Showing papers on "Interview published in 2013"

Mastering the Semi-Structured Interview and Beyond: From Research Design to Analysis and Publication

Abstract: ContentsForeword by William E. Cross, Jr. ixAcknowledgments xi Introduction 1Section I: Setting the Stage 1 Craft ing a Design to Yield a Complete Story 9 2 Th e Semi-Structured Interview as a Repertoire of Possibilities 45Section II: The Semi-Structured Interview: Collecting and Analyzing Qualitative Data 3 Conducting the Interview: Th e Role of Reciprocity and Refl exivity 75 4 Ongoing and Iterative Data Analysis 119Section III: Synthesizing and Interpreting Research Findings 5 Building Th eory 149 6 Writing Up and Speaking Back to the Literature 173 Aft erword: Loose Th reads 191Appendix A: Sample Protocol for Student Participants 195Appendix B: Past as Present, Present as Past: Historicizing Black Education and Interrogating "Integration" 203Notes 231References 235Index 241About the Author 245

Preparing and conducting interviews to collect data.

Abstract: AimTo describe three styles of interviews and discuss issues regarding planning and conducting interviews.BackgroundInterviews are probably the approach most used to collect data in studies. They are particularly useful in uncovering the story behind a participant's experiences. Researchers

'Am I not answering your questions properly?' : Clarification, adequacy and responsiveness in semi-structured telephone and face-to-face interviews

Abstract: This article considers spoken interaction in semi-structured qualitative research interviews, comparing those that are conducted by telephone or face-to-face. It draws upon recent empirical researc...

What good are interviews for thinking about culture? Demystifying interpretive analysis

Abstract: This article evaluates the claims of a small but active group of culture scholars who have used theoretical models of bifurcated consciousness to allege important methodological implications for research in culture. These scholars, whom I dub ‘cognitive culturalists’, have dismissed the utility of in-depth interviewing to access the visceral, causally powerful level of ‘practical consciousness’. I argue these scholars are misguided in their diagnosis of a problem (interviews can only access people's after-the-fact rationalizations), and their vision of a solution (culture scholars need to access the ‘snap judgments’ that map onto the subterranean level of practical consciousness). I contend these flaws are tied to a limited understanding of the kind of information available in interviews, particularly the in-depth interview subjected to interpretive analysis. Using data from a recent book project on commitment, I elaborate on four kinds of information harbored in interviews: the honorable, the schematic, the visceral and meta-feelings. I rely on these forms of data to argue for scholars to expect, and to use analytically – rather than strive to ‘solve’ theoretically – the contradictory cultural accounts that our research subjects evince. Furthermore, I demonstrate how interpretive interviewing allows researchers access to an emotional landscape that brings a broader, social dimension to individual motivation.

Introducing Dyadic Interviews as a Method for Collecting Qualitative Data

Abstract: In dyadic interviews, two participants interact in response to open-ended research questions. There are few precedents for using dyadic interviews as a technique for qualitative research. We introduce this method largely in comparison to focus groups, because both represent forms of interactive interviewing. We do not, however, view dyadic interviews as miniature focus groups, and treat them as generating their own opportunities and issues. To illustrate the nature of dyadic interviewing, we present summaries of three studies using this method. In the first study, we used dyadic interviews and photovoice techniques to examine experiences of people with early-stage dementia. In the second study, we explored the experiences of staff who provided services to elderly housing residents. In the third study, we examined barriers and facilitators to substance abuse treatment among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Hawaii. We conclude with a discussion of directions for future research using dyadic interviews.

Telephone Versus Face-to-Face Interviews: Mode Effect on Semistructured Interviews with Children

Abstract: Usually, semistructured interviews are conducted face-to-face, and because of the importance of personal contact in qualitative interviews, telephone interviews are often discounted. Missing visual...

