Coming soon · Book Profile
Standardized Survey Interviewing - Minimizing Interviewer Error
A practical, evidence-grounded guide to conducting standardized survey interviews that minimize the measurement error interviewers introduce into survey data.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
Standardized Survey Interviewing distills decades of methodological research into a clear, actionable framework for treating survey interviewing as rigorous scientific measurement rather than art. Fowler and Mangione document precisely how interviewers—through the way they read questions, probe answers, record responses, relate to respondents, and set performance standards—can inflate standard errors, reduce reliability, and bias estimates. Drawing on a large-scale experiment testing interviewer training and supervision plus a rich body of prior research (notably Cannell's work), the authors show which levers actually matter: writing questions that can be asked and answered consistently, training respondents in their role, communicating high accuracy standards, selecting and training interviewers, and—critically—supervising the question-and-answer process via tape recording and monitoring. The book is essential for anyone who collects quantitative data from people, offering cost-effective, empirically justified strategies to produce more valid and precise survey estimates.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A researcher, survey manager, or data collector who wants to produce accurate, valid, precise quantitative descriptions of a population from interview data.
- The problem
- Interviewers introduce inconsistency and error into survey answers, inflating standard errors and reducing reliability and validity. The researcher feels uncertain whether their data truly measure what they intend, and anxious that human variability undermines their conclusions.
- The plan
- Design questions that are fully scripted, understood identically, and specify acceptable responses.
- Train interviewers in the four standardized techniques with supervised practice.
- Have interviewers train respondents and set high accuracy standards.
- Select interviewers for reading/writing skills, controlling demographics only when topic-relevant.
- Provide two to four days of training including supervised practice.
- The payoff
- More precise estimates with lower standard errors and less bias. · Reliable, replicable data whose differences reflect real respondent differences. · Interviewers who consistently apply high standards and respondents who understand their role.
See our guide
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Additional reading
- Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Assessment and Development Centres; Best practice guidelines · British Psychological Society (BPS)
Cited by the author as an authoritative source for best practice, covering key issues like fairness, design, and evaluation that are central to the book's guidance.
- Assessment Centres (3rd edn) · C Woodruffe
Recommended for readers seeking a broader overview and history of the assessment centre method.
- The big five personality dimensions and job-performance; a meta-analysis · Barrick, M R and Mount, K M
Provides the empirical support for the book's caution against over-relying on personality tests in selection, a key topic in Chapter 5.
- A theory of the validity of predictors in selection · M Smith
Offers a theoretical framework for understanding why different selection tools have varying levels of effectiveness, underpinning the book's core argument.
- Competence at Work · Spencer, L M and Spencer, S M
A foundational text on the concept of competence, relevant to Chapter 2 on developing a competence framework.
- Development and Assessment Centres · Charles Woodruffe
Cited as a key text for readers wanting a more recent and in-depth exposition of assessment centre work, a core topic of the book.
- Performance Management: The new realities · Michael Armstrong and Angela Baron
The book uses Armstrong and Baron's definition of performance management as its foundation, making their work a primary source for understanding this core concept.
- The Competent Manager: A model for effective performance · R. F. Boyatzis
The author attributes the current usage and definition of 'competency' to Boyatzis, making this a foundational text for a central theme of the book.
- Appraisal and Feedback: Making performance review work · Clive Fletcher
Fletcher is cited as an authority on appraisals, a key one-to-one interaction within performance management, providing deeper insight into this specific practice.
- The Easy Guide to Repertory Grids · D. Jankowicz
The book presents the repertory grid as a powerful technique for developing interview models; this book is recommended as a highly accessible introduction to the method.