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Behavior Coding of the 2010 Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) Interviews Report

Written by:
SSM2011-10

Executive Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine how accurately interviewers ask questions as well as how well respondents answer them. This will identify problematic question wording and guide future interviewer training.

The operation being tested is the Nonresponse Followup interview that occurs when a census form is not obtained from a household during the decennial census. The 2010 Census Nonresponse Followup was interviewer-administered, asked for the same information as the mailout/mailback census form, was conducted using pencil and paper, and each interview lasted approximately ten minutes.

Behavior coding is used to test the interviewer and respondent interaction while conducting the Nonresponse Followup interview. Behavior coding, as a method, systematically describes interactions between interviewer and respondent through the application of a set of uniform codes that make reference to the behaviors that take place during an interaction. There are codes for the ideal question-and-response situation where the question is read as worded and the response easily fits into response categories. However, other codes exist for when the interaction is less than ideal. Deviations might indicate potentially problematic questions and reduced data quality.

Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021
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