INTERVIEWER EFFECTS IN THE MEASUREMENT OF PERSONAL NETWORK SIZE - A NONEXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Methods for delineating personal networks in surveys contain complex i nstructions for the interviewers. It is assumed that the interviewers' experience and education influence their ability to follow these inst ructions. The magnitude of the interviewer effects on the personal net work size has been investigated, and differences among interviewers ha ve been explained on the basis of their experience and education. The data are from a survey among 4,059 older adults in the Netherlands int erviewed in 1992 by 87 interviewers. A strong interviewer effect was o bserved. Furthermore, the results of a multilevel regression analysis showed that, controlled for respondent characteristics, well-educated interviewers with minor experience prior to the project and major expe rience within the project (i.e., the high sequence number of the inter view) generated relatively large networks.