Methods of Data Collection and Mode of Administration

Definition• Method of data collection or mode of administration sometimes refer to• Method for contacting sample member• In-person, telephone, mail, internet• Means by which question is administered to respondent• Interviewer, other aural, text• Medium on which response is recorded• Paper, computer• Method and mode are also closely associated with sample framePrincipal modes of administering questions andrecording responsesQuestionAdministrationInterviewer(IAQ)Interviewer(IAQ)Voice andtextFace-tofaceRecordingResponsesPaperPAPITelephone PATIComputer(CAI,CASIC)CAPICATIA-CASIText SAQ CASIP Mixed mode surveys may combine more than one means of delivery or morethan one means of question administration or responseP Other modes – TDE, direct to disk, web-based surveys, etc. – have beenstudied less.Computer-assisted survey information collection(CASIC) or Computer-assisted interviewing (CAI)• Technologies that are available change rapidly• Task performed by technology include• Manage sample• Present survey questions• Record answers• Edit data• Exchange dataImplications of the proliferation of methods andmodes• Need to ask what reference to mode refers to and to be explicit in yourown work• Research about method or mode effects• Need to be explicit about what “mode effect” refers to (e.g., frame,method of contact, method of administration)• Literature does not (yet) cover all variations• Need theory to inform expectations about effects• Mixed-mode surveys or hybrid designs• Increasingly common• Effect of mode may depend on the particular combination of methodsused• Designs to test effects increasingly difficult to design and interpret• Hard to generalize about mode comparisons