Using Behavior Coding to Evaluate the

Effectiveness of Dependent Interviewing

Joanne PascaleQUEST Conference

Ottawa, CanadaApril 26, 2007

Outline

• Dependent interviewing• Research questions addressed with

behavior coding• Methods• Findings• Summary and Recommendations

Dependent Interviewing (DI)

• Used in longitudinal studies• Carries reports from one wave into the

next interview wave• E.g.: ‘Last time you said you were

receiving benefit X. Are you still receiving benefit X?’

Purpose of DI

• Potential for smoother, smarter, more efficient interview

• Literature demonstrates:– Reduced burden– Reduced item non-response– Reduced seam bias– Respondents want and expect it

Research Questions

How is DI being implemented in the field:• Do interviews read questions as

worded?• Do respondents affirm or dispute the

fed-forward data from prior wave?• Does this vary by ‘style’ of DI?

Methods: The ELSA Study

• English Longitudinal Study on Aging (ELSA)

• Panel study of 50+ begun in 2002• Follow-ups every 2 years• CAPI face-to-face

Methods: The ELSA Pilot

• Vehicle for DI test: pilot of Wave 3• January, 2006• 4-week field period• Recorded onto laptops using CARI• 17 interviewers• 104 pilot interviews

Methods: DI Topics and Styles

• 3 different topic areas:– Demographics– Health conditions

• Eye (e.g. glaucoma)• Cardio-vascular (e.g. high blood pressure)• Chronic (e.g. arthritis)

– Vehicle ownership• 5 different styles of DI

Demographics Item Wording

1. Does John still live here?2. Can I just check, is John’s date of

birth January 1, 1960?

3. Our records show that when we last interviewed you, you had a child called Billy, whose date of birth is July 1, 2005. Are these details correct?

Health Item Wording

4a. Our records show that when we last interviewed you in [DATE], you said that you had [EYE CONDITION].

4b. Do you still have [EYE CONDITION]?

[same routine for CVD and chronic conditions]

Vehicle Item Wording

5. At the time of last interview, you or someone in your household owned [VEHICLE]. Is that vehicle still owned by you or someone in your household?

Behavior Coding• Listened to several pilot tapes to

develop code frame• First-level exchange sufficient• Developed Interviewer, Respondent

and Outcome codes

Interviewer Codes

Read as worded/slight changeMajor change FF statement became a question FF question became a statement Other major changeOmittedInaudible Interviewer/Other

Respondent Codes

Adequate Affirmed FF item

Disputed FF itemInadequate Answer/ElaborationClarification

Inaudible Respondent/Other

Demographics FindingsInterviewer Behavior Respondent

BehaviorExact/slight change

Q read as statement

Q omitted

Adequate Affirmed

AdequateDisputed

Does NAME still live here? 40 33 18 81 1

Can I check, is NAMES’s DOB? 57 37 1 91 0

Our records show child’s name, DOB. Details correct?

79 8 0 89 5

Health FindingsInterviewer Behavior R Behavior

Exact/slt change

S read as Q

Q read as S

Omitted Adequate Affirmed

Adequate Disputed

Last time you reported EYE cond 62 38 -- 0 62 10Do you still? 63 -- 16 16 -- --Last time you reported CVS cond 63 20 -- 0 87 5Do you still? 76 -- 3 13 -- --Last time you reported CHRONIC cond

41 34 -- 5 85 4

Do you still? 61 -- 14 18 -- --

Vehicle Findings

Interviewer Behavior Respondent Behavior

Exact/slight change

Q read as S

Omitted Adequate Affirmed

Adequate Disputed

Last time you owned …vehicle. Still own? 82 8 4 74 6

Summary: Interviewers

• Qs read as worded: 40-82%• Non-standard reading varied:

– Demographics & vehicle: questions turned into statements or omitted

– Health: statements of what was reported last time were turned into questions; question “is that still” omitted

Summary: Respondents

• Adequate answer: 72-94%• Disputed fed-forward data: 0-10%

– Confirmed prior wave report but said no longer the case

– Denied prior wave report– Disagreed with details of prior wave report

Recommendations

• Avoid simple statements of prior wave data

• For topics unlikely to change over time (e.g.: DOB) avoid re-asking; verify accuracy of first report

• Style of DI needs to be tailored to item• Prior wave data could be challenged;

need to allow for corrections