What can Interviewer-Collected Paradata Tell About Measurement Quality in Face-to-Face Surveys? Analyzing Response Styles in six Rounds of the European Social Survey

Abstract

Response styles, defined as choosing certain response options on a basis other than the content of a question can seriously threaten the validity of survey data. Although response styles are present in both face-to-face and self-completion surveys, they have been far more researched in the latter mode of data collection. Our study aimed to investigate the presence of response styles and their correlates in face-to-face surveys based on a large dataset of the European Social Survey (2002-2018). We identified main response styles covariates, concentrating on interviewer-collected survey paradata describing respondent characteristics and interview context. Our results pointed to a non-negligible role of respondent-interviewer gender and age matching and for the presence of response styles. Much lower effects were obtained regarding interviewer observations on respondents’ levels of cooperation before and during an interview. We concluded with recommendations for using interviewer-collected paradata and further studies on response styles in face-to-face surveys.