ESSnet Trusted Smart Surveys

The framework

In September 2002, the Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes (NSI) decided that more synergies were needed for the statistical data collection within the European Member States.

In order to achieve this, the ESSnet was established. ESS stands for the European Statistical System. The expertise within the various European NSIs is brought together and specific projects and action points are launched.

The ESSnet is a network of several ESS organisations aimed at providing results that will be beneficial to the whole ESS.

TUS and HBS as a basis

The new ESSnet project aims to develop a reference architecture at European level. The starting point of the new project is the end point of a previous funding framework around ‘Innovative tools and sources for diary-based surveys’.

The Time Use Survey and the Household Budget Survey are two ESS research methods that are carried out by the NSIs on a regular basis and provide insights into how people and families spend their time and money.

MOTUS as a TUS tool

MOTUS was evaluated as a software platform within the Eurostat-funded SOURCE TM project, in collaboration with Statbel (Belgium) and Destatis (Germany).

In a first phase within the ESSnet project, more European countries have the opportunity to get to know MOTUS. This applies to both the web and mobile application (front-office), as well as to the management tool behind MOTUS (back office).  The MOTUS back office makes it possible to set up the research design and to carry out and coordinate the fieldwork.

MOTUS goes SMART

MOTUS also makes it possible to receive data from other sources. This is done by so-called Microservices or Plugins.

In this project a geolocation plugin will be tested that extracts information from the sensors in a Smartphone.

Respondents no longer have to fill in all the information themselves via the MOTUS app, but part of the information is already processed in the respondent’s timeline beforehand.

The respondent can then accept or modify this information.

The timeline

The project runs from the beginning of January 2020 until the end of December 2021. In the first period until September 2020, the MOTUS tool will be tested by the countries and adjustments will be applied.

From 2020 onwards, pilot projects will be carried out in various countries in order to gather input about the user experiences from a larger group of people. These user experiences will then be re-analysed and processed in a new version of the application.