Non-response to surveys is a common problem; even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic with social distancing measures challenging data collection. As respondents often differ from non-respondents, this can introduce bias. The goal of the current study was to see if we can reduce bias and restore sample representativeness in a series of COVID-19 surveys embedded within five UK cohort studies by using the rich data available from previous waves of data collection. Three surveys were conducted during the pandemic across five UK cohorts: National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD, born 1946), 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS), 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), Next Steps (born 1989-90) and Millennium Cohort Study (MCS, born 2000-02). Response rates in the COVID-19 surveys were lower compared to previous waves, especially in the younger cohorts. We identified bias due to systematic non-response in several variables, with more respondents in the most advantaged social class and among those with higher childhood cognitive ability. Making use of the rich data available pre-pandemic in these longitudinal studies, the application of non-response weights and multiple imputation was successful in reducing bias in parental social class and childhood cognitive ability, nearly eliminating it for the former. Surveys embedded within existing cohort studies offer a clear advantage over cross-sectional samples collected during the pandemic in terms of their ability to mitigate selection bias. This will enhance the quality and reliability of future research studying the medium and long-term effects of the pandemic.

对调查不回应是一个常见问题;在 COVID-19 大流行期间更是如此，社交距离措施对数据收集提出了挑战。由于受访者通常与非受访者不同，这可能会引入偏见。当前研究的目标是看看我们是否可以通过使用前几波数据收集中获得的丰富数据，减少嵌入在五项英国队列研究中的一系列 COVID-19 调查中的偏差并恢复样本代表性。在大流行期间，对五个英国队列进行了三项调查：全国健康与发展调查（NSHD，生于 1946 年）、1958 年全国儿童发展研究 （NCDS）、1970 年英国队列研究 （BCS70）、下一步（生于 1989-90 年）和千年队列研究（MCS，生于 2000-02 年）。与前几波相比，COVID-19 调查的回复率较低，尤其是在年轻群体中。我们确定了几个变量中由于系统性无反应而导致的偏倚，其中更多的受访者处于最有利的社会阶层和具有较高儿童认知能力的人群中。在这些纵向研究中利用大流行前可用的丰富数据，无响应权重和多重插补的应用成功地减少了父母社会阶层和儿童认知能力的偏差，几乎消除了前者的偏差。与大流行期间收集的横断面样本相比，嵌入现有队列研究中的调查在减轻选择偏倚的能力方面具有明显的优势。这将提高未来研究大流行中长期影响的研究的质量和可靠性。