Interviewer Effects from a Total Survey Error Perspective presents a comprehensive collection of state-of-the-art research on interviewer-administered survey data collection. Interviewers play an essential role in the collection of the high-quality survey data used to learn about our society and improve the human condition. Although many surveys are conducted using self-administered modes, interviewer-administered modes continue to be optimal for surveys that require high levels of participation, include difficult-to-survey populations, and collect biophysical data. Survey interviewing is complex, multifaceted, and challenging. Interviewers are responsible for locating sampled units, contacting sampled individuals and convincing them to cooperate, asking questions on a variety of topics, collecting other kinds of data, and providing data about respondents and the interview environment. Careful attention to the methodology that underlies survey interviewing is essential for interviewer-administered data collections to succeed.
In 2019, survey methodologists, survey practitioners, and survey operations specialists participated in an international workshop at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to identify best practices for surveys employing interviewers and outline an agenda for future methodological research. This book features 23 chapters on survey interviewing by these worldwide leaders in the theory and practice of survey interviewing. Chapters include:
The legacy of Dr. Charles F. Cannell’s groundbreaking research on training survey interviewers and the theory of survey interviewing Best practices for training survey interviewers Interviewer management and monitoring during data collection The complex effects of interviewers on survey nonresponse Collecting survey measures and survey paradata in different modes Designing studies to estimate and evaluate interviewer effects Best practices for analyzing interviewer effects Key gaps in the research literature, including an agenda for future methodological research Chapter appendices available to download from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sociw/
Written for managers of survey interviewers, survey methodologists, and students interested in the survey data collection process, this unique reference uses the Total Survey Error framework to examine optimal approaches to survey interviewing, presenting state-of-the-art methodological research on all stages of the survey process involving interviewers. Acknowledging the important history of survey interviewing while looking to the future, this one-of-a-kind reference provides researchers and practitioners with a roadmap for maximizing data quality in interviewer-administered surveys.
Section I. History and Overview Chapter 1: The Past, Present, and Future of Research on Interviewer Effects Chapter 2: The Legacy of Charles Cannell Section II: Training Interviewers Chapter 3: General Interviewing Techniques: Developing Evidence-Based Practices for Standardized Interviewing Chapter 4: How to Conduct Effective Interviewer Training: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review Section III: Managing and Monitoring Interviewers and the Survey Process Chapter 5: Exploring the Mind of the Interviewer: Findings from Research with Interviewers to Improve the Survey Process Chapter 6: Behavior Change Techniques for Reducing Interviewer Contributions to Total Survey Error Chapter 7: Statistical Identification of Fraudulent Interviews in Surveys: Improving Interviewer Controls Chapter 8: Examining the Utility of Interviewer Observations on the Survey Response Process Section IV: Interviewer Effects and Interview Context and Mode Chapter 9: Why do Interviewers Vary in Achieving Interview Privacy and Does Privacy Matter? Chapter 10: Unintended Interviewer Bias in a Community-based Participatory Research Randomized Control Trial among American Indian Youth Chapter 11: Virtual Interviewers, Social Identities, and Survey Measurement Error Chapter 12: Differences in Interaction Quantity and Conversational Flow in CAPI and CATI Interviews Chapter 13: Interacting with Interviewers in Voice and Text Interviews on Smartphones Section V: Interviewers and Nonresponse Chapter 14: Explaining Interviewer Effects on Survey Unit Nonresponse: A Cross-Survey Analysis Chapter 15: Comparing Two Methods for Managing Telephone Interview Cases Chapter 16: Investigating the Use of Nurse Paradata in Understanding Nonresponse to Biological Data Collection Section VI: Interview Pace and Behaviors Chapter 17: Exploring the Antecedents and Consequences of Interviewer Reading Speed (IRS) at the Question Level Chapter 18: Response Times as an Indicator of Data Quality: Associations with Question, Interviewer, and Respondent Characteristics in a Health Survey of Diverse Respondents Chapter 19: Accuracy and Utility of Using Paradata to Detect Question-Reading Deviations Chapter 20: What do Interviewers Learn? Changes in Interview Length and Interviewer Behaviors over the Field Period Section VII: Estimating Interviewer Effects Chapter 21: Modeling Interviewer Effects in the National Health Interview Study Chapter 22: A Comparison of Different Approaches to Examining Whether Interviewer Effects Tend to Vary Across Different Subgroups of Respondents Chapter 23: Designing Studies for Comparing Interviewer Variance in Two Groups of Survey Interviewers
Kristen Olson, Ph.D., is Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jennifer Dykema, Ph.D., is Distinguished Scientist and Senior Survey Methodologist at the University of Wisconsin Survey Center. Allyson L. Holbrook, Ph.D., is a Professor of Public Administration and Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Frauke Kreuter, Ph.D., is Director of the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland, Professor of Statistics and Methodology at the University of Mannheim, and Head of the Statistical Methods Research Department (on leave) at the Institute for Employment Research in Nuremberg. Jolene D. Smyth, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Director of the Bureau of Sociological Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Brady T. West, Ph.D., is a Research Associate Professor in the Survey Research Center at the Institute for Social Research on the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor campus.
