Interviewer and Respondent Interaction in Survey Interviews

This book sheds light on verbal interaction problems in survey interviews. It is shown how behavior coding, i.e., coding the utterances of interviewer and respondent while they are answering survey questions, can be used to detect interactional problems. Several empirical studies using behavior coding are described. The results of these studies showed that the first problems occurring are usually caused by respondents. This mostly concerns answers that do not fit the prescribed format of the questionnaire (mismatch answers). Interviewers often react on mismatch answers with problematic behavior. This may have negative consequences for the quality of the response obtained. Recommendations are given that can be implemented to reduce the chance of problems in interaction, and their negative consequences as well. This book is helpful for researchers and practitioners who want to study interviewer- respondent interaction or who want to take difficulties of this interaction into account while designing survey questionnaires.