WS - E - Conducting Community Surveys

The respondent should be fully assured of anonymity associated with his or her individual experience and opinions. Good interviewers who are able to address respondents' concerns about anonymity may lower refusal rates. Consistent with the practices of the U.S. Census Bureau in carrying out surveys, telephone interviews should adhere to the following practices: ù Be friendly and businesslike ù Assure the respondent of confidentiality ù Refrain from expressing (via words or tone) a personal opinion about answers received & any comments should be neutral ù Pace the interview and always avoid rushing the interview & surveys can be rescheduled for completion at a later time, if necessary ù Ask all questions in a deliberate and objective way & asking no additional questions ù Ask all questions in order ù Ask all questions exactly as worded & even if the respondent has previously provided the information ù Avoid leading respondents by changing words ù Read each question clearly ù As instructed, follow up questions with "Any other way?" or other prompts to elicit additional responses ù Probe, as necessary & stating "yes, I see" or repeating questions as necessary may encourage a more complete response to questions. Probes are especially useful if the respondent says "I don't know" ù Use neutral probes such as "I don't understand" or "Can you explain that?" ù Close the interview by thanking the respondent(s) for their time. Compliance with these basic requirements for conducting telephone surveys should be assessed through routine monitoring of survey administration. As a technique of quality control, all surveyors should be monitored periodically to ensure that the survey is being conducted as designed. Failure to comply with these basic administration requirements may invalidate the survey findings. 18 A Practical Guide for Police