How Well Do Interviewers Record Responses to Numeric, Interviewer Field-code, and Open-ended Narrative Questions in Telephone Surveys?

Jolene D. Smyth, Kristen Olson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Telephone survey interviewers need to be able to accurately record answers to questions. While straightforward for closed questions, this task can be complicated for open questions. We examine interviewer recording accuracy rates from a national landline random digit dial telephone survey. We find that accuracy rates are over 90% for numeric response and interviewer-code, single-response items but are astonishingly low (49%) for a multiple-answer, nominal, interviewer-code item. Accuracy rates for narrative open questions were around 90% for themes but only about 70% for themes and elaborations. Interviewer behaviors (e.g., probing, feedback) are generally associated with lower accuracy rates. Implications for questionnaire design, interviewer training, and coding procedures are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)89-104
Number of pages16
JournalField Methods
Volume32
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Anthropology

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