IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/offsta/v31y2015i4p611-625n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

First Impressions of Telephone Survey Interviewers

Author

Listed:
  • Broome Jessica

    (University of Michigan – Institute for Social Research, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104, U.S.A.)

Abstract

Survey nonresponse may increase the chances of nonresponse error, and different interviewers contribute differentially to nonresponse. This article first addresses the relationship between initial impressions of interviewers in survey introductions and the outcome of these introductions, and then contrasts this relationship with current viewpoints and practices in telephone interviewing. The first study described here exposed judges to excerpts of interviewer speech from actual survey introductions and asked them to rate twelve characteristics of the interviewer. Impressions of positive traits such as friendliness and confidence had no association with the actual outcome of the call, while higher ratings of “scriptedness” predicted lower participation likelihood. At the same time, a second study among individuals responsible for training telephone interviewers found that when training interviewers, sounding natural or unscripted during a survey introduction is not emphasized. This article concludes with recommendations for practice and further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Broome Jessica, 2015. "First Impressions of Telephone Survey Interviewers," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 31(4), pages 611-625, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:offsta:v:31:y:2015:i:4:p:611-625:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/jos-2015-0037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jos-2015-0037
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jos-2015-0037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frederick G. Conrad & Jessica S. Broome & José R. Benkí & Frauke Kreuter & Robert M. Groves & David Vannette & Colleen McClain, 2013. "Interviewer speech and the success of survey invitations," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(1), pages 191-210, January.
    2. C. O'Muircheartaigh & P. Campanelli, 1999. "A multilevel exploration of the role of interviewers in survey non‐response," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 162(3), pages 437-446.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Korbmacher, Julie M. & Schröder, Mathis, 2013. "Consent when Linking Survey Data with Administrative Records: The Role of the Interviewer," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 115-131.
    2. Wagner James & Olson Kristen, 2018. "An Analysis of Interviewer Travel and Field Outcomes in Two Field Surveys," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 34(1), pages 211-237, March.
    3. van den Berg, Gerard J & Lindeboom, Maarten & Dolton, Peter J, 2004. "Survey non-response and unemployment duration," Working Paper Series 2004:12, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Tadeusz Bednarski, 2014. "On robust causality nonresponse testing in duration studies under the Cox model," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 221-231, February.
    5. Schrapler, Jorg-Peter, 2003. "Respondent behaviour in panel studies: a case study for income-nonresponse by means of the British Household Panel Study (BHPS)," ISER Working Paper Series 2003-08, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Peeters Laurie & De Coninck David & Wuyts Celine & Loosveldt Geert, 2020. "Assessing Interviewer Performance in Approaching Reissued Initial Nonrespondents," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 36(3), pages 589-607, September.
    7. Min Bo Hee & Schaeffer Nora Cate & Garbarski Dana & Dykema Jennifer, 2020. "The Action Structure of Recruitment Calls and Its Analytic Implications: The Case of Disfluencies," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 36(3), pages 529-559, September.
    8. Jörg-Peter Schräpler, 2002. "Respondent Behavior in Panel Studies: A Case Study for Income-Nonresponse by Means of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP)," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 299, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Walejko Gina & Wagner James, 2018. "A Study of Interviewer Compliance in 2013 and 2014 Census Test Adaptive Designs," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 34(3), pages 649-670, September.
    10. Wendy Janssens & Jacques Gaag & Tobias Rinke de Wit & Zlata Tanović, 2014. "Refusal Bias in the Estimation of HIV Prevalence," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 1131-1157, June.
    11. Durrant, Gabriele B. & Steele, Fiona, 2009. "Multilevel modelling of refusal and non-contact in household surveys: evidence from six UK Government surveys," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 50112, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Steele, Fiona & Durrant, Gabriele B., 2011. "Alternative approaches to multilevel modelling of survey non-contact and refusal," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 50113, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Snelgrove, John W. & Pikhart, Hynek & Stafford, Mai, 2009. "A multilevel analysis of social capital and self-rated health: Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 1993-2001, June.
    14. Jarl Kampen, 2007. "The Impact of Survey Methodology and Context on Central Tendency, Nonresponse and Associations of Subjective Indicators of Government Performance," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 41(6), pages 793-813, December.
    15. Geert Loosveldt & Koen Beullens, 2014. "A Procedure to Assess Interviewer Effects on Nonresponse Bias," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(1), pages 21582440145, February.
    16. G. Blom, Annelies, 2009. "Explaining cross-country differences in contact rates," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-08, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    17. Emanuela Sala & Jonathan Burton & Gundi Knies, 2012. "Correlates of Obtaining Informed Consent to Data Linkage," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 41(3), pages 414-439, August.
    18. Hanly, Mark & Clarke, Paul & Steele, Fiona, 2016. "Sequence analysis of call record data: exploring the role of different cost settings," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64896, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Kristen Olson, 2013. "Paradata for Nonresponse Adjustment," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 645(1), pages 142-170, January.
    20. G. Blom, Annelies, 2009. "Nonresponse bias adjustments: what can process data contribute?," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-21, Institute for Social and Economic Research.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:offsta:v:31:y:2015:i:4:p:611-625:n:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.