Be Wary of Those Who Ask : A Randomized Experiment on the Size and Determinants of the Enumerator Effect
During survey data collection, respondents' answers may be influenced by the behavior and characteristics of the enumerator, the so-called enumerator effect. Using a large-scale experiment in Uganda randomly pairing enumerators and respond...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/430221544543787320/Be-Wary-of-Those-Who-Ask-A-Randomized-Experiment-on-the-Size-and-Determinants-of-the-Enumerator-Effect http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30993 |
| Summary: | During survey data collection,
respondents' answers may be influenced by the
behavior and characteristics of the enumerator, the
so-called enumerator effect. Using a large-scale experiment
in Uganda randomly pairing enumerators and respondents, the
study explores for which types of questions the enumerator
effect may exist. It is found that the enumerator effect is
minimal in many questions, but is large for political
preference questions, for which it can account for over 30
of the variation in responses. The study then explores which
enumerator characteristics, and which of their combination
with respondent characteristics, could account for this
effect. Finally, the conclusion provides some practical
suggestions on how to minimize enumerator effects, and
potential bias, in various types of data collections. |
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