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Who’s asking? Interviewer effects on unit non-response in the Household Finance and Consumption Survey

Author

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  • Albacete, Nicolás
  • Fessler, Pirmin
  • Lindner, Peter

Abstract

This study examines interviewer effects on household non-response in the three waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) in Austria. We exploit the rare opportunity to combine this wealth survey data, accompanied by a large set of paradata on all households including non-respondents, with two other sets of data, namely (i) an administrative dataset on income and (ii) a survey on interviewer characteristics. These characteristics include measures of the social background, income and wealth, and personality traits of the interviewers. Our multilevel benchmark model shows that the proportion of the variation in response behaviour that can be explained at the interviewer level has decreased from about one-third in the first wave of the HFCS to about 7% in the third wave. Using further specifications of our multilevel model we find that the following interviewer characteristics are positively related to household response: having a university degree, being married, being a homeowner and having a less open personality. At the same time, we find a highly significant negative relationship between survey participation and mean wage in the household’s municipality JEL Classification: X01, X02, X03

Suggested Citation

  • Albacete, Nicolás & Fessler, Pirmin & Lindner, Peter, 2021. "Who’s asking? Interviewer effects on unit non-response in the Household Finance and Consumption Survey," Statistics Paper Series 39, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbsps:202139
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    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scpsps/ecb.sps39~96faaaf1ff.en.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. anonymous, 2010. "Interview with Thomas Sargent," The Region, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Sep), pages 26-39.
    2. Moser, Mathias & Schnetzer, Matthias, 2014. "The Geography of Average Income and Inequality: Spatial Evidence from Austria," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 191, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. anonymous, 2010. "Interview with Gary Gorton," The Region, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Dec), pages 26-39.
    4. Jan Pickery & Geert Loosveldt, 2002. "A Multilevel Multinomial Analysis of Interviewer Effects on Various Components of Unit Nonresponse," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 427-437, November.
    5. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Zuzana Brokesova & Andrej Cupak & Anthony Lepinteur & Marian Rizov, 2021. "Wealth, Assets and Life Satisfaction: A Metadata Instrumental-Variable Approach," Working and Discussion Papers WP 4/2021, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.

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    Keywords

    HFCS; interviewer effects; interviewer survey; unit non-response;
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