Do electronic devices in face-to-face interviews change survey behavior? Evidence from a developing country

Autor: Sarah Sunn Bush, Lauren Prather
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Research & Politics, Vol 6 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2053-1680
20531680
DOI: 10.1177/2053168019844645
Popis: A large literature shows that survey mode and survey technologies significantly affect item non-response and response distributions. Yet as researchers increasingly conduct surveys in the developing world, little attention has been devoted to understanding how new technologies—such as the use of electronic devices in face-to-face interviews—produce bias there. We hypothesize that using electronic devices instead of pen and paper can affect survey behavior via two pathways: a wealth effect and a surveillance effect. To test the hypotheses, we use data from a two-wave panel survey fielded in Tunisia. We investigate whether responses collected in Wave 1 with pen and paper changed when some individuals were interviewed in Wave 2 by interviewers using tablet computers. Consistent with the wealth effect hypothesis, more than half of the lowest income respondents reported a higher income in the second wave when interviewers used tablets. Conversely, we find little evidence that concerns about surveillance changed survey behavior.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals