Allan L. McCutcheon

Who’s calling? The impact of Caller ID on telephone survey response

The Gallup Organization conducted a caller ID randomized study with a pre-and postexperimental design to test the impact of different caller ID displays (names) on the response, contact, and cooperation rates for telephone surveys. This research focuses on the impact of caller ID listing on the frequency of final dialing dispositions. The authors find initial evidence for the hypothesis that the caller ID transmission works as a sort of “condensed survey research organization business card” that can trigger brand awareness, thus legitimating the survey and diminishing suspicions of collector or telemarketing calls.

Education and Support for the Czech Reforms.

Educated Czechs fared poorly during the communist regime (1948-89) but have done relatively well since the Velvet Revolution. This phase change is consistent with transition theory and suggests that educated Czechs may be more supportive of the postcommunist reforms as a consequence. To test this hypothesis, the authors examined 11 national surveys (1990-98) of Czech respondents to determine if economic standing and other controls explained the relation between education and attitudes about the countrys reforms. They also tested whether the effects of education interacted with phases of the reforms. The results showed that better-educated respondents enjoyed an economic advantage, supportive of transition theory. However, this advantage and other controls did not explain the significant effects of education on attitudes about the Czech reforms. These pat terns were stable during the survey period with one exception, as indicated by education * time interaction terms. These findings suggest that values associated with education may play a role in attitudes about postcommunist reforms independent of economic standing, expanding the view that economic experiences during postcommunist reforms differentiate attitudes about them

Understanding the Human Condition through Survey Informatics

Survey informatics leverages two separate but vital areas of research--survey methodology and computer science and engineering--to advance the state of the art in each and improve our understanding of the human experience.