Interviewing a National Sample by Long-Distance Telephone

Abstract

Changing emphases in programs of social welfare, including public health, make it increasingly necessary to plan and conduct programs responsive to the subjective needs and values of the consumer groups for whom they are intended. Obtaining information about such needs in turn requires the development of inexpensive but valid tools for collecting data.In recent years the telephone has seen increasing use as a means of collecting data quickly and inexpensively. Despite some limitations, a small number of published studies generally support the usefulness of the telephone as a means of obtaining personal information. Unfortunately, most of these studies have focused on a relatively small geographic area, where the cost of telephoning is minimal and where it is feasible to undertake intensive efforts to reduce nonresponse rates. The present report is one of the very few which attempted to obtain personal information via the telephone from a probability sample of the U. S. adult population. It also provides detailed data on the costs of this method, and on nonresponse rates, and estimates possible sample bias stemming from differences in personal characteristics of telephone owners and nonowners. The results of an effort to reduce bias are also described. Finally, since the sample interviewed by telephone had earlier given personal interviews, data are provided on the consistency of information obtained by the two methods. THE STUDY SETTING

The Effects of Non-Response on Statistical Inference

“…After examining return rates from 1952 through 1979, Steeh (1981) concluded that refusal rates were rising. For example, Kegeles, Fink, and Kirscht (1969) reported a refusal rate of 4% for participation in their James Jones is affiliated with Ball State University.…”

Interviewing Older Adults: Mode Comparison Using Data from a Face-to-Face Survey and a Telephone Resurvey

“…Thus, those shortcomings of the telephone survey are avoided. In fact, some reinterviews of samples of the entire age range by telephone have obtained high response rates (e.g., Kegeles, Fink, and Kirscht, 1969;Rogers, 1976), and a recent resurvey of an older sample has obtained a 76% response rate if only respondents were included for the response rate calculation, a 93% response rate if respondents and proxies were included (Kovar and Fitti, 1985).…”

The Investigative Interview: A Review of Practice and Related Research

“…When supplemental contacts were made, the response rate tends to reach the same fairly high level regardless of the method used to make the contacts (Coombs & Freedman, 1964;Herman, 1977;Hochstim, 1967;Kegeles, Fink, & Kirscht, 1969;Rogers, 1976;Schmiedeskamp, 1962;Siemiatycki, 1979).…”