Open Access

The Interview

Self-Completion Questionnaire (SCQ)

London SCQ

A Self Completion Questionnaire (SCQ) has been developed for use in circumstances where a face-to-face interview is impossible to achieve. The 16-page questionnaire replicates the face-to-face interview as closely as possible: it covers all the titles in the face-to-face interview other than newspaper supplements and the Saturday issues of daily newspapers, and includes three pages of lifestyle and other questions. Its first use was in London, where obtaining a face-to-face interview is more difficult than the rest of the country. The SCQ was placed by interviewers only in cases where despite repeated efforts it had not been possible to obtain a face-to-face interview with the selected person; the interviewer returned to collect the completed questionnaire at a later date. The London SCQ proved successful in raising response rates. However, the introduction in September 2006 of a financial incentive for respondents completing the full face-to-face interview proved an even greater success, and consequently the use of the London SCQ declined to an extent where it was no longer considered to be cost effective, and this particular use of the SCQ was withdrawn in December 2007.

Postal Follow-Up SCQ

Following a successful test in 2005, the self-completion questionnaire (SCQ) is now also used in London and the South-East for a postal follow-up. In these regions, interviewers collect the name of the selected person, and at the end of each month a list is compiled of those selected persons with whom an interview has not been obtained, and these named individuals are subsequently mailed an SCQ to complete and return.