Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse, 1991-1996

UKDA study number:3696

Principal Investigator

Social and Community Planning Research. Survey Methods Centre

Sponsor

Economic and Social Research Council

Distributed by

UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester.

September 1997

Bibliographic Citation

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Social and Community Planning Research. Survey Methods Centre, Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse, 1991-1996 [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive [distributor], September 1997. SN: 3696, http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-3696-1

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3696 . Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse, 1991-1996

Depositor:

Social and Community Planning Research. Survey Methods Centre

Principal Investigator:

Social and Community Planning Research. Survey Methods Centre

Sponsor:

Economic and Social Research Council
Grant Number: R000235776

Project Number:

P ; 1434

Other Acknowledgements:

The British Household Panel Study call record files were originally collected by the ESRC Centre on Micro-Social Change and were keyed especially for this project. The call record files for the British Social Attitudes 1994, and for SCPR's random half of the Family Resources Survey 1995-1996 were originally collected by the Family Resources Survey and British Social Attitudes teams at SCPR and do not appear in the archive versions of these datasets.

Abstract:

The aim of this project was to examine the role the interviewer in professional survey organisations plays in the survey nonresponse process. The 18-month-long programme was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and was carried out in co-operation with the ESRC Centre on Micro-Social Change and NOP Research. It was divided into three sub-projects. The aim of the first sub-project was to tease out the interviewer effect on nonresponse from other effects, such as the effect of the area, and individual respondents, by using a specially designed experiment from an existing source - the British Household Panel Study (BHPS). The second sub-project investigated when people are likely to be home and how interviewers might develop efficient calling strategies using two large pre-existing datasets - the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and British Social Attitudes (BSA). The third sub-project focused on the initial doorstep interaction between interviewer and address residents, which can be crucial in determining whether or not the prospective respondent will agree to co-operate. The purpose was to gain a better understanding of what takes place during this interaction by collecting a small sample of such data using 32 interviewers from two different organisations - SCPR and NOP. Data collection for this sub-project covered addresses from NOP's Political Tracking survey, and SCPR's random half of the FRS.
A total of 11 datasets are included in this study, numbered a - k:
a. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : Household Level Doorstep Interactions, Political Tracking, 1996.
b. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : Household Level Doorstep Interactions, FRS (SCPR portion), March 1996.
c. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : Matched Contact Form/Tape Data at Call Level, Political Tracking, 1996.
d. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : Matched Contact Form/Tape Data at Call Level, FRS (SCPR portion), March 1996.
e. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : Interviewer Questionnaire on Survey Participation, 1996.
f. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : Individual Transcripts, Political Tracking, 1996.
g. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : Individual Transcripts, FRS (SCPR portion), March 1996.
h. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : BHPS Household Level Wave 1 Call Record Subset, 1991.
i. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : BHPS Household Level Wave 2 Call Record Subset, 1992.
j. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : FRS (SCPR portion) Address Level Call Records, 1995-1996.
k. Interviewers and Survey Nonresponse : BSA Address Level Call Records, 1994.

Main Topics:

Datasets a - b (see list under Abstract) : what interviewers and respondents said on the doorstep as collected by tape recordings and by a contact description form completed by the interviewer; also situational and environmental aspects of the interaction, physical details of the dwelling unit and neighbourhood as observed by the interviewer, and main survey final outcome variable. These are household level files - the tape data and contact description form data are matched at the household level, but not by individual call. Call level matching is only available in datasets c and d.
Datasets c - d : what interviewers and respondents said on the doorstep as collected by tape recordings matched at the call level to how the interviewer described the same interaction on a contact description form (non-contacts and non-matches have been excluded).
Dataset e : Interviewers' views on what they typically say and do as part of their doorstep behaviour, their views on persuasion strategies and non-contact strategies, and general background variables on the interviewer.
Datasets f - g : actual transcripts of what interviewers and respondents say on the doorstep as collected by tape recordings.
Datasets h - i : Wave 1 and Wave 2 call record data; call number, day, date, time, outcome; NOP interviewer characteristics; variables for matching to the BHPS.
Datasets j - k : call record data; SCPR interviewer characteristics.

