Effects of Interviewer Experience on Components of Nonresponse in the European Social Survey

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_3EC9839C795F
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Effects of Interviewer Experience on Components of Nonresponse in the European Social Survey
Journal
Field Methods
Author(s)
Lipps O., Pollien A.
ISSN
1525-822X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2011
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
23
Number
2
Pages
156-172
Language
english
Abstract
We analyze interviewer related nonresponse differences in face-to-face surveys distinguishing three types of interviewers: those who have previous experience with the same high standard cross-sectional survey ("experienced"), those who were chosen by the survey agency to complete refusal conversions ("seniors"), and usual interviewers. The nonresponse components are obtaining household contact, target person contact, and target person cooperation. In addition we examine if interviewer homogeneity with respect to these components is different across the three interviewer groups. Data come from the European Social Survey (ESS) contact forms from four countries which participated during the three rounds 2002/04/06 and used the same survey agency that in turn used to some extent the same interviewers. To analyze interviewer effects, we use discrete two-level models. We find some evidence of better performance by both senior and experienced interviewers and indications of greater homogeneity for nonresponse components, especially for those that contain room for improvement. Surprisingly, the senior interviewers do not outperform those experienced. We conclude that survey agencies should make more efforts to decrease the comparatively high interviewer turnover.
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28/01/2010 9:17
Last modification date
20/08/2019 13:35
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