Interaction and the Standardized Survey Interview: The Living Questionnaire
Cambridge University Press, 8/3/2000
EAN 9780521662024, ISBN10: 0521662028
Hardcover, 224 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm
Language: English
This study investigates in detail the interaction between interviewers and respondents in standardised social survey interviews. Applying the techniques of conversation analysis, Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra reveals how certain rules of normal conversation fail to apply in interviews based on a standard questionnaire, and offers original empirical evidence to show what really happens. Her book demonstrates that interview results can only be understood as products of the contingencies of the interview situation, and not, as is usually assumed, the unmediated expressions of respondents' real opinions. Her conclusions have important implications for anyone interested in effective survey compilation and interpretation. The book is highly accessible, setting out the basic tools of conversation analysis simply and clearly, and suggesting ways of improving questionnaire design wherever possible. Its approach will be of great interest to students and researchers of survey methodology.
1. The standardized survey interview
2. Interviewer-respondent interaction
3. Participant roles
4. Recipient design
5. Questioning turn structure and turn taking
6. Generating recordable answers to field-coded questions
7. Establishing rapport
8. Quality of life assessment interviews
9. Implications for survey methodology
10. The cost of flexible interviewing.
‘Conversation Analysis has some important contributions to make to those who want to learn how to do survey interviews better.’ APA Review of Books