Improving the Effectiveness of Interviewer Administered Surveys though Refusal Avoidance Training Grace E. ONeill Presented by Anne Russell U.S. Census.

Improving the Effectiveness of Interviewer Administered Surveys

though Refusal Avoidance Training

Grace E. O’Neill

Presented by Anne Russell

U.S. Census Bureau

ICES-III - June 19, 2007

2

Outline of Presentation

• Background

• Respondent focus groups

• Refusal avoidance training

• Training content

• Discussion

• Future developments

3

Background

4

Respondent contact staff

• Interviewers: outgoing calls to gain cooperation and to gather data

• Clerks: incoming calls to provide basic information and resend forms

• Analysts: professional staff who place outgoing calls concerning data errors or nonresponse follow-up

5

Respondent contact training

• Interviewers: Centralized training on telephone skills and refusal avoidance and conversion

• Clerks: Shadow experienced clerks with informal discussion

• Analysts: Basic training on respondent contact techniques

6

Why clerks?

• Self-administered paper/ electronic forms

• Establishment respondents need less encouragement to participate

• Nature of telephone calls

7

However…

Over time, the role of the clerk has evolved into the role of an interviewer

• Less cooperative respondents

• More data collected over the telephone

• More nonresponse follow-up telephone calls

Yet, their training has not evolved

8

Respondent Focus Groups

9

Focus Groups

• Monthly Trade Surveys

• Wholesale and retail firms

• Conducted by outside firm

• Six focus groups, 44 participants

• Respondent’s views and impressions

• Ways to improve survey

10

Focus Groups

Finding

• Inexperienced clerks needed skills to increase participation by respondents, especially on voluntary surveys

Solution

• Refusal avoidance training

11

Refusal Avoidance Training

12

Refusal Avoidance Training

• Groves and McGonagle (2001)

– Assemble respondent concerns

– Develop responses

– Train interviewers to classify concerns

– Train interviewers to provide quick and appropriate responses

13

Refusal Avoidance Training

• Interactive

• Cooperative learning

• Flexible

• Survey specific

• Provides telephone skills, refusal avoidance techniques, and improves communication

14

Training specifics

• Monthly Trade Surveys (MTS) and Quarterly Services Survey (QSS)

• 43 MTS clerks, 14 QSS clerks

• Mix of tenure and survey experience

• Supervisor and survey manager involvement

• Eight hours over two days

15

Training Preparation

• Adapt household- based training to establishment-based survey

• Adapt training to the MTS or QSS

• Identify respondent concerns and develop solutions

• FAQ Job Aid

16

Training Content

17

Refusal avoidance training modules

Module 1: IntroductionModule 2: Survey SpecificModule 3: Shared ExperienceModule 4: Preparing a Telephone CallModule 5: Telephone SkillsModule 6: Identify, Analyzing, and Dealing with

Reluctance and RefusalModule 7: Recovering from Negative CallsModule 8: Wrap-up and Evaluation

18

Module 1

Introduction

• Introduces training to clerks

• Introduces the trainer and clerks to each other

• Provides training schedule

19

Module 2

Survey Specific

• Introduces survey specific content

• Conducted by survey manager or survey staff

20

Module 3

Shared Experience

• Identify clerks’ biggest concerns and difficulties

• Develops solutions

• Concerns are used in a later module

21

Module 3 example

• Trainer: “What are some of the things respondents say when you talk to them?”

• Clerks: “Why should I do this,” “I’m not a wholesaler” etc.

• Group: Identify appropriate responses • Trainer: Make sure identified concerns

are addressed and adds new concerns to list

22

Module 4

Preparing for the Telephone Call

• Asks clerks how they prepare for telephone calls

• Assess what tools clerks use to find information about company and what tools they might need

23

Module 5

Telephone Skills

• Assess clerks active listening skills

• Discuss tone

• Discuss mechanics of placing a telephone call

24

Module 6

Identifying, Analyzing and Dealing with Reluctance and Refusal

• Classify concerns identified in Module 3 as reluctance and/ or refusal

• Further discuss solutions

• Paired practice during class

• Reviewed updated FAQ Job Aid

25

Module 7

Recovering from Negative Calls

• Discusses recovering from refusals and other negative calls

• Helps clerks to evaluate negative experiences

26

Module 8

Wrap-up and Evaluation

• Review main training points

• Clarify any remaining concerns

• Evaluations by clerks

27

Results

28

Results

Clerk evaluation

• Usefulness of workshop

• Usefulness of skills learned

• Increased confidence, preparation, and communication

29

Results

Response rates

Caveats:

• Not experimentally tested

• Confounded by other survey conditions

• Don’t know how many potential refusals clerks prevented

30

Results: MTS

Initially lower from previous response period

• Loss of clerks

• Misclassification of refusals

31

Results: MTS

Over time

• Good response rates, decrease in wholesale refusals

• Continued improvement

• Clerks have more responsibilities

32

Results: QSS

Decline in response rates

Imputation remained stable

• More companies refused

• Larger companies continued to report

33

Results: QSS

• Communication has improved

• Clerks are open about sharing concerns with survey managers

• Bi-weekly telephone calls with call center

• Annual refresher training

34

Discussion

35

Benefits

• Centralized dissemination of skills and information

• Practice occurs in a test environment

• Provides training at regular intervals

• Proactive training instead of reactive training

36

Benefits

• Communication between clerks, supervisors, and survey managers

• Clerks feel invested in data collection process

• Survey managers gain direct insight into data collection process

37

Costs

• Staff time writing and delivering training

• Telephone coverage

• Monetary cost of training

• Difficult to provide conclusive evidence

38

Future Developments

39

Future Developments

• Formalized process for clerk training

• Data capture of call concerns

• Follow-up evaluation by clerks

• Analyst training

40

Thank You

Please feel free to contact the author at:

Grace E. O’Neill

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 301-763-3537