INTERVIEWING Interviewers bias Stat 472 Survey Method INTERVIEWING Interviewers bias

A response bias that occurs because the presence of the interviewer influences answers Strictly speaking, interviewer distortion exists whenever there is any deviation from the true response in the response elicited and recorded by interviewer

Interviewer bias falls into six categories 1. Errors by the respondent forgetting, embarrassment, misunderstanding, or lying because of the presence of others. 2. Unintentional errors or interviewer sloppiness contacting the wrong person, misreading a question, omitting questions, reading questions in the wrong order, recording wrong answer, or misunderstanding the respondent.

Interviewer bias falls into six categories 3. Intentional subversion by the interviewer purposeful alteration of answers, omission or rewording of questions, or choice of an alternative respondent. 4. Influence due to the interviewer's expectations about a respondent's appearance, living situation, or other answers.

Interviewer bias falls into six categories 5. Failure of an interviewer to probe or to probe properly. 6. Influence on the answers due to the interviewer's appearance, tone, attitude, reactions to answers, or comments made outside of the interview schedule

Influence survey interviews factors - Interviewer expectations can create bias, interviewers who expect difficult interviews have them, and those who expect certain answers are more likely to get them. Proper interviewer behavior and exact question reading maybe difficult, but the issue is larger

An interviewer's visible characteristics Race and gender, often affect interviews and respondent answers, especially for questions about issues related to race or gender Race or ethnicity, may affect attitudes and self-reports of behavior because of social distance, power differences, or in-group / out-group relations. In general, interviewers of the same Race or cultural heritage get more Accurate responses to sensitive questions