A voice without organs: interviewing in posthumanist research

Abstract: In keeping with the editor’s call for this special issue, this paper discusses how a posthumanist stance has enabled me to materialize a different conception of the interview and interview data in postqualitative inquiry. More specifically, I am thinking with Deleuze and Guattari’s concept, the Body without Organs, one they use to enact thinking without a subject and to liberate thought from overcoded images in order to confront a reliance on objects or material representations to understand and explain. Using this concept, I theorize a Voice without Organs (VwO) as a voice that does not emanate from a singular subject but is produced in an enactment among research-data-participants-theory-analysis. The article concludes with an analysis of data from a recent interview project that illustrates how VwO is both produced by and producing different knowledge and suggests implications for thinking interviewing and interview data differently.

JobTIPS: A Transition to Employment Program for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of an internet accessed training program that included Theory of Mind-based guidance, video models, visual supports, and virtual reality practice sessions in teaching appropriate job interview skills to individuals with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders. In a randomized study, twenty-two youth, ages 16-19, were evaluated during two employment interviews. Half received a training intervention following the initial interview and the half who served as a contrast group did not. Their performance pre and post intervention was assessed by four independent raters using a scale that included evaluation of both Content and Delivery. Results suggest that youth who completed the JobTIPS employment program demonstrated significantly more effective verbal content skills than those who did not.

Three types of interviews: Qualitative research methods in social health

Abstract: Interviewing is a primary way of collecting data in qualitative research to direct the participant in responding to a specific research question. In diabetes, this may include “what are the reasons that have contributed to your success in diabetes self-management” or “how do you believe stress impacts your blood glucose?” Three types of interviews are common in social health: (1) Structured; (2) semi-structured; and (3) narrative interview. These range in a format including specified sets of questions to the telling of patient stories in an organic way. This paper describes the differences between these types of interviews and examples of each related to diabetes research.

The psychiatric interview: Validity, structure, and subjectivity

Abstract: There is a glaring gap in the psychiatric literature concerning the nature of psychiatric symptoms and signs, and a corresponding lack of epistemological discussion of psycho-diagnostic interviewing. Contemporary clinical neuroscience heavily relies on the use of fully structured interviews that are historically rooted in logical positivism and behaviorism. These theoretical approaches marked decisively the so-called “operational revolution in psychiatry” leading to the creation of DSM-III. This paper attempts to examine the theoretical assumptions that underlie the use of a fully structured psychiatric interview. We address the ontological status of pathological experience, the notions of symptom, sign, prototype and Gestalt, and the necessary second-person processes which are involved in converting the patient’s experience (originally lived in the first-person perspective) into an “objective” (third person), actionable format, used for classification, treatment, and research. Our central thesis is that psychiatry targets the phenomena of consciousness, which, unlike somatic symptoms and signs, cannot be grasped on the analogy with material thing-like objects. We claim that in order to perform faithful distinctions in this particular domain, we need a more adequate approach, that is, an approach that is guided by phenomenologically informed considerations. Our theoretical discussion draws upon clinical examples derived from structured and semi-structured interviews. We conclude that fully structured interview is neither theoretically adequate nor practically valid in obtaining psycho-diagnostic information. Failure to address these basic issues may have contributed to the current state of malaise in the study of psychopathology.

Why Tough Tactics Fail and Rapport Gets Results: Observing Rapport-Based Interpersonal Techniques (ORBIT) to Generate Useful Information From Terrorists

