SURVEY INTRODUCTIONS AND DATA QUALITY

While measurement error arising from the interaction between responden t and interviewer during the survey interview has been the focus of mu ch research, the impact of the interaction during the introductory req uest for participation on subsequent data quality has received less at tention. This article attempts to link these two sets of interactions using data from the 1990 National Election Study. At the end of each c ontact with a sample person, interviewers completed a series of struct ured items, providing information on what was said by the sample perso n and interviewer, and other characteristics of the contact. These dat a, combined with the substantive data for the interviewed cases, allow us to explore the relationship between respondent statements during t he introduction and the content and quality of information provided by them during the interview. We find that the statements made by respon dents during the introduction are associated with differences in both data quality and substantive responses. We discuss the implications of these findings for both nonresponse and for response error.