This article presents the results of a small pilot study to test the feasibility of telephone interviews for collecting highly sensitive data for a study of the etiology of trophoblastic disease. The study design allowed us to compare data from telephone and face-to-face interviews. The results suggest that very sensitive information can be obtained by telephone and that respondents interviewed by telephone may be more willing to report socially proscribed behavior than respondents interviewed face-to-face. A number of unanswered issues are suggested for future research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
MooneyH. W.PollackB. R., and CorsaL.Jr., Use of Telephone Interviewing to Study Human Reproduction, Public Health Reports, 83: 12, pp. 1049–1060, 1968.
2.
RogersT. F., Interviews by Telephone and in Person: Quality of Responses and Field Performance, Public Opinion Quarterly, 40, pp. 51–65, 1976.
3.
CoombsL. and FreedmanR., Use of Telephone Interviews in a Longitudinal Study, Public Opinion Quarterly, 28, pp. 112–117, 1964.
4.
KegelesS. S.FinkC. F., and KirschtJ. P., Interviewing a National Sample by Long-distance Telephone, Public Opinion Quarterly, 33, pp. 412–419, 1969.
5.
JordanL. A.MarcusA. C., and ReederL. G., Response Styles in Telephone and Household Interviewing: A Field Experiment, Public Opinion Quarterly, 44, pp. 210–222, 1980.
6.
GrovesR. M. and KahnR. L., Surveys by Telephone, Academic Press, New York, 1979.
7.
WoltmanH. F.TurnerA. G., and BusheryJ. M., A Comparison of Three Mixed-mode Interviewing Procedures in the National Crime Survey, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 75, pp. 534–543, 1980.
8.
ColombotosJ., Personal versus Telephone Interviews: Effect on Responses, Public Health Reports, 84: 9, pp. 773–782, 1969.
9.
SiemiatyckiJ.CampbellS.RichardsonL., and AubertD., Quality of Responses in Different Population Groups in Mail and Telephone Surveys, American Journal of Epidemiology, 120, pp. 302–314, 1984.
10.
HochstimJ., A Critical Comparison of Three Strategies of Collecting Data from Households, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 62, pp. 976–989, 1967.
11.
WisemenF., Methodological Bias in Public Opinion Surveys, Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, pp. 105–108, 1972.
12.
PlessI. B. and MillerJ. R., Apparent Validity of Alternative Survey Methods, Journal of Community Health, 5: 1, pp. 22–27, 1979.
13.
LocanderW.SudmanS., and BradburnN., An Investigation of Interview Method, Threat and Response Distortion, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 71, pp. 269–275, 1976.
14.
HinkleA. L. and KingG. D., A Comparison of Three Survey Methods to Obtain Data for Community Mental Health Program Planning, American Journal of Community Psychology, 6: 4, pp. 389–397, 1978.
15.
SchumanH. and PresserS., Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys, Academic Press, New York, 1981.
16.
KaltonG. and SchumanH., The Effect of the Question on Survey Response: A Review, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 145 (Part 1), pp. 42–73, 1982.
17.
BradburnN. M.SudmanS., Improving Interview Method and Questionnaire Design, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1979.