Recent Books in the Field of Public Opinion Research

Abstract

This volume contains contributions of many prominent survey methodologists, researchers, and practitioners concerned with telephone surveys. The authors of the chapters aim to contribute to the science of measuring and reducing errors in telephone surveys, to provide documentation of current practices, and to stimulate new ideas for further research in this field. The chapters are divided in the following parts: Sampling and estimation, Data collection, Operations and non-response. The first chapter reviews the changes in the practice of telephone surveys as a result of the changing technology and the changes in the sociopolitical climate. The remaining chapters provide the reader with an abundance of information on theoretical, methodological, and statistical treatment of current practices. The authors discuss concepts and findings on a wide array of issues such as choice of target population, sample design, weighting methods, questionnaire construction, methods for measuring, and improving interviewer performance and productivity, the impact of mobile telephones, the role of attitudes toward privacy and confidentiality in nonresponse, mixed-mode and multiple-frame surveys, and measurement error. This book presents the state-of-the-art of telephone survey methodology and is an important source of information for survey researchers and practitioners.