Customer Reviews

Computer-Assisted Interviewing (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences)

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Willem Saris wrote this book nearly twenty years ago as an introduction to "computer-assisted data collection" (CADAC) for researchers already well-versed in paper questionnaire design. At that time it was an up-to -date and helpful introduction. Two decades later, like all of us, it has begun to show signs of its age.

The book begins with an overview of the history and general concepts of computer-assisted data gathering. The author discusses the relative merits and different dynamics of interviewer-administered interviews, self-administered interviews, and panel interviews. The latter half of the book discusses design of questionnaires--question forms, skip patterns, automated data verification, and so on--and provides guidance for those purchasing or developing CADAC software.

Much, even most, of the book's recommendations about software is no longer current. But a surprising amount of questionnaire design advice is still relevant. In particular, the discussion of self-administered questionnaires anticipates many issues in current web-based survey administration without having anticipated the web itself. Even so, this book is now of more historical than practical value. I suggest Conrad and Shober's edited volume Envisioning the Survey Interview of the Future for a more current view of innovative survey methods.