Investigating Interviewer Effects and Confounds in Survey‐Based Experimentation*

AbstractFew studies examine religiosity-of-interviewer effects, despite recent expansion of surveying in the Muslim world. Using data from a nationally-representative survey of 800 Moroccans conducted in 2007, this study investigates whether and why interviewer religiosity and gender affect responses to religiously-sensitive questions. Interviewer dress affects responses to four of six items, but effects are larger and more consistent for religious respondents, in support of power relations theory. Religious Moroccans provide less pious responses to secular-appearing interviewers, whom they may link to the secular state, and more religious answers to interviewers wearing hijab, in order to safeguard their reputation in a society that values piety. Interviewer traits do not affect the probability of item-missing data. Religiosity-of-interviewer effects depend on interviewer gender for questions about dress choice, a gendered issue closely related to interviewer dress. Interviewer gender and dress should be coded and controlled for to reduce bias and better understand social dynamics.

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Race-of-Interviewer Effects Among Southern Adolescents

Public Opinion Quarterly ◽

10.1086/268654 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 231 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Bruce A. Campbell

Keyword(s):

Interviewer Effects

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Underreporting of Substance Use in a National Longitudinal Youth Cohort: Individual and Interviewer Effects

Public Opinion Quarterly ◽

10.1086/269084 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 52 (1) ◽

pp. 100 ◽

Cited By ~ 202

Author(s):

Barbara S. Mensch ◽

Denise B. Kandel

Keyword(s):

Substance Use ◽

Interviewer Effects

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Interviewer Effects

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods ◽

10.4135/9781412950589.n452 ◽

2012 ◽

Keyword(s):

Interviewer Effects

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Interviewer Effects

Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods ◽

10.4135/9781412963947.n242 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Interviewer Effects

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Interpersonal Perceptions and Interviewer Effects in Face-to-Face Surveys

Sociological Methods & Research ◽

10.1177/0049124120926215 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 004912412092621

Author(s):

Simon Kühne

Keyword(s):

Survey Data ◽

Large Scale ◽

Survey Design ◽

Political Issues ◽

Interpersonal Perceptions ◽

Face To Face ◽

Interviewer Effects ◽

Self Reports ◽

And Training

Survey interviewers can negatively affect survey data by introducing variance and bias into estimates. When investigating these interviewer effects, research typically focuses on interviewer sociodemographics with only a few studies examining the effects of characteristics that are not directly visible such as interviewer attitudes, opinions, and personality. For the study at hand, self-reports of 1,212 respondents and 116 interviewers, as well as their interpersonal perceptions of each other, were collected in a large-scale, face-to-face survey of households in Germany. Respondents and interviewers were presented with the same questions regarding their opinions and mutual perceptions toward social and political issues in Germany. Analyses show that interviewer effects can be largely explained by how an interviewer is seen by respondents. This indicates that some respondents adjust their answers toward anticipated interviewer opinions. Survey practitioners ought to acknowledge this in their survey design and training of interviewers.

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