Minimizing Survey Error Through Interviewer Training: New Procedures Applied to the National Health Interview Survey

• Activity Number: 185
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 2, 2010 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): James M. Dahlhamer*+ and Marcie L.. Cynamon and Jane F. Gentleman and Andrea Piani and Michael J. Weiler
• Companies: National Center for Health Statistics and National Center for Health Statistics and National Center for Health Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: interviewer training ; total survey error ; non-sampling error ; data quality

Abstract

Minimizing survey error requires adherence to the accepted principles and best practices of survey research. Interviewers can be a significant source of error that is difficult to control. Ensuring that interviewers execute their jobs properly requires that they be well-trained, monitored, and provided feedback in real time.

In this paper, we discuss new procedures for training interviewers with the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). An in-person survey, the NHIS has in the past used a decentralized system for training its field staff. This year, 650 interviewers attended one of four training sessions to be briefed on the survey's content and interviewing procedures. Using a total survey error framework, the goal was to deliver a uniform message with the intent of achieving consistent application of established interviewing protocols across interviewers and sites.