Staff Recruiting and Training

Attachment 10. Recruiting, Training, and
Monitoring of Field and
Telephone Staff
Recruiting and Training

RTI will hire 4 field supervisors (FSs), 70 field interviewers (FIs), 1 telephone supervisor, and 32
telephone interviewers to collect the SCV field test data. Field interviewers and supervisors will
only be required at Wave 1 as per the study design. In preparation for training, RTI will develop
training materials and manuals detailing the background of the experiment and the data
collection procedures. The field and telephone interviewer manual will include information on
the following topics: study objectives, experimental design, sampling methodology, respondent
confidentiality, data security, quality control, gaining cooperation, refusal aversion, questionnaire
content, comprehensive instructions for collection of data within the two experimental
conditions, payment of incentives, and administrative procedures. Each interviewer also will be
required to complete RTI’s Protection of Human Subjects tutorial prior to training.
For Wave 1, field interviewer training will involve one in-person, 3-day training session at a
training facility near RTI’s headquarters in North Carolina. The telephone interviewer training
sessions will be conducted at RTI’s Raleigh, N.C. Call Center over a 3-day period as well. The
training sessions will provide the interviewing staff with the opportunity to work with the
CATI/CAPI Address Verification and Household Enumeration questionnaire, Screener, and
Crime Incident Report, and to learn and work with specific project procedures and requirements.
Particular attention will be paid to adherence to the data collection and incentive protocols for
conditions 1 and 2 and general quality control measures for all interviews. Prior to the start of
Wave 2 data collection, a refresher training session will be provided for all telephone
interviewers to review the data collection procedures for that wave.
Data Collection Monitoring

Field interviewers will be equipped with a laptop computer and a high-speed or broadband
connection to collect and transmit data. For CAPI interviews, field interviewers will work offline
and transmit the survey data to RTI upon returning home. For inbound and outbound CATI
interviews, telephone interviewers will access the instrument via RTI’s Call Center Case
Management System, and survey data will be saved in real time.
All interviewers will document their progress with each household and individual respondent by
entering case disposition codes into the survey control system for every contact attempt. For
outbound CATI calls, a maximum of 3-6 calls will be made to a household per day (depending
on prior call outcomes, e.g. busy signals, ring no answers), at different times of day, to increase
our chances of reaching someone at home. The status of each case will be tracked through the
control system and used to produce daily production and status reports (including response rates)
by experimental group.

In those groups receiving the $10 incentive, this token of appreciation is also expected to
enhance participation. For incentive cases worked in-person, the field interviewer will pay the
respondents at the end of their interviews and get a signed receipt for the cash payment. For
incentive cases completed by in-bound or outbound CATI or Web, the control system will track
receipt of completed interviews by condition on a daily basis and alert project staff when
incentive mailings are needed. Incentive mailings, accompanied by a Thank You letter, will be
made from RTI once a week to any respondents who are eligible for the incentive. Incentive
payments will be tracked to ensure they are timely.
Throughout data collection, interviewer performance will be monitored on an ongoing basis to
ensure all data collection procedures are followed and interviews are collected in a quality
manner. For field interviews, quality monitoring will be done using computer audio recorded
interviewing (CARI) techniques. Developed by RTI (Biemer et al, 2000), CARI allows for the
unobtrusive recording of the interviewer-respondent dialogue on the laptop computer for predesignated portions of the interview. The recordings are then transmitted to RTI, along with
survey and case management data, where they are reviewed by project staff to evaluate
interviewer performance. In RTI’s Call Center, interviewer performance will be evaluated
through the use of live monitoring and/or recorded interview monitoring. All interviewers will
receive timely feedback on their performance, which will allow for remediation of poor
performance as well as maintenance of interviewing and project standards.