Effects of introductions in large-scale telephone survey interviews

In this article, the effect of four different introductions on response rat es in large-scale telephone surveys in the Netherlands is investigated Thre e standardized scripted introductions with different numbers of content ele ments, in addition to a fourth agenda-based introduction, were distinguishe d. In the latter the interviewers formulated their own introductions an the basis of a limited number of catchwords. A total of 1,831 first telephone calls by 132 interviewers were analyzed; only first calls were taken into a ccount. In a multilevel model, the three standardized scripted introduction s did not differ much with respect to response rates, appointment rates or refusal rates. However the agenda-based introduction induced both higher re sponse rates and higher appointment rates and, therefore, lower refusal rat es.