Collaborative Research: Video Communication Technologies in Survey Data Collection

该研究项目将在两种有前途但尚未广泛部署的调查模式中检查数据质量，参与，受访者经验和成本，这些调查模式使用现成的视频技术，并且比面对面（FTF）访谈成本更低：视频访谈（通过Skype等平台进行实时双向交流）和视频自我管理（VS）面试，采访者提问时会进行录像，受访者通过打字或点击回答。本项目将比较这些措施的数据质量和成本的VM和VS的采访进行了相同的专业访谈，并在传统的在线（文本）自填问卷，问同样的调查问题的代表性样本的成员谁是随机分配到这三种模式之一。由于虚拟机是同步的，像面对面（FTF）采访一样是“现场”的，而VS是异步的，有记录的，但仍然会投射出一张人脸，因此该项目的比较将提供有关人类接触的这些可分解方面如何影响调查中的行为和经验的新见解。该项目的结果将揭示在何种程度上，以及对谁来说，与访谈者进行成本较低的互动（现场但远程与录制）可以促进参与度和数据质量，与类似的FTF访谈中发现的情况相当。更一般地说，研究结果将解决何时以及以何种方式减少社会存在和不那么个人化的现代沟通模式可能与FTF互动相等甚至更有效。该项目的调查结果将提供与调查计量的未来有关的宝贵信息，并将引起联邦统计系统和其他调查组织的调查研究人员的兴趣。即使调查数据继续是公共政策和决策的核心，调查计量也面临着答复率下降、成本增加、对调查组织信任度下降、以及公众交流习惯的迅速改变。 了解视频技术如何适应未来的调查数据收集是很重要的，因为它可以满足潜在的受访者“他们住的地方”，因为它可以提供一个显着降低成本的替代FTF采访。甚至有可能接触到一些公众，他们的位置使FTF面试变得困难或昂贵，但他们很可能能够参加视频面试（例如，居住在偏远农村地区的人或部署在海外的军人）。 在比较这三种调查模式的数据质量时，该项目将量化参与率、连接问题、受访者遵守视频访谈协议的情况、认真回答（对数字问题给出精确答案，深思熟虑地区分答案）以及敏感信息的披露。该项目将衡量个别面试官的潜在影响，参与面试的感觉，与面试官的融洽关系，以及受访者的满意度。该项目还将允许对这些模式的数据收集成本进行评估。 视频技术的获取和使用并不普遍，即使在那些有机会的人中，有些人愿意参与视频互动，而另一些人则不愿意。该项目将开始解决视频技术对调查数据收集的影响是否以及如何对具有不同先前经验和使用技术的偏好的参与者有所不同。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This research project will examine data quality, participation, respondent experience, and costs in two promising but not yet widely deployed survey modes that use off-the-shelf video technology and are less costly than face to face (FTF) interviews: video-mediated (VM) interviews (live two-way communication via platforms like Skype) and video self-administered (VS) interviews, in which video-recorded interviewers ask the questions and respondents answer by typing or clicking. This project will compare these measures of data quality and costs in VM and VS interviews carried out by the same professional interviewers and in conventional online (textual) self-administered questionnaires, asking the same survey questions to members of a representative sample who are randomly assigned to one of these three modes. Because VM is synchronous and "live" like face-to-face (FTF) interviewing, and VS is asynchronous and recorded but still projects a human face, the project's comparisons will provide new insights regarding how these decomposable aspects of human contact affect behavior and experience in surveys. The project's results will reveal the extent to which, and for whom, less costly interaction (live but remote vs. recorded) with an interviewer promotes engagement and data quality comparable to what is found in similar FTF interviews. More generally, the findings will address when and in what ways modern communication modes that reduce social presence and are less personal might be equal to or even more effective than FTF interaction. Findings from this project will provide valuable information relevant to the future of survey measurement and will be of interest to survey researchers in the Federal statistical system and other survey organizations.Even as survey data continue to be central to public policy and decision-making, survey measurement is challenged by declining response rates, increasing costs, declining trust in survey organizations, and rapidly changing communication habits among the public. Understanding how video technologies could fit into the future of survey data collection is important both because it may meet potential respondents "where they live" and because it may provide a significantly lower cost alternative to FTF interviewing. There is even the potential to reach some members of the public whose location makes FTF interviewing difficult or expensive, but who may well be able to participate in a video interview (e.g., people who live in remote rural areas or members of the military deployed overseas). In comparing data quality across these three survey modes, the project will quantify participation rates, connectivity problems, respondent compliance with the video interviewing protocol, conscientious responding (giving precise answers to numerical questions, thoughtfully differentiating answers), and disclosure of sensitive information. The project will measure the potential impact of individual interviewers, feelings of engagement with the interview, rapport with the interviewer, and respondent satisfaction. The project also will allow assessment of data collection costs across these modes. Access to and use of video technologies are not universal, and even among those with access some are willing to engage in video interaction while others are reluctant. The project will begin to address whether and how the effects of video technologies on survey data collection differ for participants with different levels of prior experience and preference for using the technologies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.