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Social Survey Data Collection

4. Interviewer Training

An important recent addition to basic interviewer training has been the adoption of Avoiding Refusal Training (ART).  First introduced by Groves and McGonagle (2001), ART “centers on exposing interviewers to the most common types of reluctance encountered by interviewers when seeking permission to conduct a specific survey and drilling them in how to respond skilfully and fluently” (McConaghy and Carey, 2005). In essence the training equips interviewers to respond quickly and appropriately to the respondents’ concerns.  Most successfully deployed among interviewers achieving below average response rates, it has also been adapted at ONS as part of the initial training provided for new interviewers.

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Groves, R.M. and McGonagle K. (2001). A theory guided interviewer training protocol protocol regarding survey participation. JOS Vol. 17 No 2: 249-266.
McGonaghy M. and Carey S. (2005). What happens after ART? Results of two experiments designed to improve response rates with interviewers at the Office of National Statistics, UK. Paper presented at the 60th Conference of the American Association of Public Opinion Research, Miami FL, May 12–15, 2005.