Effects of Interviewer Experience on Components of Nonresponse in the European Social Survey

The authors analyze interviewer-related nonresponse differences in face-to-face surveys, distinguishing three types of interviewers: those who have previous experience with the same high standard cross-sectional survey (''experienced''), those who were chosen by the survey agency to complete refusal conversions (''seniors''), and usual interviewers. The nonresponse components are obtaining household contact, target person contact, and target person cooperation. In addition, the authors consider whether interviewer homogeneity with respect to these components is different across the three interviewer groups. Data come from the European Social Survey (ESS) contact forms from four countries that participated in the rounds of 2002, 2004, and 2006 and used the same survey agency that, in turn, used the same interviewers to some extent. To analyze interviewer effects, the authors use discrete two-level models. The authors find some evidence of better performance by both senior and experienced interviewers and indications of greater homogeneity for nonresponse components, especially for those with room for improvement. Surprisingly, the senior interviewers do not outperform the experienced ones. The authors conclude that survey agencies should make more efforts to decrease the comparatively high interviewer turnover.