An Evaluation study of the Event History Calender

To obtain valid and reliable data in survey interviews, it is generally acknowledged that the interviewer's behavior should be standardized in order to provide each respondent with the same stimulus and prevent the interviewer affecting the answers of the respondent (Fowler & Mangione, 1990). Conducting an interview using an event history calendar (EHC), however, usually requires the interviewer to be much more flexible. Although completely structured interviews with an EHC have been done (Furstenberg, Brooks-Gunn, & Morgan, 1987), the more common approach is to use a semistructured format with an initial prescribed question for each (sub)domain (Freedman, Thornton, Camburn, Alwin, & Young-DeMarco, 1988). In such an approach, the interviewer is required to react to the respondent's answers, which in turn may produce unwanted interviewer variance and thus may endanger the quality of the data. Thus, interviewers on the one hand have to pose the questions as worded in the questionnaire, but on the other hand have to probe, for example asking whether a particular situation has changed, using their own words and based on their own judgment given the answers of the respondent. The flexible approach is especially expected to improve data quality with regard to resolving inconsistencies and checking the respondent's memory (Belli, Shay, & Stafford, 2001). However, such freedom may cause the interviewer also to perform nonstandardized behavior in cases where standardized behavior may have been more appropriate (e.g., using suggestive probes; see Smit, Dijkstra, & Van der Zouwen, 1997). Moreover, administering an EHC is quite a complex task. Interviewers have to grasp the essential ideas underlying the EHC method and apply techniques like parallel probing in an adequate way, whereas filling in the calendar itself is much less straightforward than filling in a usual questionnaire from a survey interview. In this chapter we present two studies in the context of a large tobacco epidemiology study evaluating interviewer performance in administering an EHC. The first study concerns a paper-and-pencil version of the EHC; the second one a computer-assisted version. First we describe the underlying principles of the EHC and the task of the interviewer in more detail

Linked Markov sources: Modeling outcome-dependent social processes

Many social processes are adaptive in the sense that the process changes as a result of previous outcomes. Data on such processes may come in the form of categorical time series. First, the authors propose a class of Markov Source models that embody such adaptation. Second, the authors discuss new methods to evaluate the fit of such models. Third, the authors apply these models and methods to data on a social process that is a preeminent example of an adaptive process: (encoded) conversation as arises in structured interviews. © 2007 Sage Publications

Question-answer sequences in survey interviews

Interaction analysis was used to analyze a total of 14,265 question-answer sequences of (Q-A Sequences) 80 questions that originated from two face-to-face and three telephone surveys. The analysis was directed towards the causes and effects of particular interactional problems. Our results showed that problematic respondent behavior is affected by the questionnaire design, whereas inadequate interviewer behavior is affected by respondent behavior, rather than directly by the questionnaire design. Two surveys used questions for which validating information was available. It appeared that the occurrence of such irregularities of interviewer and respondent behavior was related to the validity of the eventual responses. Explanations for the occurrence of problematic respondent behavior were proposed, concerning both cognitive and conversational factors, related to the wording of questions and response alternatives. © Springer 2006

Assessment of explanatory models of mental illness: effects of patient and interviewer characteristics

Background: Explanatory models (EMs) refer to patients’ causal attributions of illness and have been shown to affect treatment preference and outcome. Reliable and valid assessment of EMs may be hindered by interviewer and respondent disparities on certain demographic characteristics, such as ethnicity. The present study examined (a) whether ethnic minority patients reported different EMs to ethnically similar interviewers in comparison with those with a different ethnicity, and (b) whether this effect was related to respondents’ social desirability, the perceived rapport with the interviewer and level of uncertainty toward their EMs. Methods: A total of 55 patients of Turkish and Moroccan origins with mood and anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to ethnically similar or dissimilar interviewers. EMs were assessed, using a semi-structured interview, across 11 different categories of causes. Results: Participants who were interviewed by an ethnically similar interviewer perceived interpersonal, victimization and religious/mystical causes as more important, whereas interviews by ethnically dissimilar interviewers generated higher scores on medical causes. These effects were not mediated by the perceived rapport with the interviewer, and social desirability had a modest impact on the results. Higher uncertainty among participants toward medical and religious/mystical causes seemed to be associated with greater adjustment in the report of these EMs. Conclusion: The findings have significant implications for interviewer selection in epidemiological research and clinical practice

Preventing mismatch answers in standardized survey interviews

Behavior coding, Question wording, Interaction analysis, Question–answer sequence, Response error, Survey-interview,

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Gescheiden werelden gespannen verhoudingen: Ouderschap na scheiding en geweld met dodelijke afloop

Na hun vermissing haalden de foto’s van de blonde jongetjes verschillende keren het journaal. Het was het voorjaar van 2013 en ze waren voor het laatst gezien met hun vader. Zijn eigen lichaam was eerder in een bos in Limburg aangetroffen. Na verschillende publieke zoekacties werden de kinderen van 7 en 9 jaar dood gevonden bij een afwateringsbuis in de provincie Utrecht. Wat kunnen we leren van de zaak Julian en Ruben? In het artikel is een onjuistheid vermeld. Het lichaam van de vader is aangetroffen in de bossen nabij Doorn i.p.v. het in het artikel genoemde bos in Limburg

Persuasion Strategies for Reducing Refusal Rates in Telephone Surveys

The verbal interactions between interviewer and respondent of the introductory part of 85 telephone interviews were audiotaped and analyzed to investigate whether the respondent�s refusal or participation could be ascribed to differences in interviewing behavior. Content analysis showed that, among other things, refusing behavior appeared to depend on the kind of the requests made by the interviewer, and the amount of information provided by the interviewer