Coverage:

Time Period Covered: 1991 - 1996 See dates of individual datasets listed under Abstract.
Dates of Fieldwork: Datasets a, c, f (see list under Abstract) : January 1996.
b, d, g : March 1996. e : January-March 1996.
h : September 1991-March 1992. i : September 1992-March 1993.
j : April 1995-March 1996. k : May-July 1994.
Country: Great Britain
Observation Units: Individuals; Families/households; Interviewers and respondents.
Kind of Data: Textual data; Numeric data

Universe Sampled:

Location of Units of Observation: National
Population: Datasets a - g (see list under Abstract) refer to interviewers and households from England and Wales. Datasets h - k refer to households from across Great Britain.

Methodology:

Time Dimensions: Cross-sectional (one-time) study
Sampling Procedures: No sampling (total universe); Multi-stage stratified random sample
Datasets j - k (see list under Abstract) - all call records from the original sample were used. 'Meta' observations and recordings in data files were drawn from multi-stage stratified random sampling. Datasets a - d, f - g used other non-random sampling - 16 interviewers and their respective assignment areas were selected to allow for geographic spread (but excluding Scotland) and to allow for a range of experience levels.
Dataset e: 16 interviewers each from two organisations were selected to allow for geographic spread (but excluding Scotland) and to allow for a range of experience levels.
Datasets h - i: call records were keyed for the households involved in the interpenetrated sample design sub-sample in Wave 2 of the BHPS. This sub-sample was originally generated by clustering adjacent PSUs into 'geographic pools' and selecting a systematic sample of these pools.
Number of Units: Datasets a - g (see list under Abstract) :
1. Political Tracking : interviews target 16, obtained 16; contact description forms target 512, obtained 494; tapes target 256, obtained 207; matched contact forms and tape calls target 401, obtained 302; complete transcripts for interaction coding target 207, obtained 203.
2. FRS : interviews target 16, obtained 16; contact description forms target 384, obtained 322; tapes target 192, obtained 146; matched contact forms and tape calls target 447, obtained 250; complete transcripts for interaction coding target 146, obtained 146.
Datasets h - i : 1,493 households were involved in the interpenetrated sample design sub-sample; 1,468 and 1,438 of these, respectively, had usable call records.
Dataset j : 18,189 addresses after exclusion of 'deadwood'. 17,792 of these had usable call records covering 61,244 separate cells.
Dataset k : 4,824 addresses after exclusion of 'deadwood'. 4,771 of these had usable call records covering 15,914 separate cells.
Method of Data Collection: Face-to-face interview; Self-completion; 'Meta' observations and recordings in data files were based on face-to-face interviews.
Dataset e (see list under Abstract): a self-completion form was completed by the interviewer.
Datasets a - d: tape recording and contact description forms completed by interviewer. Datasets f - g: tape recording and later transcription.
Datasets h - k: coversheets/address record forms completed by interviewer.
Data Sources: The data files supplied to The Data Archive do not overlap with other sources. They can, however, be linked to other machine readable sources as follows:
NOP Political Tracking Study, 1996 (unpublished), British Household Panel Study, Waves 1-4, 1991-1995 (held at The Data Archive under SN:3645), Family Resources Survey, 1995-1996 (SN:3761), British Social Attitudes Survey, 1994 (SN:3572).
Original sources do not appear as part of this dataset, but matching variables are provided for users who wish to conduct a match.

Language(s) of Written Materials:

Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:

Access Conditions: The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions for further information.
Availability: ESDS Access and Preservation, UK Data Archive
Contact: Help desk: help@esds.ac.uk

Date of First Release:

26 September 1997

File last updated:

4 January 2012