This article focuses on the interviewer's role in obtaining access to an elite respondent through
a gatekeeper and considers the characteristics of interviewers that may make some more
successful than others in circumventing gatekeepers. Analysis of data from a national survey of
physicians suggests that experienced interviewers have greater success than inexperienced
interviewers in bypassing gatekeepers. These findings persist after taking into account the
number of interviewing hours and the portion of the field period worked, two considerations that
have been neglected in previous investigations of interviewer effects.
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