This award provides support for a Workshop on Envisioning the Survey Interview of the Future, to be held at the University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, in autumn 2005. The workshop will bring together leading researchers in survey methodology and communication technology in order to (1) develop theories of technology-meditated survey response, (2) contribute to a better understanding of the survey response task and how it differs from the tasks for which communication technologies have been developed, and (3) introduce survey methodologists to new communication technologies that might potentially be relevant for data collection. In order to address these objectives, the workshop will include the following activities: Several communication scientists will introduce theoretical ideas from their field and then the group will discuss how to apply these ideas to survey-specific problems. Presentations about the response task and measurement error as well as human-computer task structure and user performance will precede a general discussion of future technology's likely impact on the survey response task. The workshop also will feature demonstrations of several cutting edge and future communication technologies that have high potential impact for survey methodology.
The workshop will promote interdisciplinary research and discussion of practical and ethical questions that ultimately will improve the quality of survey data collected with communication technology. Survey methodologists will gain a deeper appreciation of communication theory that will help them evaluate and deploy up-and-coming technology. Communication technologists should emerge from the workshop with a broader appreciation of the nature of information exchange tasks and greater appreciation of the intellectual challenges posed by the survey response task. The survey research community will be served by a published volume, edited by the organizers, which will come out of the workshop. Selected presenters from both disciplines will be invited to contribute chapters.
