A rich and diverse literature exists on the effects that human interviewers
can have on different aspects of the survey data collection process. This
research synthesis uses the Total Survey Error (TSE) framework to highlight
important historical developments and advances in the study of interviewer
effects on a variety of important survey process outcomes, including
sample frame coverage, contact and recruitment of potential
respondents, survey measurement, and data processing. Included in the
scope of the synthesis is research literature that has focused on explaining
variability among interviewers in these effects and the different types
of variable errors that they can introduce, which can ultimately affect the
efficiency of survey estimates. We first consider common tasks with
which human interviewers are often charged and then use the TSE
framework to organize and synthesize the literature discussing the variable
errors that interviewers can introduce when attempting to execute
each task. Based on our synthesis, we identify key gaps in knowledge
and then use these gaps to motivate an organizing model for future research
investigating explanations for interviewer effects on different aspects
of the survey data collection process.
