NCJ Number
79304
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1980) Pages: 41-50
Date Published
1980
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Findings are presented from a test of whether or not the identity of a surveyor influences police responses to an anonymous self-administered questionnaire.
Abstract
The documented evidence of interviewer bias in survey research suggests the following hypothesis: in instances when a surveyor does not visually or verbally interact with police officer respondents, responses given anonymously to self-enumerated survey questionnaires will be influenced by the officer's perception of the surveyor's identity. The study testing this hypothesis distributed identical questionnaires to 105 police officers. One group of officers received a cover letter identifying the researcher as a graduate student. A second group received a cover letter stating that the researcher was a fellow law enforcement officer. An analysis of the responses from the two groups showed that only four items produced statistically significant differences between the groups. In all four cases, the relationship disappeared when the effects of age and years of service were controlled. Barring systematic error in the design and conduct of the study, results appear to indicate that the identity of a surveyor who does not visually or verbally interact with police officer respondents is not a source of response distortion during anonymous completion of a self-enumerated questionnaire. Two possible alternative explanations of the finding are discussed. Tabular data, 35 references, and 5 footnotes are provided.