Abstract

James Kennedy, Polly A. Phipps (1995) "Respondent Motivation, Response Burden, and Data Quality in the Survey of Employer-Provided Training."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducted an experimental test of a training log, gathering cognitive and motivational data as well as varying the collection procedure. During an initial personal visit, sixty employers were asked to keep a record of training activities that occurred in their establishment each day for two weeks. Respondents received either a personal visit or a telephone call from the field economist after seven days. BLS field economists administered questionnaires at each step of the procedure, and also reported their own observations of the respondents' motivation. Respondents who reported that participation in the survey was "Interesting" provided more good wage data, r (52) =.361, p=.007. Observed attitudes on the last day also predicted the quality of wage data. Reported amounts of time spent and effort correlated inversely, p

Last Modified Date: March 9, 2006