Evaluating Race-of-Interviewer Effects In a National Survey

Abstract

The present article attempts to overcome some of the problems involved in estimating race-of-interviewer effects in a nonexperimental national survey. Individual items as well as scales were examined, using General Social Survey (GSS) data. Race-of-interviewer effects large enough to justify the practice of matching interviewer and respondent race for interviews on racial topics were found for both black and white respondents. A few such effects were found for nonracial items among blacks, but the range of items involved is smaller than what has been reported in previous studies. The impact of race-of-interviewer effects on mean estimates in the GSS appears to be small for white respondents, due to the small proportion of cross-race interviews. The proportion of cross-race interviews among blacks is larger and more variable over the years, and the impact of race-of-interviewer effects should be considered when analyzing items which show these effects.

The Effects of Race of the Interviewer on Measures of Electoral Participation by Blacks in SRC National Election Studies

“…Although there may be some error in the reported racial composition of the neighborhoods, Table 1 shows a clear pattern of assigning interviewers to neighborhoods on the basis at University of Iowa Libraries/Serials Acquisitions on June 24, 2015 http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from of race. 9 The assignment of interviewers in NES surveys appears to fit the pattern described by Schaeffer (1980) for the NORC General Social Survey in the 1970s. Black interviewers are assigned almost exclusively to areas where black respondents are expected to be found.…”

“…Nor does it reflect the reality of how interviewers are assigned in many major surveys, including NORC's General Social Survey (GSS) (Schaeffer, 1980) and the SRC/CPS National Election Studies. 5 Figure 1 shows the relation between the race of the interviewer and the race of the respondent in the five NES postelection surveys in which the respondents' vote was validated.…”

“…In the 1964 preelection NES survey, 47% of black respondents were interviewed by blacks. For the years 1972-1977, for which we have information about the race of interviewers and respondents from the NORC GSS (Schaeffer, 1980), black respondents Thus, the assignment of interviewers by race in NES surveys does not follow the procedure recommended by Backstrom and HurshC6sar. More important, if the race of the interviewer does influence response patterns, there is considerable potential for confounding trends in survey responses by blacks with trends in the racial composition of the interviewer staff.…”

Operationalising the collection of ethnicity data in studies of the sociology of health and illness

“…Race-of-interviewer effects in telephone surveys have been found to be similar in magnitude to those reported in personal surveys (Cotter et al 1982, Reese et al 1986. However, few such effects are found for non-ethnically/racially sensitive questions (Kish 1962, Welch et al 1973, Schaeffer 1980, Weeks and Moore 1981, Groves and Magilavy 1986, and Webster 1996.…”

The politics of local research production: surveying in a context of ethnic competition

“…Dionne example, Hatchett andSchuman (1975-1976) found white respondents gave more liberal or problack opinions when interviewed by a black interviewer. Schaeffer (1980) argues the effects of interviewer race are sufficiently large for both majority and minority group respondents to justify matching interviewer and respondent by race. Relatedly, analysis comparing effects of "insider interviewers" to "stranger interviewers" in rural Kenya showed insider interviewers had increased response rates and collected more reliable and valid data than stranger interviewers (Weinreb 2006).…”