Characteristics of Falsified Interviews

• 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): Chrishelle Lawrence+ and Elizabeth Love*+
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: Data falsification ; data quality

Abstract

Data falsification occurs when an interviewer intentionally deviates from established survey interviewing procedures. Falsification may be influenced by several factors, such as interviewer tenure and workload, survey subject matter, location, and length of survey. While past research projects have focused on the impact of these factors individually, few studies have examined the joint association between these characteristics and data falsification. The current research is an exploratory analysis that focuses on the relationship between the above-mentioned factors and data falsification. Results from formal investigations of data falsification on the Census Bureau's major demographic surveys from 2005 to the present will be analyzed along with respondent traits. Findings from this analysis will be used to generate a profile of falsified interviews.