Abstract: This field observation examines 58 police interrogators’ rapport-based behaviors with terrorist suspects; specifically, whether rapport helps elicit meaningful intelligence and information. The Observing Rapport-Based Interpersonal Techniques (ORBIT; Alison, Alison, Elntib & Noone, 2012) is a coding framework with 3 elements. The first 2 measures are as follows: (i) 5 strategies adopted from the motivational interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2009) literature in the counseling domain: autonomy, acceptance, adaptation, empathy, and evocation and (ii) an “Interpersonal Behavior Circle” (adopted from Interpersonal theories, Leary, 1957) for coding interpersonal interactions between interrogator and suspect along 2 orthogonal dimensions (authoritative-passive and challenging-cooperative); where each quadrant has an interpersonally adaptive and maladaptive variant. The third (outcome) measure of ORBIT includes a measure of evidentially useful information (the “interview yield”) and considers the extent to which suspects reveal information pertaining to capability, opportunity and motive as well as evidence relevant to people, actions, locations and times. Data included 418 video interviews (representing 288 hours of footage), with all suspects subsequently convicted for a variety of terrorist offenses. Structural equation modeling revealed that motivational interviewing was positively associated with adaptive interpersonal behavior from the suspect, which, in turn, increased interview yield. Conversely, even minimal expression of maladaptive interpersonal interrogator behavior increased maladaptive interviewee behavior as well as directly reducing yield. The study provides the first well-defined and empirically validated analysis of the benefits of a rapport-based, interpersonally skilled approach to interviewing terrorists in an operational field setting.

The Role of Rapport in Investigative Interviewing: A Review

Abstract: Rapport often appears in training and discussions regarding investigative interviewing, yet very little empirical research has examined rapport systematically in law enforcement or intelligence settings. Using a model of rapport developed from therapeutic settings, we address in this paper the components of rapport and their relevance to investigative interviewing. Rapport can play a facilitating role in supporting the goals of an investigative interview, to include developing a working alliance between interviewer and source, exercising social influence, and educing information from a source. A better understanding of how rapport develops in these contexts and its impact on interview outcomes would enhance the effectiveness of investigative interviewing. Research on rapport in the investigative interview would enhance our understanding of the interpersonal dynamics in these situations. We identify several gaps that such research should address, including the relationship between rapport and social influence and the development of rapport in multiparty interactions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social Desirability Bias in Sexual Behavior Reporting: Evidence from an Interview Mode Experiment in Rural Malawi

Abstract: Collection of accurate behavioral data is critical for understanding the transmission dynamics of HIV and other STIs and for designing and evaluating interventions aimed at containing their spread. Researchers usually rely on self-reported data, which are subject to participants’ recall bias, question misinterpretation and reluctance to respond truthfully when asked about private behavior.1 Social desirability bias is particularly problematic in studies involving sexual behavior, as respondents may deliberately answer questions inaccurately, either by underreporting stigmatized activities or by overreporting normative ones, if their actual behavior would be considered socially unacceptable.2 Potential respondent biases may be reduced or exacerbated by the method of questionnaire delivery. Surveys administered via face-to-face interviews, for instance, can be influenced by interviewers’ inaccurate rewording of questions, directive probes, nonverbal cues or inappropriate feedback.3 Real or perceived judgment on the part of the interviewer, or concerns participants have about the privacy of their responses, may prevent them from providing honest answers to sensitive questions. Although the bulk of survey data from developing countries—including Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data sets—is traditionally collected in face-to-face interviews, increasing use has been made of technology-based alternatives, such as audio computer-assisted self- interviewing (audio-CASI).4 With this method, participants listen to questions through headphones and enter responses using an electronic device, such as a laptop or handheld computer. This technique provides greater standardization than other interview methods by administering an identical script to each respondent and by eliminating interviewer effects. Audio-CASI also affords greater privacy to participants than other modes, and thus has the potential to reduce social desirability bias in the reporting of sensitive or stigmatized behaviors. Use of audio-CASI has been shown to be feasible in low-resource settings (e.g., Kenya,5 Malawi,6 Zimbabwe,7 Brazil,8 India9 and Vietnam10) and has led to higher reporting of some outcomes. However, these and other studies have shown that results may vary by setting and sample. A systematic review of questionnaire delivery modes in developing countries found that, overall, respondents were less likely to report sensitive behaviors in face-to-face interviews than in audio-CASI,11 while a second review and meta-analysis of quantitative interviewing tools in low- and middle-income countries concluded that results depended on the sensitivity of the outcome and the population under study.4 Motivations to report behavior truthfully may also vary by gender, particularly regarding sexual activity in contexts where gender norms create different expectations for males and females about socially acceptable behavior.12 In Malawi, as in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, premarital and extramarital sex are considered symbols of masculine prowess,13 but for females, sexual activity outside of marriage is discouraged, and the social costs of reporting it are higher.14 In a study that compared reporting by males and females via face-to-face interviews at a demographic surveillance site in Malawi’s Karonga district, significant gender differences were found in the reporting of sexual partnerships, demonstrating that some combination of male over-reporting and female underreporting occurred.15 Results from an earlier study at a Tanzanian demographic surveillance site were similar.16 Men have also been found to consistently report higher levels of premarital sex and risky sexual activity than have women in the DHS and other surveys.17,18 To determine whether interview mode influences levels of reporting for each gender, the present study compares responses to sexual behavior questions administered via audio-CASI with those obtained via traditional face-to-face interviews. Given the social norms surrounding relationships and sex in rural Malawi, we expected to observe different patterns of reporting between interview modes for males and females. Specifically, we hypothesized that males’ reporting of relationship experience and sexual activity would be higher in face-to-face interviews than in audio-CASI, and that the opposite would be the case for females.10,19,20 However, for socially proscribed behaviors, we expected reporting to be higher in audio-CASI for both genders.

