondary use.

An online random probability panel

Since its creation in 2012, ELIPSS has sought to tackle a major challenge: to provide social science research with questionnaire-based survey resources founded on high quality sampling. The aim is to limit the main selection biases observed in online surveys, such as coverage bias and self-selection bias. In consequence ELIPSS employs a probabilistic method of sampling: the panellists are recruited from a random sample drawn by INSEE from the population census or tax sources.

So far, four recruitment operations have been carried out:

• In 2012, a sample of more than 1000 panellists was recruited by a mix of postal, phone and face-to-face methods.

In 2016, this sample was refreshed using exclusively face-to-face recruitment: 2500 new panellists joined the project, forming a total panel of 3300 individuals.

• In 2020, a second refreshment campaign, initially intended to be undertaken in-person, had to shift to a multimodal approach in the middle of the recruitment process. This was because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented home visits by interviewers. In this campaign, 900 panellists joined the 1400 panel members who had agreed to continue the experiment beyond the initial timeframe. At the beginning of 2021, therefore, the panel consisted of 2300 individuals.
• In 2023, a new multimodal refreshment campaign (telephone, post, email) recruited 900 people, increasing the size of the panel to 2641 individuals. In order to optimise the panel’s quality, an oversampling of younger members was adopted to limit representativeness biases: people under the age of 36 now represent 28.5% of the panel (compared with 26.2% in France; source: Enquête Emploi en Continu 2021).

Multiple data for research

With more than a hundred surveys completed, the scheme has become a model for the production of research data in the general population. The variety of the projects explored – cultural practices, workplace health, political opinions, environmental issues, etc. – which also allow matching between surveys, has generated a unique body of material. All the data produced can be accessed free of charge on data.sciencespo. Moreover, the fact that datasets can be matched opens up possibilities for almost infinite research opportunities. The ELIPSS collection now has several long series of repeated surveys – some of them using identical questionnaires – in particular The Annual Survey, Digital Practices, Mobilisation Dynamics et Coping with Covid-19. 

The different publication based on the use of ELIPSS  are evidence of the research community’s interest, since these publications extend well beyond the circle of data producers. Simplified datasets are also available for teaching purposes. For the moment, they cover the following three projects: Fertility - Contraception - Sexual Dysfunctions, Lifestyles and Environment et Coping with Covid-19 - wave 1.
Finally, the book Un panel français illustrates almost 10 years of experience with the panel.

A recognised instrument

Initiated as part of the DIME-SHS (Survey Data, Infrastructures and Methods in the Social Sciences) infrastructure, and hence with funding up to 2020 (ANR-1 0-EQPX-19-01), the ELIPSS panel is now a permanent component of CDSP’s activities. Apart from engagement on the part of the unit’s sponsoring structures, its funding model now relies on the participation of the research teams, which contribute to the costs of survey production. In addition to these partnerships, associated with use of the instrument, there are also collaborations founded on more methodological factors. For example, the ELIPSS team collaborates with different experts on matters of data adjustment, panel management or questionnaire design.

The experience acquired through the setting up and management of the ELIPSS panel has also been acknowledged through participation in several international scale projects. In 2019, CDSP’s teams capitalised on their experience by participating in the setting up the European CRONOS2 panel (initiated by ERIC ESS) through two projects funded under Horizon 2020 calls for projects (the SSHOC and ESS-SUSTAIN-2 projects).

In 2015, moreover, three CDSP research engineers involved in setting up the panel received the CNRS crystal medal, an award for “those who, through their creativity, their technical skills and their sense of innovation, contribute alongside scientists to the progress of knowledge and the excellence of French research”. The three women, Anne Cornilleau, Anne-Sophie Cousteaux and Geneviève Michaud, were rewarded for their decisive role in the implementation of the ELIPSS panel.