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Interviewing Style and Respondent Behavior

An Experimental Study of the Survey-Interview

Free University—Amsterdam

Guided by the model of the question-answer process as developed by Cannell and his coworkers, our main research question focused on how interviewers should behave in order to obtain adequate responses in survey interviews. A field experiment was conducted in which the interviewers adopted one of two behavioral styles, namely, a personal versus a formal style of interviewing. The dependent variables concerned measures of accuracy, social desirability, and the degree of relevant as well as irrelevant information. In addition, by experimentally manipulating the interviewer's alleged opinion, it was possible to ascertain conformity effects. Two different hypotheses were proposed to account for the effect of interviewing style on the dependent variables. The motivation hypothesis proposed that a personal style, compared with a formal style, would motivate the respondent to do well on the task and to give responses that would be as accurate and as adequate as possible. According to the ingratiation hypothesis, respondents interviewed in a personal style would be more inclined to attempt to ingratiate themselves with the interviewer, leading to more socially desirable responses, conformity, and irrelevant information. The results supported the motivation hypothesis. We contend that both motivation and ingratiation are important mechanisms in the question-answer process. However, it may be easier to influence the respondent's motivational level by means of the style of interviewing or other interviewing techniques than the respondent's ingratiation tendencies.

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