Effects of Interviewers, Respondents, and Questions on Survey Measurement

本研究将探讨调查访谈的特点如何影响调查数据的质量。调查数据仍然是研究人员了解人群行为和态度的最重要途径之一。使用健康调查的数据和成绩单，调查人员将检查调查问题的特征、访问者和受访者在回答问题时的行为以及访问者和受访者的社会人口属性(例如，年龄、种族和性别)之间的相互作用。该项目将提高对参与医学研究、问卷设计、面谈方法和面试者培训所涉及问题的了解。该项目的结果将对调查从业者、联邦数据收集工作以及社会、行为和医学研究人员具有价值。通过提高社会科学调查对国家数据基础设施的贡献，提高调查数据的质量有利于社会。该项目的成果将在期刊和会议上传播。该项目制作的材料将提供给从业者和其他研究人员。学生将作为这个项目的一部分接受培训。这个研究项目的背景是调查测量，特别是当它应用于多元化和多元文化的环境中，如与健康相关的调查。这项研究将解决这样一个问题：面试者、受访者和调查问题的特征如何独立地和结合地影响调查质量？在先前研究的基础上，调查人员将研究调查访谈的特点如何引入系统性测量误差，对受访者的社会群体进行偏见比较，并导致不可靠性增加。这项研究将同时集中在两个领域：1)定性分析采访者和受访者的行为，以及他们之间的互动，从而产生调查答案；2)定量列举这些互动的特征及其与采访者、受访者和调查问题的特征的关系。为了便于后一种分析，调查人员将对标准化调查面谈的笔录制定和应用系统编码。这种编码将提供信息，以检查采访者和受访者的行为--特别是其他研究发现的与较低效度或可靠性相关的行为--是否因受访者群体(例如，种族/民族)和调查问题的特征而有所不同。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project will investigate how the quality of survey data is influenced by features of the survey interview. Survey data remains one of the most important ways that researchers learn about the behaviors and attitudes of populations. Using data and transcripts from a health survey, the investigators will examine the interplay between the characteristics of the survey questions, the behaviors of interviewers and respondents when questions are administered, and the socio-demographic attributes (for example, age, ethnicity, and gender) of both interviewers and respondents. The project will improve understanding of the issues involved in participation in medical research, questionnaire design, interviewing methods, and interviewer training. The results of this project will be of value to survey practitioners, federal data collection efforts, and social, behavioral, and medical researchers. Improving the quality of survey data benefits society by elevating the contribution that social science surveys make to the nation's data infrastructure. Results from this project will be disseminated in journals and at conferences. Materials produced by the project will be made available to practitioners and other researchers. Students will be trained as part of this project.The context for this research project is survey measurement, particularly as it applies in a diverse and multi-cultural setting like a health-related survey. The research will address the question: How do characteristics of interviewers, respondents, and survey questions independently and in combination impact survey quality? Building upon prior research, the investigators will examine how features of the survey interview may introduce systematic measurement error, bias comparisons across social groups of respondents, and lead to increased unreliability. The research will concentrate on two areas simultaneously: 1) a qualitative analysis identifying behaviors of interviewers and respondents and the interplay between them that produces a survey answer; and 2) a quantitative enumeration of these features of the interaction and their association with characteristics of interviewers, respondents, and survey questions. To facilitate the latter analyses, the investigators will develop and apply systematic coding to transcripts of standardized survey interviews. This coding will inform an examination of whether the behaviors of interviewers and respondents - especially behaviors other research finds are associated with lower validity or reliability - vary for respondents across groups (for example, racial/ethnic groups) and vary across characteristics of the survey questions.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.