Belief in the Unstructured Interview: The Persistence of an Illusion

Abstract: Unstructured interviews are a ubiquitous tool for making screening decisions despite a vast literature suggesting that they have little validity. We sought to establish reasons why people might persist in the illusion that unstructured interviews are valid and what features about them actually lead to poor predictive accuracy. In three studies, we investigated the propensity for “sensemaking” - the ability for interviewers to make sense of virtually anything the interviewee says— and “dilution”—the tendency for available but non-diagnostic information to weaken the predictive value of quality information. In Study 1, participants predicted two fellow students’ semester GPAs from valid background information like prior GPA and, for one of them, an unstructured interview. In one condition, the interview was essentially nonsense in that the interviewee was actually answering questions using a random response system. Consistent with sensemaking, participants formed interview impressions just as confidently after getting random responses as they did after real responses. Consistent with dilution, interviews actually led participants to make worse predictions. Study 2 showed that watching a random interview, rather than personally conducting it, did little to mitigate sensemaking. Study 3 showed that participants believe unstructured interviews will help accuracy, so much so that they would rather have random interviews than no interview. People form confident impressions even interviews are defined to be invalid, like our random interview, and these impressions can interfere with the use of valid information. Our simple recommendation for those making screening decisions is not to use them.

Investigative Interviewing: The Conversation Management Approach

Abstract: 1. The Conversation Management Approach to Investigative Interviewing 2. Remembering and Forgetting Offence-Related Experience 3. Conversation: From Everyday Talk to Ways of Relating and Changing Minds 4. Telling and Listening: Disclosing and Making Sense of Disclosed Detail 5. RESPONSE: Mindful Behaviours for Relationship Building 6. Managing Information 7. Active Listening, Observing and Assessing 8. Right Person, Right Place to Interview, Right Time to Interview, and Right Duration of Interviewing 9. Right Start, Right Question, and Right Manner of Questioning 10. Assisting Remembrance of Offence-Related Detail 11. Responding to Inappropriate or Disruptive Behaviour and to Resistance 12. Evaluation: The Last Piece of the Jigsaw 13. Interviewing the Witness: Key Considerations 14. Interviewing the Developmentally Disadvantaged Witness: Key Considerations 15. Interviewing the Developmentally Disadvantaged Witness: Orientation and Assessment (O&A) and Investigative Interviewing 16. Interviewing the Suspect: Key Considerations 17. Interviewing the Suspect who Exercises the Right to Silence 18. Interviewing the Suspect Who Answers Questions 19. Interviewing the Suspect who Produces a Prepared Statement 20. Interviewing in Special Circumstances Reference Section

The use of emerging technologies for authentic learning: A South African study in higher education

