Mail vs. telephone surveys of criminal justice attitudes: A comparative analysis |
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Authors: | Margaret Farnworth Katherine Bennett Vincent M West |
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Institution: | (1) College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, 77341 Huntsville, Texas |
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Abstract: | This study compares results from surveys using two modes of administration. A subset of questions from the 1992Texas Crime Poll, a statewide poll conducted annually by mail, was replicated in telephone interviews using the Computer Assisted Telephone
Interviewing System. The phone survey yielded better participation rates but less complete responses to individual attitude
questions than did the mail poll. As expected, the mail survey was less expensive but less efficient than the automated phone
survey. The central finding was that all but one of the responses to five attitude questions difered significantly across
the surveys. The samples differed in their demographic composition, but this did not explain differences in the substantive
findings from the mail and phone surveys. The discussion considers alternative explanations for differences in the findings
from the two surveys and suggests direction for further comparative research. |
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Keywords: | questionaires interviews surveys criminal justice attitudes sampling effects |
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