Interviewers Deviations in Surveys: Impact, Reasons, Detection and Prevention

Survey data are used in many disciplines including Social Sciences, Economics and Psychology. Interviewers’ behaviour might affect the quality of such data. This book presents the results of new research on interviewers’ motivation and behaviour. A substantial number of contributions address deviant behaviour, methods for assessing the impact of such behaviour on data quality and tools for detecting faked interviews. Further chapters discuss methods for preventing undesirable interviewer effects. Apart from specific methodological contributions, the chapters of the book also provide a unique collection of examples of deviant behaviour and its detection – a topic not overly present in literature despite its substantial prevalence in survey field work. The volume includes 13 peer reviewed papers presented at an international workshop in Rauischholzhausen in October 2011.

Peter Winker is professor of statistics and econometrics at the University Gießen.
Natalja Menold is a senior researcher at the Center for Survey Design & Methodology at the GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim.
Rolf Porst was a senior researcher at the Center for Survey Design & Methodology at the GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim until he retired in 2012.