Abstract: It is now widely accepted that the transmission of disciplinary knowledge is insufficient to prepare students leaving higher education for the workplace. Authentic learning has been suggested as a way to bring the necessary complexity into learning to deal with challenges in professional practice after graduation. This study investigates how South African higher educators have used emerging technologies to achieve the characteristics of authentic learning. A survey was administered to a population of 265 higher educators in South Africa who self-identified as engaging with emerging technologies. From this survey, a sample of 21 respondents were selected to further investigate their practice through in-depth interviewing using Herrington, Reeves and Oliver's nine characteristics of authentic learning as a framework. Interrater analysis undertaken by five members of the research team revealed both consistencies and differences among the twenty one cases across the nine elements of authentic learning. The highest levels of authenticity were found for the elements authentic context and task, and the lowest for articulation. Furthermore, there was a moderate correlation identified between levels of authenticity and the role played by emerging technologies in achieving the authenticity, showing a potentially symbiotic relationship between them.

Weight bias in graduate school admissions.

Abstract: Objective: Whether weight bias occurs in the graduate school admissions process is explored here. Specifically, we examined whether body mass index (BMI) was related to letter of recommendation quality and the number of admissions offers applicants received after attending in-person interviews. Design and Methods: Participants were 97 applicants to a psychology graduate program at a large university in the United States. They reported height, weight, and information about their applications to psychology graduate programs. Participants' letters of recommendation were coded for positive and negative statements as well as overall quality. Results: Higher BMI significantly predicted fewer post-interview offers of admission into psychology graduate programs. Results also suggest this relationship is stronger for female applicants. BMI was not related to overall quality or the number of stereotypically weight-related adjectives in letters of recommendation. Surprisingly, higher BMI was related to more positive adjectives in letters. Conclusions: The first evidence that individuals interviewing applicants to graduate programs may systematically favor thinner applicants is provided here. A conscious or unconscious bias against applicants with extra body weight is a plausible explanation. Stereotype threat and social identity threat are also discussed as explanations for the relationship between BMI and interview success.

“Because She’s One Who Listens” Children Discuss Disclosure Recipients in Forensic Interviews

Abstract: The current study examined investigative interviews using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol with 204, five- to thirteen-year-old suspected victims of child sexual abuse. The analyses focused on who children told, who they wanted (or did not want) to tell and why, their expectations about being believed, and other general motivations for disclosure. Children's spontaneous reports as well as their responses to interviewer questions about disclosure were explored. Results demonstrated that the majority of children discussed disclosure recipients in their interviews, with 78 children (38%) explaining their disclosures. Only 15 children (7%) mentioned expectations about whether recipients would believe their disclosures. There were no differences between the types of information elicited by interviewers and those provided spontaneously, suggesting that, when interviewed in an open-ended, facilitative manner, children themselves produce informative details about their disclosure histories. Results have practical implications for professionals who interview children about sexual abuse.

Robot-mediated interviews--how effective is a humanoid robot as a tool for interviewing young children?

Abstract: Robots have been used in a variety of education, therapy or entertainment contexts. This paper introduces the novel application of using humanoid robots for robot-mediated interviews. An experimental study examines how children’s responses towards the humanoid robot KASPAR in an interview context differ in comparison to their interaction with a human in a similar setting. Twenty-one children aged between 7 and 9 took part in this study. Each child participated in two interviews, one with an adult and one with a humanoid robot. Measures include the behavioural coding of the children’s behaviour during the interviews and questionnaire data. The questions in these interviews focused on a special event that had recently taken place in the school. The results reveal that the children interacted with KASPAR very similar to how they interacted with a human interviewer. The quantitative behaviour analysis reveal that the most notable difference between the interviews with KASPAR and the human were the duration of the interviews, the eye gaze directed towards the different interviewers, and the response time of the interviewers. These results are discussed in light of future work towards developing KASPAR as an ‘interviewer’ for young children in application areas where a robot may have advantages over a human interviewer, e.g. in police, social services, or healthcare applications.

