‘It is time computers do clever things!’: the impact of dependent interviewing on interviewer burden

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

June 1, 2011

Abstract:

Despite the increased interest in assessing the effects of dependent interviewing (DI) on data quality, the impact of DI on interviewer burden and interviewer-respondent interaction remains currently unexplored and undocumented. Drawing on Japec’s work, this article attempts to evaluate the impact of DI on interviewer burden and describes the mechanisms by which DI affects perceived interviewer burden and ultimately data quality. We use a diverse set of data including qualitative data collected from a survey carried out in 2006 on the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) interviewers. Three main findings stand out: DI is usually welcomed by interviewers; under condition of no change in respondent circumstances, DI eases interviewer burden; the mechanisms by which DI eases interviewer burden are complex as interviewer burden factors are often strictly related to respondent burden; and there are strong interrelationships among the different factors that constitute interviewer burden.

Published in

Field Methods

Volume and page numbers

Volume: 23 , p.3 -23

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1525822X10384087

ISSN

1525822

Subject

Notes

Originally 'Online Early'

Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to Univ. Essex registered users*


Related Publications

#513869

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest