Our staff includes a number of experienced interviewers. A majority of our full-time interviewers have completed at least two years of college course work. Many of our part-time interviewers have professional careers elsewhere and work for PricewaterhouseCoopers during the day shift or on evenings and weekends. Most have completed several surveys at the Survey Research Center and many have had experience interviewing with other firms. All interviewers at the Survey Research Center are thoroughly trained in techniques for dealing with difficult respondents and converting nonrespondents who are initially reluctant to participate.
Interviewers attend a comprehensive training session prior to the start of each new study.
A Data Fact Sheet, a one-page summary of important information, is provided to each interviewer as a quick reference. It has been our experience that some people are more willing to respond to a telephone interview if we can provide proof that the study is legitimate. One of the goals of the interviewer training is to achieve consistency across interviewers at the data collection stage. During their training, interviewers practice conducting the interview through role-playing. Finally, each interviewer must pass a qualifying interview with a CATI supervisor before placing calls to respondents.