How level of realism influences anxiety in virtual reality environments for a job interview

Abstract: This study describes how the level of graphical realism required in a virtual social simulation setting can be therapeutically useful in reducing job interview anxiety through exposure. We developed a virtual job interview simulation at a university career service to help student populations faced with the prospect of their first job interview. The virtual job interview simulation can deliver a realistic mock job interview within a high-quality immersive system that is similar to professional virtual reality (VR) systems. We conducted two experimental studies with a common theme: the role of graphical reality of the virtual interviewer and the immersive visual display in the virtual job interview simulation. The results are presented in this study based on a psycho-physiological approach, revealing variation in the distribution of participants' anxiety state across various VR conditions. The overall conclusion of this study is that the sense of anxiety is less correlated to the graphical realism in VR environment even though the more graphically detailed the virtual human was, the more it provoked a sense of presence. In addition, at least some degree of physical immersion is needed to maintain anxiety levels over the course of VR exposure.

The Impact of Mobile Phones on Survey Measurement Error

Abstract: We propose a framework of ways in which the different context of mobile interviews-such as multi-tasking, distraction, and the presence of others-and differences inherent in the technology can influence survey responses. The framework also highlights the mechanisms through which these influences operate. We evaluate selected elements of the framework using data from a randomized experiment in which respondents were interviewed by mobile or landline. Measures of interview context were gathered via interviewer evaluation, respondent perception, and direct questioning. We find less social desirability bias with mobile phone interviews, but overall only small differences between mobile and landline interviews. © 2012 The Author.

Preparing for and conducting focus groups in nursing research: part 2.

Abstract: Focus group interviews are widely used in health research to explore phenomena and are accepted as a legitimate qualitative methodology. They are used to draw out interaction data from discussions among participants; researchers running these groups need to be skilled in interviewing and in managing groups, group dynamics and group discussions. This article follows Doody et al's (2013) article on the theory of focus group research; it addresses the preparation for focus groups relating to the research environment, interview process, duration, participation of group members and the role of the moderator. The article aims to assist researchers to prepare and plan for focus groups and to develop an understanding of them, so information from the groups can be used for academic studies or as part of a research proposal.

The power dance in the research interview: manifesting power and powerlessness:

Abstract: We examine the power that is manifested between interviewers and interviewees in research interviews. Our empirical examples are drawn from interviews conducted with: (a) a vocational teacher; and (b) a senior researcher. We analysed the manifestations of power both in the course of the interviews and across interviews. We found that power is exercised and distributed diversely and situationally between the interview participants (interviewer and interviewee) during the interviews. It appeared that in a given interview, the interplay between individual backgrounds and the interview setting was connected to the activities through which power was manifested, and that these activities played a role in shaping the subsequent course and content of the interview. Our findings contribute to discussion concerning the shifting significance of difference and sameness between interview participants with regard to power relations, what is conveyed in interviews, and the manner in which it is conveyed.

Interviewees with an agenda: learning from a ‘failed’ interview:

Abstract: Social constructionists consider interviews as mutually co-constructing meaning. But what if the interlocutors do not seem to agree on what they construct? What if the interviewee has a particularly strong agenda, far from the intended research topic? Are these ‘failed’ interviews? We address this issue using a ‘deviant’ interview in a study of ‘being a neighbour’. First, we add to the discussion of interviewees’ category representativeness by acknowledging a situation when the interviewee insists on representing a category not intended by the researcher. Second, we address the notion of asymmetries of power, where it is often assumed that the interviewer has the upper hand. Through this case, we argue that the opposite may well be true. Finally, we argue that cases where the interviewee pursues a strong agenda may suggest new research areas. After all, strong efforts of resistance may indicate deeper cultural concerns.

“Interviewer” Effects in Face-to-Face Surveys: A Function of Sampling, Measurement Error, or Nonresponse?

