Collaborative Research: Video Communication Technologies in Survey Data Collection

这项研究项目将通过两种前景看好但尚未广泛部署的调查模式来考察数据质量、参与度、受访者体验和成本。这两种调查模式使用现成的视频技术，成本低于面对面(FTF)采访：视频中介(VM)采访(通过Skype等平台进行现场双向交流)和视频自我管理(VS)采访，在视频采访中，视频记录的受访者通过打字或点击提问，受访者回答问题。该项目将在同一专业面试者进行的VM和VS访谈中以及在传统的在线(文本)自填式问卷中比较这些数据质量和成本的衡量标准，向随机分配到这三种模式之一的具有代表性的样本成员提出相同的调查问题。由于虚拟人是同步的，像面对面(FTF)采访一样是“现场”的，而虚拟人是异步的和被记录的，但仍然投射出一个人的脸，因此该项目的比较将提供关于这些可分解的人类接触方面如何影响调查中的行为和体验的新见解。该项目的结果将揭示，在多大程度上以及对谁来说，与面试官进行成本较低的互动(现场直播但远程与录音)可以提高参与度和数据质量，可以与类似的FTF面试相媲美。更广泛地说，这些发现将解决减少社交存在和不那么个人化的现代交流模式何时以及以何种方式可能等同于甚至更有效地与FTF互动。该项目的调查结果将提供与调查测量的未来相关的有价值的信息，并将对联邦统计系统和其他调查组织的调查研究人员感兴趣。即使调查数据仍然是公共政策和决策的核心，调查测量也面临着响应率下降、成本增加、对调查机构的信任度下降以及公众沟通习惯迅速变化的挑战。了解视频技术如何适应未来的调查数据收集非常重要，因为它可能会与潜在的受访者“在他们居住的地方”见面，也因为它可能为FTF访谈提供一种成本低得多的替代方案。甚至有可能接触到一些公众，他们的地理位置使FTF采访变得困难或昂贵，但他们很可能能够参加视频采访(例如，生活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、连通性问题、受访者对视频访谈协议的遵守情况、认真回答(对数字问题给出准确答案、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，对面试的参与感，与面试官的融洽关系，以及受访者的满意度。该项目还将评估这些模式的数据收集费用。视频技术的获取和使用并不普遍，即使在那些能够获得视频技术的人中，也有一些人愿意参与视频互动，而另一些人则不愿意。该项目将开始讨论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水平的先前经验和使用该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，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 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.