Calendar Survey Methods: Verbal Behavior and Computer Applications

在社会科学中进行的调查依赖于回顾性报告的质量，以提供对社会，经济和健康动态的有效估计。 基于传统标准化问卷列表（Q-list）方法的回忆测量表明，回顾性报告中的回答错误在较遥远的过去发生的事件中变得更加明显。 与Q列表方法相比，事件历史日历（EHC）问卷方法在提高回顾性报告质量方面具有相当大的潜力。 具体而言，本项目将1）评估认知和沟通过程对通过Q列表和EHC访谈方法获得的回顾性报告质量的影响。 这些过程将通过访问者和被访者的言语行为的措施进行检查，从500个录音采访的纸和铅笔的Q-列表和EHC的采访编码，特别注意集中在访问者的提示策略和检索策略的受访者。 2)部分基于言语行为分析，开发一个为期2年的参考期计算机辅助面试EHC（CAI-EHC），以衡量关键的人口，健康和经济变量，将用于生产访谈的2003年小组研究的收入动态（PSID）。 3)使用CAI-EHC版本进行可用性和认知测试，以评估和改进访谈者与工具之间的界面以及工具的认知功效。 4)通过对自传体记忆结构的进一步发现，为认知科学文献做出贡献。信息的传播是本项目教育目标的一部分。 语言行为编码和可用性测试的重要发现将在教育环境、专业会议和出版物中展示。 调查方法学课程将引入环境健康标准访谈的认知方面。 CAI-EHC面试方法软件的开发将以合理的费用公开提供。 最终，CAI-EHC访谈可能成为收集调查中回顾性报告的最佳选择，提高社会科学家模拟生命历程的能力，以及政府机构根据调查数据制定合理的社会政策的能力。

Surveys conducted in the social sciences depend on the quality of retrospective reports to provide valid estimates of social, economic, and health dynamics. Recall measures based on conventional standardized questionnaire list (Q-list) approaches have shown that response errors in retrospective reports become considerably more pronounced with events that have occurred in the more distant past. An Event History Calendar (EHC) questionnaire methodology has considerable potential toward improving the quality of retrospective reports in comparison to Q-list methods. Specifically, this project will 1) assess the impact of cognitive and communicative processes on the quality of retrospective reports that are obtained by Q-list and EHC interviewing methodologies. These processes will be examined through measures of interviewer and respondent verbal behaviors as coded from 500 audiotaped interviews of paper and pencil Q-list and EHC interviews, with particular attention focusing on the cueing strategies of interviewers and the retrieval strategies of respondents. 2) Partly based on the verbal behavior analyses, develop a 2-year reference period Computer Assisted Interviewing EHC (CAI-EHC) to measure key demographic, health, and economic variables that will be used in production interviews of the 2003 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). 3) Conduct usability and cognitive tests with CAI-EHC versions to assess and improve the interface between interviewers and the instrument, and the cognitive efficacy of the instrument. 4) Contribute to the cognitive science literature through additional discoveries concerning the structure of autobiographical memory.The dissemination of information is part of the educational goals of this project. Significant findings from the verbal behavior coding and usability tests will be presented in educational settings, at professional meetings, and through publication. The cognitive aspects of EHC interviewing will be introduced into the curricula of courses in survey methodology. Developments of the CAI-EHC interviewing methodology software will be publicly available for a reasonable charge. Ultimately, CAI-EHC interviewing may become the best state-of-the-art choice for the collection of retrospective reports in surveys, improving the ability of social scientists to model the life course and of governmental agencies to initiate sound social policies that are based on survey data.