Abstract:

In recent years in the United States, we have witnessed rapid growth in the use of telephone interviewing in survey research. A major element of this growth has been the substitution of telephone inter- view procedures for the (apparently) more costly, more intrusive personal interview. New techniques have been developed to make the most effective use of this medium. Sampling techniques have been devised to insure that all telephone households, not just directory listed households, are sampled. Other procedures serve to minimize the number of calls to non-household numbers (numbers which may be assigned to business establishments or which may not be assigned at all.) Perhaps the most dramatic development of all has been of computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Several approaches have been described in the literature. All include the simple procedure of having the interviewer seated in front of a cathode ray tube terminal reading the question on the screen to the respondent, and recording the response via the terminal's keyboard. The use of a well-designed computer-assisted telephone interviewing system provides many benefits to the survey organization, and, ultimately, to its clients.