Standardized Survey Interviewing

Standardized Survey Interviewing
Author: Floyd J. Fowler, Jr.
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 160
Release: 1990
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780803930933

Accuracy, reliability, verifiable and error-free results - these are the goals that anyone involved in survey interviewing desires. A practical guide to producing standardized - and reliable - interviews, this volume represents a blending of social science theories of interviewing dynamics, the authors' own extensive research on interview-related error and a compilation of research evidence from other prominent methodologists. How to avoid errors, sampling design issues, question construction methods, supervision techniques, training methods and the organization of data collection staffs are all thoroughly examined. In addition, prescriptions for improving the quality of survey data results are clear and concise. Both students learning survey research methods for the first time and experienced, active researchers will find this volume indispensable.

Interaction and the Standardized Survey Interview

Interaction and the Standardized Survey Interview
Author: Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2000-08-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780521665711

This book uses conversation analysis to study the interaction between interviewers and respondents in standardised survey interviews.

Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods

Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods
Author: Paul J. Lavrakas
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 1073
Release: 2008-09-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 150631788X

To the uninformed, surveys appear to be an easy type of research to design and conduct, but when students and professionals delve deeper, they encounter the vast complexities that the range and practice of survey methods present. To complicate matters, technology has rapidly affected the way surveys can be conducted; today, surveys are conducted via cell phone, the Internet, email, interactive voice response, and other technology-based modes. Thus, students, researchers, and professionals need both a comprehensive understanding of these complexities and a revised set of tools to meet the challenges. In conjunction with top survey researchers around the world and with Nielsen Media Research serving as the corporate sponsor, the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods presents state-of-the-art information and methodological examples from the field of survey research. Although there are other "how-to" guides and references texts on survey research, none is as comprehensive as this Encyclopedia, and none presents the material in such a focused and approachable manner. With more than 600 entries, this resource uses a Total Survey Error perspective that considers all aspects of possible survey error from a cost-benefit standpoint. Key Features Covers all major facets of survey research methodology, from selecting the sample design and the sampling frame, designing and pretesting the questionnaire, data collection, and data coding, to the thorny issues surrounding diminishing response rates, confidentiality, privacy, informed consent and other ethical issues, data weighting, and data analyses Presents a Reader′s Guide to organize entries around themes or specific topics and easily guide users to areas of interest Offers cross-referenced terms, a brief listing of Further Readings, and stable Web site URLs following most entries The Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods is specifically written to appeal to beginning, intermediate, and advanced students, practitioners, researchers, consultants, and consumers of survey-based information.

Cognitive Interviewing Practice

Cognitive Interviewing Practice
Author: Debbie Collins
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2014-11-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1473909171

The use of the cognitive interviewing method for survey question testing has proliferated and evolved over the past 30 years. In more recent years the method has been applied to the evaluation of information letters and leaflets and to research consent forms. This book provides a practical handbook for implementing cognitive interviewing methods in the context of applied social policy research, based on the approach used by the authors at the NatCen Social Research (NatCen) where cognitive interviewing methods have been used for well over a decade. The book provides a justification for the importance of question testing and evaluation and discusses the position of cognitive interviewing in relation to other questionnaire development and evaluation techniques. Throughout the book, the focus is on providing practical and hands-on guidance around elements such as sampling and recruitment, designing probes, interviewing skills, data management and analysis and how to interpret the findings and use them to improve survey questions and other documents. The book also covers cognitive interviewing in different survey modes, in cross national, cross cultural and multilingual settings and discusses some other potential uses of the method.

Survey Questions

Survey Questions
Author: Jean M. Converse
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 84
Release: 1986-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780803927438

This text reviews the literature on crafting survey instruments, and provides both general principles governing question-writing and guidance on how to develop a questionnaire.

Research Interviewing

Research Interviewing
Author: Elliot George MISHLER
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0674041143

Interviews hold a prominent place among the various research methods in the social and behavioral sciences. This book presents a powerful critique of current views and techniques, and proposes a new approach to interviewing. At the heart of Mishler's argument is the notion that an interview is a type of discourse, a speech event: it is a joint product, shaped and organized by asking and answering questions. This view may seem self-evident, yet it does not guide most interview research. In the mainstream tradition, the discourse is suppressed. Questions and answers are regarded as analogues to stimuli and responses rather than as forms of speech; questions and the interviewer's behavior are standardized so that all respondents will receive the same stimulus; respondents' social and personal contexts of meaning are ignored. While many researchers now recognize that context must be taken into account, the question of how to do so effectively has not been resolved. This important book illustrates how to implement practical alternatives to standard interviewing methods. Drawing on current work in sociolinguistics as well as on his own extensive experience conducting interviews, Mishler shows how interviews can be analyzed and interpreted as narrative accounts. He places interviewing in a sociocultural context and examines the effects on respondents of different types of interviewing practice. The respondents themselves, he believes, should be granted a more extensive role as participants and collaborators in the research process. The book is an elegant work of synthesis--clearly and persuasively written, and supported by concrete examples of both standard interviewing and alternative methods. It will be of interest to both scholars and clinicians in all the various fields for which the interview is an essential tool.

Interviewer Effects from a Total Survey Error Perspective

Interviewer Effects from a Total Survey Error Perspective
Author: Kristen Olson
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2020-05-10
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1000064476

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 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.

Improving Survey Questions

Improving Survey Questions
Author: Floyd J. Fowler
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 204
Release: 1995-07-21
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 9780803945838

Questions as Measures An Overview Designing Questions to Gather Factual Data Questions to Measure Subjective States Some General Rules for Designing Good Survey Instruments Presurvey Evaluation of Questions Assessing the Validity of Survey Questions Question Design and Evaluation Issues in Perspective.

Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing

Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing
Author: Paul C. Beatty
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 816
Release: 2019-12-05
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 111926362X

A new and updated definitive resource for survey questionnaire testing and evaluation Building on the success of the first Questionnaire Development, Evaluation, and Testing (QDET) conference in 2002, this book brings together leading papers from the Second International Conference on Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation, and Testing (QDET2) held in 2016. The volume assesses the current state of the art and science of QDET; examines the importance of methodological attention to the questionnaire in the present world of information collection; and ponders how the QDET field can anticipate new trends and directions as information needs and data collection methods continue to evolve. Featuring contributions from international experts in survey methodology, Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing includes latest insights on question characteristics, usability testing, web probing, and other pretesting approaches, as well as: Recent developments in the design and evaluation of digital and self-administered surveys Strategies for comparing and combining questionnaire evaluation methods Approaches for cross-cultural and cross-national questionnaire development New data sources and methodological innovations during the last 15 years Case studies and practical applications Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing serves as a forum to prepare researchers to meet the next generation of challenges, making it an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners in government, academia, and the private sector.