Abstract
D. Cantor and J.L. Esposito (1992)
"Evaluating Interviewer Style for Collecting Industry and
Occupation Information," Proceedings of the Section on
Survey Methods, American Statistical Association, 661-666.
As part of the monthly collection of job-related data on
the Current Population Survey (CPS), interviewers ask four
open-ended questions pertaining to the respondent's industry
and occupation (I/O) status, and record responses to these
questions as closely to verbatim as possible. Recorded
information is subsequently coded into three-digit I/O
categories at the Census Bureau's coding facility in
Jeffersonville, IN. The purpose of this paper is to report on
research examining the effects of the interviewer's
data-collection style (e.g., probing strategies, recording
efficiency) on the quality of the information collected and
the accuracy of the I/O codes subsequently generated. The
study involved asking Census Bureau coders to listen to a set
of audiotaped CPS CATI interviews and to: (a) record relevant
information necessary for coding the case, (b) classify the
descriptions into appropriate I/O categories, and (c) comment
on the interviewers' probing style. Analyses of these data
were useful in identifying the types of problems interviewers
have when administering the I/O questions and led to a set of
recommendations for improving the quality of information
collected in the I/O series of the CPS.
To receive a copy of this paper (usually within 3-5 days), please contact Jim Esposito by phone or voice mail (202-691-6368), by e-mail (Esposito.Jim@bls.gov), or by mailing your request to:
James L. Esposito
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Postal Square Building, Room 4985
2 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E.
Washington, DC, 20212
Last Modified Date: July 19, 2008
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