SRO provides all of the services required to successfully implement and support high quality data collection across modes. This includes comprehensive interviewer training, quality assurance, respondent location, panel maintenance, mailing and incentive administration, and providing support for respondents.
Learn more about data collection in SRO.
Interviewer Training
SRO maintains a training department that develops and coordinates interviewer training programs and staff development workshops and seminars. The SRO training program includes sets of interactive electronic materials for home study and refresher training, as well as specialized modules on topics such as refusal aversion, sampling, and human subject considerations. SRO training materials and procedures have served, and continue to serve, as a model for other agencies, universities, and organizations conducting survey research around the world including the World Health Organization, European Union, the Association for Academic Survey Research Organizations (AASRO), and many international partners. We recognize training protocols as critical elements for the success of data collection, and we view training as an ongoing process. This view is reflected in our management control processes in which interviewer performance is measured, and all interviewers receive feedback on their performance on a continuous basis.
Monitoring Interview Quality
SRO’s quality assurance procedures includes evaluation of recorded interviews, examination of survey interview data across modes, and interview verifications (validation) for data collected in person. With the consent of the respondent, audio recordings are collected for all interviews, and a subset of the recordings are evaluated for adherence to standardized interviewing techniques and study-specific protocols, allowing staff to identify and correct potential problems early in the project. For quality control in web surveys, we capture and review paradata to assess respondent behavior that might suggest low response quality. Paradata used for this purpose might include overall length of the interview, response times indicative of speeding, the frequency of speeding throughout the questionnaire, and straightlining behavior. SRO procedures for monitoring field progress also include an interview verification protocol which entails recontacting a random subset of respondents to ensure the validity and quality of the completed interviews.
Respondent Location
SRO has developed successful respondent location protocols through extensive experience with longitudinal projects of all types. SRO uses three types of activities for maintaining contact with respondents across waves of data collection and locating sample members who have relocated or who have new contact information. Prior to data collection, batch locating is used to update contact information for sample members by comparing new information to the project’s last recorded address, telephone number, and email address. For cases with questionable or incomplete contact information, manual locating includes the use of the internet, public records, social media, and other subscription tracking databases such as Accurint, Intelius and Vinelink to search the study participant’s name. In-person locating efforts include visiting the last known sample address and speaking with various individuals who may be able to provide updates regarding the respondent’s residence such neighbors, landlords, building managers, or delivery persons. In-person locating teams might also visit local, county and state government offices which may be helpful in providing address information.
Panel Maintenance
SRO strategies for successful panel maintenance, especially among low income and younger populations, include frequent outreach, dynamic engagement (providing varying token amounts and gifts in exchange for address updates and noting milestones such as birthdays), and multiple modes of contact (mail, phone, text). In addition, consistently updating contact information even when there are gaps in respondent contact, serves to lessen the effort to reach and interview the panel member at the time of intensive data collection (requesting an hour-long telephone interview).
Mailing and Incentive Administration
SRO routinely manages household mailings, respondent mailings, and mailing of incentives for small, regional, and large-scale national projects. Careful protocols are established to ensure timely delivery of materials, and quality control checks are used to ensure accuracy of personalized mailings and enclosure of incentives. Logging procedures are implemented to document and track all mailing activity at the sample line level, including all mail returned as undeliverable. SRO has established practices related to secure handling of cash and processing of electronic incentive payments, assuming fiscal responsibility to minimize access, increase security, and provide detailed accounting of all transactions related to handling of cash or processing of electronic files and incentive codes.
Respondent Support
The SRO Respondent Connection team maintains a toll-free phone line and project specific email addresses for respondents to make inbound contact with SRO and the project team. SRO staff respond individually to participants who reach out to ask questions about participation in our surveys, to verify the identity of a field interviewer, to schedule appointments, or for technical assistance logging on to a web survey. SRO’s confidential Clinical Contact Program is available for respondents who may experience an emotional reaction as a result of participating in an interview, or to provide referrals to other resources and sources of support.