Interviewer Involvement in Respondent Selection Moderates the Relationship between Response Rates and Sample Bias in Cross-National Survey Projects in Europe

Abstract

Survey researchers and practitioners often assume that higher response rates are associated with a higher quality of survey data. However, the evidence for this claim in face-to-face surveys is mixed. To explain these mixed results, recent studies have proposed that interviewers’ involvement in respondent selection moderates the effect of response rates on data quality. Previous analyses based on data from the European Social Survey found that response rates are positively associated with data quality when interviewer involvement in respondent selection is minimal. However, the association between response rates and data quality is negative when interviewers are more involved in respondent selection through household frame creation or within-household selection of target persons. These studies have hypothesized that some interviewers deviate from prescribed selection procedures to select individuals with higher response propensities, which increase response rates while reducing data quality. We replicate these results with an extended dataset, including more recent European Social Survey rounds and three other European survey projects: the European Quality of Life Survey, European Values Study, and International Social Survey Programme. Based on our results, we recommend that surveys include procedures to verify respondent-selection practices into their fieldwork control procedures.