The present thesis focuses on the influence of the interviewer on nonresponse due to refusals in telephone survey interviews. The main purpose is to develop a persuasion strategy which will result in a significant reduction of the number of refusals. Chapter 2 gives a brief overview of past attempts to reduce refusal rates. This chapter also contains a description of methodological research into the effect of subject and interviewer characteristics on a subject's decision to refuse or to participate. Studies aimed at discovering differences between participants and refusers are also discussed. In addition, the results of studies concerning the effect of the role of the interviewer and the interviewer-subject interaction will be presented. Chapter 3 presents a conceptual model of processes which take place during the introductory part of telephone survey interviews, based on theories of persuasion and compliance. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 are dedicated to the results of the studies conducted to answer the research questions. The results of the first non-experimental study are presented in Chapter 4, followed by a presentation of the results of the second non-experimental study in Chapter 5. The experimental study is described in Chapter 6. Finally, in Chapter 7 the findings are summarized and discussed, consequences for research practice are spelled out, and directions for future research are indicated. (A)
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