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An Examination of an Interviewer-Respondent Matching Protocol in a Longitudinal CATI Study.

ABSTRACT: This article presents results from an experimental study in Germany designed to test the effectiveness of a novel protocol for matching participants in a national panel survey with interviewers employing computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) on selected sociodemographic features, including sex, age, and education. We specifically focus on the ability of the protocol to engender close matches between respondents and interviewers in terms of these features, using both theory and empirical evidence to suggest that this type of matching will improve cooperation rates in surveys employing CATI. We also focus on indicators of "success" at first contact (defined as a successful interview or establishment of an appointment for an interview) as a function of whether the matching protocol was in use on a given day and whether specific types of matches generated higher rates of success overall. We find strong evidence of the protocol effectively establishing close matches, and we also observe that matches based on education proved especially effective for rates of "success" in a panel survey that focused primarily on labor market topics. We conclude with thoughts on practical implementation of this approach in other settings and suggested directions for future work in this area.

SUBMITTER: West BT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7147819 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An Examination of an Interviewer-Respondent Matching Protocol in a Longitudinal CATI Study.

West Brady T BT Elliott Michael R MR Mneimneh Zeina Z Wagner James J Peytchev Andy A Trappmann Mark M

Journal of survey statistics and methodology 20190212 2

This article presents results from an experimental study in Germany designed to test the effectiveness of a novel protocol for matching participants in a national panel survey with interviewers employing computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) on selected sociodemographic features, including sex, age, and education. We specifically focus on the ability of the protocol to engender close matches between respondents and interviewers in terms of these features, using both theory and empirica ...[more]

PMID: 32309459

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Project description:OBJECTIVES:Non-response to questionnaires in a longitudinal study reduces the effective sample size and introduces bias. We identified the characteristics of non-respondent pregnant women, and compared them with respondents in the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS) during the gestational period. DESIGN:This was a questionnaire-based, longitudinal cohort study. SETTING:Questionnaires were provided by research coordinators to mothers at prenatal examinations (at obstetrics clinics) or by mail. Mothers were measured twice: during the first trimester and during the second/third trimester. PARTICIPANTS:Data were collected from the 10 129 participating mothers of the 10 288 children surveyed in the 2011 baseline JECS. We excluded responses from mothers who had a miscarriage or stillbirth; therefore, we analysed data from 9649 participants. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES:Data concerning demographics, medical history, health characteristics, health-related behaviour and environmental exposure were collected via self-administered questionnaires. The response status of participants' partners and contact with their obstetrician were also examined. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors related to non-response. RESULTS:Response was associated with living with one's mother-in-law (ORs: 0.47, 95% CIs: 0.24 to 0.85), positive participation of participants' partner (OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.35) and multiple visits to the obstetrician (OR: 0.02, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.03). Participants who had a medical history of allergic rhinitis, had body pain or drank alcohol had higher odds of responding (ORs: 0.68, 0.96 and 0.36, 95% CIs: 0.48 to 0.95 and 0.95 to 0.98 and 0.16 to 0.72, respectively); those exposed to secondary smoke had lower odds of responding (OR: 1.59, 95% CI: 1.12 to 2.23). CONCLUSIONS:The non-response rate decreased when participants reported health-related behaviour or characteristics. Obtaining the understanding of people around each participant might help increase response rates.

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Dataset Information

An Examination of an Interviewer-Respondent Matching Protocol in a Longitudinal CATI Study.

Publications

An Examination of an Interviewer-Respondent Matching Protocol in a Longitudinal CATI Study.

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