Bystanders, noise, and distractions in face-to-face surveys in Africa and Latin America
Bibliographic Data
Survey researchers are increasingly concerned that the presence of other people (bystanders) may affect data quality in structured, face-to-face survey interviews. In this article, we study bystanders using data from 15,309 face-to-face surveys about technology from Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Brazil and Guatemala. Our analysis (1) describes the frequency of bystander presence (spouses, parents, other family and non-family members), (2) investigates the correlates of bystander presence, and (3) studies whether bystanders affect response distributions, ‘don’t know’ responses, and satisficing behavior. We also consider the influence of other environmental factors – noise and distractions – on interviewer–respondent interaction and satisficing. The results are encouraging for the field of survey research. Bystanders did not affect response distributions, the number of ‘don’t know’ responses, or satisficing behavior. Although noise negatively affected interviewer–respondent interactions, noise did not affect data quality. Our research suggests that for less sensitive topics, bystanders have limited influence, and also that respondents and interviewers are resilient to challenges such as noisy environments
Affect (linguistics · Interview · Political science · Quality (philosophy · Respondent · Satisficing · Sociology · Statistics · Survey data collection · Applied Psychology · Communication · Computer Science · Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods · Mobile Crowdsensing and Crowdsourcing · Psychology · Social Psychology · Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
Bystanders and response bias in face-to-face surveys in Africa
El Rol de la Ubicación y la Presencia de Terceras Personas en la Revelación de Experiencias de Violencia en la Pareja en una Encuesta Personal
Effects of Partner Presence During the Interview on Survey Responses
Cultural and Interviewer Effects on Interview Privacy
Gender-of-Interviewer Effects on Support for Women’s Rights and Democracy in Africa
Third-Party Effects in Stakeholder Interviews
The Psychology of Survey Response
Response strategies for coping with the cognitive demands of attitude measures in surveys
On Third Persons in the Interview Situation and Their Impact on Responses
Research on Interviewing Techniques
Effects of Spouse Presence During the Interview on Survey Responses Concerning Marriage
Using MP3 Players in Surveys
Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Interviewer Observations
She Said, He Said, They Said
Assessment of Cigarette Smoking and Smoking Susceptibility among Youth
Survey Analysis for the Guidance of Family Planning Programs
Who Overreports Voting
And Then There Were Three
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.75 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2025 (8) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |