Internet Interviewing and the HRS

我们要求拨款进行一项为期五年的计划，向健康与退休研究(HRS)的部分受访者进行两次互联网访问，并设立一个由1,000名非HRS受访者组成的独立互联网小组，他们将在四年内每年透过互联网接受两次访问，另有500名非HRS受访者为对照组，他们将在四年内每年接受一次电话访问。数据收集和分析将使人力资源部了解互联网访问的潜力，并可作为人力资源部的测试样本。我们建议的研究既包括方法论问题，也包括实质性问题，尤其是经济学、认知心理学和流行病学。鉴于目前互联网接入在人口中的分布(较年长年龄组的接入有所下降)，预计在可预见的未来，人力资源调查将与其他模式一起使用互联网访问。这激发了拟议研究的混合模式设计。具体地说，我们的目标是：1.提供数据，以便对互联网受访者和电话受访者的人口进行比较研究，以了解选择偏见；2.与其他收集调查数据的方式相比，对互联网访问的性质提供更系统的见解，特别是在中老年受访者中；3.启动各种问卷和问题设计实验，开发互联网访问的潜力。将特别注意认知功能的作用和互联网作为面谈环境的适宜性。4.改进对消费或财富等各种重要客观变量的测量；5.为可能是主观因素的复杂变量，如概率、期望值、健康史、风险态度和时间偏好，开发新的测量方法；6.将这些活动产生的数据提供给研究界。将研究结果与2004年起在人力资源调查中部分和逐步实施互联网访问联系起来。

We request funding for a five year proj4ect to conduct two Internet interviews with a subset of the respondents to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and to set up a separate Internet panel of 1,000 non-HRS respondents, who will be interviewed via Internet twice a year for four years, plus a control group of 500 non-HRS respondents, who will e interviewed once a year by telephone for four years. The data collection and analysis will inform the HRS about the potential of Internet interviewing and may serve as a tested sample for the HRS. Our proposed study covers both methodological issues and substantive issues, foremost in economics, cognitive psychology and epidemiology. In view of the current distribution of Internet access among the population (with access dropping of among older age groups), it is anticipated that in the foreseeable future the HRS will use Internet interviewing alongside other modes. This motivates the mixed mode design of the proposed study. Specifically, we aim: 1. To provide data that will permit a comparative study of the population of Internet interviewees with the population of telephone interviewees with the goal of understanding selection bias; 2. To provide more systematic insight in the properties of Internet interviewing in comparison with other modes of collecting survey data, in particular among middle aged and elderly respondents; 3. To initiate various experiments in questionnaire and question design, exploiting the potential of Internet interviewing. Special attention will be paid to the role of cognitive functioning and the suitability of the Internet as an interviewing environment. 4. To improve the measurement of various important objective variables such as consumption or wealth; 5. To develop new measurement methods for complex possibly subjective variables such as probabilities, expectations, health histories, risk attitudes and time preferences; 6. To make the data generated by these activities available to the research community. To gear the outcomes of the research towards partial and gradual implementation of Internet interviewing in the HRS as of 2004.