science

Interviewer effect

Interviewer effect is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Interviewer effect rather than just read about it. In short: The interviewer effect (also called interviewer variance or interviewer error) is the distortion of response to an interviewer-administered data collection effort which results from differential reactions to the social style and personality of interviewers or to their presentation of particular questions. The use of fixed-wording questions is one method of reducing interviewer bias.

Key takeaways

Interviewer effect belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Interviewer effect to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Interviewer effect from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The interviewer effect (also called interviewer variance or interviewer error) is the distortion of response to an interviewer-administered data collection effort which results from differential reactions to the social style and personality of interviewers or to their presentation of particular questions. The use of fixed-wording questions is one method of reducing interviewer bias. Anthropological research and case-studies are also affected by the problem, which is exacerbated by the self-fulfilling prophecy, when the researcher is also the interviewer it is also any effect on data gathered from interviewing people that is caused by the behavior or characteristics (real or perceived) of the interviewer. Interviewer effects can also be associated with the characteristics of the interviewer, such as race. Whether black respondents are interviewed by white interviewers or black interviewers has a strong impact on their responses to both attitude questions and behavioral ones. In the latter case, for example, if black respondents are interviewed by black interviewers in pre-election surveys, they are more likely to actually vote in the upcoming election than if they are interviewed by white interviewers. Furthermore, the race of the interviewer can also affect answers to factual questions that might take the form of a test of how informed the respondent is. Black respondents in a survey of political knowledge, for example, get fewer correct answers to factual questions about politics when interviewed by white interviewers than when interviewed by black interviewers. This is consistent with the research literature on stereotype threat, which finds diminished test performance of potentially stigmatised groups when the interviewer or test supervisor is from a perceived higher status group. Interviewer effects can be mitigated somewhat by randomly assigning subjects to different interviewers, or by using tools such as computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).

See also Observer-expectancy effect Experimenter's bias Survey methodology

References

Notes

Bibliography Anderson, Barbara A., Brian D. Silver, and Paul R. Abramson. "The Effects of Race of the Interviewer on Measures of Electoral Participation by Blacks in SRC National Election Studies," Public Opinion Quarterly 52 (Spring 1988): 53-83. Anderson, Barbara A., Brian D. Silver, and Paul R. Abramson, "The Effects of the Race of Interviewer on Race-Related Attitudes of Black Respondents in SRC/CPS National Election Studies," Public Opinion Quarterly 52 (August 1988): 289-324. Davis, Darren W., and Brian D. Silver. "Stereotype Threat and Race of Interviewer Effects in a Survey on Political Knowledge," American Journal of Political Science, 47 (December 2002): 33-45. Davis, R. E.; et al. (Feb 2010). "Interviewer effects in public health surveys". Health Education Research. 25 (1): 14–26. doi:10.1093/her/cyp046. PMC 2805402. PMID 19762354. Stokes, Lynn; Yeh, Ming-Yih (October 2001). "Chapter 22: Searching for Causes of Interviewer Effects in Telephone Surveys". In Groves, Robert M.; et al. (eds.). Telephone Survey Methodology. Wiley. pp. 357–110. ISBN 978-0-471-20956-0. Sudman, Seymour, and Norman Bradburn. Response Effects in Surveys. National Opinion Research Center: Chicago, 1974.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Interviewer effect

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Interviewer effect claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Interviewer effect before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Interviewer effect ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Interviewer effect

In research: Interviewer effect appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Interviewer effect in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Interviewer effect is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Information science, Library and information science stubs, Polling, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Interviewer effect outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Interviewer effect in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Interviewer effect means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Interviewer effect out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Interviewer effect in simple terms?

Why does Interviewer effect matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Interviewer effect?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Interviewer effect.