Cell Phone Versus Landline Respondents: Who's More Cooperative After Screening?

• Activity Number: 349
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Alicia M. Frasier*+ and Heather M. Morrison
• Companies: NORC at the The University of Chicago and NORC at the The University of Chicago
• Keywords: RDD ; Eligibility Screening ; Cell Telephones

Abstract

As landline telephone coverage declines nationally, surveys are supplementing landline random-digit-dial (RDD) samples with cell phone RDD samples to minimize potential bias from non-coverage of wireless-only households. This may increase respondent burden (through added screening questions designed to ensure respondent safety and confirm cell phone eligibility) and decrease participation rates. While initially gaining respondent cooperation may prove challenging, there is evidence to indicate that those cell respondents who do complete eligibility screening are more cooperative than their landline counterparts. By examining data from the cell component of a large population-based health survey we see that once cooperation is gained and initial screening completed, cell phone respondents require less time to complete the survey - potentially indicating they are more cooperative than landline respondents once trust is gained. We compare interview duration of cell phone and landline respondents, looking at timings before and after eligibility determination, to ascertain if the shorter interview duration observed in cell phone interviews may be attributed to cooperation propensity.