Recruitment Intensity and Representativeness in Phone Surveys: Evidence from the Philippines

14 Pages Posted: 24 Jul 2023

See all articles by Steven Glazerman

Steven Glazerman

Innovations for Poverty Action

Elliott Collins

Innovations for Poverty Action; Innovations for Poverty Action

Caroline Lamke

Innovations for Poverty Action

Date Written: June 08, 2023

Abstract

When pandemic restrictions made face-to-face data collection too risky or costly in 2020, global poverty researchers started relying more heavily on mobile phone surveys, most often Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI). These surveys provide several obvious benefits in terms of marginal cost and speed of deployment, but samples recruited via these methods may differ from the target population for several reasons (Gibson et al. 2017). To be included in a phone survey sample, respondent must own a phone, be able to pay for service, have reliable connectivity and power, and be willing to answer their phones. These barriers have been shown to bias the sample towards younger, more urban respondents with higher income. The choice of phone survey will thus introduce bias into the analysis when these factors are correlated with outcomes of interest.

Keywords: poverty, research methods, development economics

Suggested Citation

Glazerman, Steven and Collins, Elliott and Lamke, Caroline, Recruitment Intensity and Representativeness in Phone Surveys: Evidence from the Philippines (June 08, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4516762 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4516762

Steven Glazerman (Contact Author)

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Elliott Collins

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Innovations for Poverty Action ( email )

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Caroline Lamke

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New Haven, CT 20009
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