Interviewer effects on abortion reporting: a multilevel analysis of household survey responses in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Rajasthan, India

Footman, Katharine

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047570

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 69 publications

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“…Although we did not examine other outcomes, it is plausible that interviewer effects are present in other sensitive outcomes and those who have inconsistent reporting on sexual behaviour are likely to have inconsistent reporting on other measures [ 4 ]. Metheny and Stephenson found that previous survey experience influenced reporting of intimate partner violence in Zimbabwe [ 17 ], and others have detected interviewer effects in the reporting of abortion [ 16 , 42 ]. This bias may lead to inaccuracies in estimates of the need for interventions among the populations that have the most to gain from such programs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of interviewer-respondent age difference on the reporting of sexual activity in the Demographic and Health Surveys: Analysis of data from 21 countries

et al. 2023

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Background Interviewer effects can have consequential impacts on survey data, particularly for reporting sensitive attitudes and behaviours such as sexual activity and drug use, yet these effects remain understudied in low- and middle-income countries. The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) present a unique opportunity to study interviewer effects on the self-report of sensitive topics in low- and middle-income countries by including interviewer characteristics data. This paper aims to narrow the gap in research on interviewer effects by studying the effects that age difference between interviewer and respondent and interviewer survey experience have on the reporting of ever having sexual intercourse. Methods We used DHS data from 91 066 women and 56 336 men in 21 countries where the standard DHS was implemented among all women of reproductive age, and interviewer characteristics were included in the data set. Using a Bayesian cross-classified model with random intercepts for interviewer and cluster, we assessed whether the effect of an age difference of 10 years or greater was associated with a difference in self-report of ever having sexual intercourse, adjusting for respondent demographics. Results There was a meaningful association between an age difference of greater than ten years and reporting of ever having had sexual intercourse in most countries for both genders after adjusting for interviewer age and experience, rural or urban cluster, and individual-level characteristics. Among women, the marginal posterior probability of reporting ever having sexual intercourse if the interviewer was ten years or more years older was lower for 17 of 19 countries (countries ranged from -12.50 to 3.90 percentage points). Among men, the marginal posterior probability was lower for 16 of 20 countries, ranging from -18.30 to 17.10 percentage points. Conclusions In most countries, women and men were less likely to report ever having sexual activity if the interviewer was ten or more years older than them, adjusting for potential confounders. These findings have important implications for interpreting numerous sexual health indicators, such as unmet family planning needs and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) risk. Survey administrators may consider more careful interviewer-respondent characteristic matching or novel approaches like Audio Computer Assisted Self Interview to minimize interviewer-induced variance.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of interviewer-respondent age difference on the reporting of sexual activity in the Demographic and Health Surveys: Analysis of data from 21 countries

et al. 2023

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Interviewer Effects on the Measurement of Physical Performance in a Cross-National Biosocial Survey

Waldmann,

Sakshaug,

Cernat

2023

Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology

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Biosocial surveys increasingly use interviewers to collect objective physical health measures (or “biomeasures”) in respondents’ homes. While interviewers play an important role, their high involvement can lead to unintended interviewer effects on the collected measurements. Such interviewer effects add uncertainty to population estimates and have the potential to lead to erroneous inferences. This study examines interviewer effects on the measurement of physical performance in a cross-national and longitudinal setting using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The analyzed biomeasures exhibited moderate-to-large interviewer effects on the measurements, which varied across biomeasure types and across countries. Our findings demonstrate the necessity to better understand the origin of interviewer-related measurement errors in biomeasure collection and account for these errors in statistical analyses of biomeasure data.

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When Who Matters: Interviewer Effects and Survey Modality

Walcott,

Cohen,

Ferris

2023

Eval Rev

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When and how to survey potential respondents is often determined by budgetary and external constraints, but choice of survey modality may have enormous implications for data quality. Different survey modalities may be differentially susceptible to measurement error attributable to interviewer assignment, known as interviewer effects. In this paper, we leverage highly similar surveys, one conducted face-to-face (FTF) and the other via phone, to examine variation in interviewer effects across survey modality and question type. We find that while there are no cross-modality differences for simple questions, interviewer effects are markedly higher for sensitive questions asked over the phone. These findings are likely explained by the enhanced ability of in-person interviewers to foster rapport and engagement with respondents. We conclude with a thought experiment that illustrates the potential implications for power calculations, namely, that using FTF data to inform phone surveys may substantially underestimate the necessary sample size for sensitive questions.

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Interviewer effects on abortion reporting: a multilevel analysis of household survey responses in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Rajasthan, India

Cited by 4 publications

References 69 publications

The effect of interviewer-respondent age difference on the reporting of sexual activity in the Demographic and Health Surveys: Analysis of data from 21 countries

The effect of interviewer-respondent age difference on the reporting of sexual activity in the Demographic and Health Surveys: Analysis of data from 21 countries

Interviewer Effects on the Measurement of Physical Performance in a Cross-National Biosocial Survey

When Who Matters: Interviewer Effects and Survey Modality

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