FHRS Audit Technical report 2022: Telephone Fieldwork

Pilot fieldwork 

Ahead of the pilot telephone fieldwork, some refinements were made to the survey used in the previous wave. Specifically, this included new codes at old questions as well as the slight re-wording of some previous question text. New questions about online display were introduced at this wave (B18A, B18b, B19, as well as at C12anew and C12c).  

Between 18th October and 21st October, 2022, IFF Research piloted the Scheme survey with 27 businesses. Tables 4.1 to 4.3 present the number of interviews completed by country, sector and FHRS rating.  

Before the start of pilot fieldwork all interviewers received a briefing on the survey and were issued with written instructions, providing them with an understanding of the background to the research, the questionnaire design, the screening criteria and the sample design.  

The pilot survey involved administering the survey exactly as it would be during mainstage fieldwork. As well as allowing for further checks on comprehension of questions and survey flow, the pilot provided an opportunity to monitor response patterns and the overall interview length.  

The results of the pilot were positive in that: the average duration was in line with the target duration; there were no issues with the screening process; there was limited feedback from interviewers regarding issues with participant comprehension; and businesses were generally willing to participate. 

Following the completion of pilot fieldwork, there was just one refinement suggested to the questionnaire to improve the clarity of a new question introduced at this wave (question C13c). The final version of the questionnaire used in mainstage fieldwork can be found in Appendix C of this report. 

Mainstage fieldwork 

Mainstage fieldwork was carried out between November 1st and December 9th, 2022. A total of 1,500 food businesses were interviewed. Tables 4.4 to 4.6 present the number of interviews completed by country, sector and FHRS rating. 

As with the pilot, before the start of mainstage fieldwork all interviewers received a briefing on the survey and were issued with written instructions. This ensured that interviewers understood the background to the research, the questionnaire design, the screening criteria and the sample design. 

Checks were conducted on the final 1,500 interviews to ensure the data was robust before the beginning of analysis. This involved conducting data validation checks and identifying outlier responses.    

Response rate 

A total of 9,289 records acquired from the FSA’s FHRS database were used over the course of the telephone survey with food businesses (259 were not called as we reached targets in their quotas relatively quickly). Of these, 154 records were ineligible, as the business reported that they did not sell, serve or prepare food for the public (91) or because the business was closed (63) 

Of the remaining 9,135 businesses, 7,176 records were eligible to take part in the study but did not do so. The most common reason, as shown in Table 4.3, was that we could not secure consent for an interview (6,284) followed by the business consenting to take part but not committing to an interview time in the fieldwork period (297), and not being able to identify an induvial within the business to take part in the research in the fieldwork period (also 297).  

Response rate calculations do not include records that were outside of the scope of the fieldwork, given that no firm contact was made with these food businesses. This means that 1,959 records were in scope of fieldwork. Of these, 1,500 completed an interview. This equates to a response rate of 59% (see Table 4.8) 

Overlap between the audit and telephone survey of food businesses 

Of the 1,522 food businesses covertly audited, 484 also participated in the telephone survey. Tables 4.9 to 4.11 present the profile of these food businesses in terms of country, sector and FHRS rating.  

The profile of the businesses that were both audited and surveyed broadly reflects the profile of the underlying population of businesses in terms of sector and FHRS rating.