How to Conduct Telephone Surveys

"The writing style is good, clear, and accurate, with a logical presentation of material. The checklists are effective learning aids."
--Carol J. Lancaster, Medical University of South Carolina

When should you use a telephone survey, and how do you transform completed telephone interviews into an analyzable, machine-readable data file? This book shows readers how to develop and administer telephone surveys (with particular attention to paper-and-pencil administration) and prepare the results for analysis. Using detailed examples and checklists, the authors explain the different kinds of telephone surveys, how to determine which telephone data collection method to use, and how to design and administer the questionnaires. Information is included for adapting questions originally designed for use in self-administered questionnaires or other data collection modalities. Language issues are discussed, including literacy and language level usage, and basic steps for translating survey materials into other languages.

The authors also offer tips for:

• Interacting with and motivating respondents
• Handling "call backs" and "refusal conversions"
• Selecting, training, and supervising interviewers
• Sampling, with particular attention to random digit dialing (RDD) procedures
• Calculating response rates