Explaining interviewer effects: A research synthesis

Abstract

A rich and diverse literature exists on the effects that human interviewerscan have on different aspects of the survey data collection process. Thisresearch synthesis uses the Total Survey Error (TSE) framework to highlightimportant historical developments and advances in the study of interviewereffects on a variety of important survey process outcomes, includingsample frame coverage, contact and recruitment of potentialrespondents, survey measurement, and data processing. Included in thescope of the synthesis is research literature that has focused on explainingvariability among interviewers in these effects and the different typesof variable errors that they can introduce, which can ultimately affect theefficiency of survey estimates. We first consider common tasks withwhich human interviewers are often charged and then use the TSEframework to organize and synthesize the literature discussing the variableerrors that interviewers can introduce when attempting to executeeach task. Based on our synthesis, we identify key gaps in knowledgeand then use these gaps to motivate an organizing model for future researchinvestigating explanations for interviewer effects on different aspectsof the survey data collection process.