Abstract: Recent research has attempted to examine the proportion of interviewer variance that is due to interviewers systematically varying in their success in obtaining cooperation from respondents with varying characteristics (i.e., nonresponse error variance), rather than variance among interviewers in systematic measurement difficulties (i.e., measurement error variance) - that is, whether correlated responses within interviewers arise due to variance among interviewers in the pools of respondents recruited, or variance in interviewer-specific mean response biases. Unfortunately, work to date has only considered data from a CATI survey, and thus suffers from two limitations: Interviewer effects are commonly much smaller in CATI surveys, and, more importantly, sample units are often contacted by several CATI interviewers before a final outcome (response or final refusal) is achieved. The latter introduces difficulties in assigning nonrespondents to interviewers, and thus interviewer variance components are only estimable under strong assumptions. This study aims to replicate this initial work, analyzing data from a national CAPI survey in Germany where CAPI interviewers were responsible for working a fixed subset of cases.

Mapping leisure shopping trip decision making: Validation of the CNET interview protocol status

Abstract: Qualitative research methods can provide an in-depth understanding of how people come to certain decisions, providing valuable input to ground behavioural assumptions in activity-based travel demand models and to implement high impact policy measures to change travel behaviour. The CNET interview protocol is a semi-structured personal interview method to elicit the mental representation of individuals’ decision making. There is a risk of bias caused by the interviewer’s interpretation of the respondents’ answers. Therefore, the quality of the CNET interview protocol is assessed by evaluating its trustworthiness using intercoder reliability tests. Krippendorff’s alpha is identified as the most appropriate measure. The intercoder reliability is sufficiently high. Consequently, the CNET interview protocol can be considered a valid method to measure and map individuals’ considerations in complex spatio-temporal decision problems.

Consent when Linking Survey Data with Administrative Records: The Role of the Interviewer

Abstract: Linking survey data with administrative records is becoming more common in the social sciences in recent years. Regulatory frameworks require the respondent's consent to this procedure in most cases. Similar to non-response, non-consent may lead to selective samples and could pose a problem when using the combined data for analyses. Thus investigating the selectivity and the determinants of the consent decision is important in order to find ways to reduce non-consent. Adapting the survey participation model by Groves and Couper (1998), this paper identifies different areas influencing the respondents' willingness to consent. In addition to control variables at the individual and household level, two further areas of interest are included: the interview situation and the characteristics of the interviewer. A multilevel approach highlights the importance of the interviewer for the consent decision: the empty model shows an intra-class correlation of 55%, which can be reduced to 35% in a full model including interviewer variables. An additional analysis including measures of interviewer performance shows that there are further unobserved interviewer characteristics that influence the respondent's consent decision. The results suggest that although respondent and household characteristics are important for the consent decision, a large part of the variation in the data is explained by the interviewers. This finding stresses the importance of the interviewers not only as an integral part in data collection efforts, but also as the direct link to gain a respondent's consent for linking survey data with administrative records.

Why do survey respondents disclose more when computers ask the questions

Abstract: Self-administration of surveys has been shown to increase respondents� reporting of sensitive information, and audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) has become the self-administration method of choice for many social surveys. The study reported here, a laboratory experiment with 235 respondents, examines why ACASI seems to promote disclosure. It compares responses in a voice-only (self-administered) interface with responses to a face-to-face (FTF) human interviewer and to two automated interviewing systems that presented animated virtual interviewers with more and less facial movement. All four modes involved the same human interviewer�s voice, and the virtual interviewers� facial motion was captured from the same human interviewer who carried out the FTF interviews. For the ten questions for which FTF-ACASI mode differences (generally, more disclosure in ACASI than FTF) were observed, we compared response patterns for the virtual interviewer conditions. Disclosure for most questions was greater under ACASI than in any of the other modes, even though the two virtual interview modes involved computerized self-administration. This suggests that the locus of FTF-ACASI effects is particularly tied to the absence of facial representation in ACASI. Additional evidence suggests that respondents� affective experience (e.g., comfort) during the interview may mediate these mode effects