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Related Experiment Videos

Apparent validity of alternative survey methods.

I B Pless, J R Miller

    Journal of Community Health
    |January 1, 1979
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Comparing survey methods for child safety restraint use, telephone and mail surveys yielded more truthful, socially undesirable responses than face-to-face interviews. These methods offer potentially greater validity and lower costs for health education research.

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    Area of Science:

    • Health Education
    • Survey Methodology
    • Behavioral Science

    Background:

    • Socially desirable responses can bias survey data, particularly on sensitive health behaviors.
    • Accurate data collection is crucial for effective health education interventions.
    • Traditional face-to-face interviews may overreport socially desirable behaviors like child restraint use.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To compare the validity of data obtained through face-to-face, telephone, and postal questionnaire methods.
    • To assess the impact of data collection method on reporting of socially undesirable behaviors.
    • To evaluate the cost-effectiveness and potential validity of alternative survey approaches.

    Main Methods:

    • Randomly assigned participants in a health education experiment were followed up using three distinct methods: face-to-face interviews, telephone surveys, and postal questionnaires.

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  • Data collected focused on reported changes in behavior, specifically the use of child safety restraints.
  • Analysis compared response rates and the proportion of socially undesirable responses across the three methods.

    • Main Results:

    • No significant differences were found in reported behavior changes across the three follow-up methods.
    • Telephone and mail survey methods yielded a higher proportion of truthful, socially undesirable responses compared to face-to-face interviews.
    • Specifically, 30.4% of telephone respondents and 26.3% of mail respondents admitted to not using restraints on the last trip, versus 17.5% in face-to-face interviews.

    Conclusions:

    • Telephone and postal questionnaire methods may offer greater validity for collecting data on socially undesirable behaviors than traditional face-to-face interviews.
    • These alternative data collection methods are recommended for consideration in health education research due to potentially lower costs and increased accuracy.
    • Future research should explore these methods further to confirm their utility in diverse populations and research contexts.