Understanding and improving data linkage consent in surveys

This report summarizes findings from a project that aimed to improve our understanding about how to pursue the twin goals of maximizing consent to data linkage and ensuring that consent is genuinely informed. Using experimental data from the Understanding Society Innovation Panel and the PopulusLive online access panel, we examined (1) how respondents process requests for data linkage, (2) why web respondents are less likely to give consent than face-to-face respondents, (3) how respondents process multiple requests for consent, and (4) what effects different approaches to wording consent questions have on informed consent.