Description: 

This seminar will explore how emerging communication technologies will shape the survey interview of the future. We will ask - and attempt to answer - questions such as: How is video telephony likely to impact the quality of survey responses? Will respondents react to animated interviewing agents as if they are human interviewers, or just an object in the user interface of a self-administered questionnaire, or something in between? Are respondents more willing to lie when they speak than when their communication leaves a textual trace as in Instant Messaging or email? What kinds of paradata (information about the response process that can be informative about data quality) are made available by new communication technologies, e.g. respondents' facial expressions, direction of gaze while answering, posture, etc.? The emphasis will be split between investigating particular technologies and developing cross-technology criteria to apply when considering the adoption of a technology for interviewing.