DOT HS 809 788

Selection of Respondent Within Household

The multi-stage sampling process described in the previous sections yielded a random national sample of households with telephones, drawn proportionate to the population distribution. The final stage required the selection of one respondent per household for the interview.

A systematic selection procedure was used to select one designated respondent for each household sampled. The "most recent/next birthday method" was used for within household selection among multiple eligibles. This procedure has been widely used for two decades because it permits unbiased systematic selection without requiring full household enumeration.² The Within Household Selection Procedure is presented in Figure 1. The CATI system alternated the "most recent" and "next" birthday specification for the selected respondent to avoid a temporal bias for birthdays before (or after) the field period.

FIGURE 1
Within Household Selection Procedure:
Adult Cross Section

TIME START: _____________ TIME END: _____________
DATE: _____________ BATCH #:____________ CATI RESP. #: ______________
SAMPLE POINT #: ___ ___ ___ GENDER OF RESP.: MALE [ ] FEMALE [ ]
RESP PHONE NUMBER: ________________________________________
RESP POSITION IN HOUSEHOLD: ________________________________________________
INTERVIEWER NAME: __________________________________________________________ THIS INTERVIEW IS A: COMPLETE [ ] CALLBACK FOR COMPLETION [ ]
TERMINATE AT Q_____ [ ]
INTRODUCTION TO BE ADMINISTERED TO ANY ADULT HOUSEHOLD MEMBER:
Hello, I'm calling for the U.S. Department of Transportation. We are conducting a study of Americans' driving habits and their attitudes about current driving laws. The interview is completely confidential.
C1. In order to select just one person to interview, could I speak to the person in your household, age 16 and older, who has had the most recent/next birthday?

Respondent is that person [CONTINUE WITH CATI AND ENTER Q1 AS C1]..................1
Other respondent came to phone [CONTINUE WITH CATI AND ENTER Q1 AS C1]..........2 Respondent is not available.......................................................................................................3
[ARRANGE CALLBACK AND RECORD IT, ALONG WITH THE RESPONDENT'S FIRST NAME OR HH POSITION, ON THE SAMPLE SHEET. ATTACH THIS SHEET TO SAMPLE AFTER FILLING OUT APPLICABLE RESPONDENT INFO AT THE TOP. WHEN THE NEXT INTERVIEWER REACHES THIS PERSON, THEY WILL ENTER Q1 AS C1]

²Salmon, C. and Nichols, J. The Next-Birthday Method of Respondent Selection, Public Opinion Quarterly, 1983, Vol. 47, pp.270-276.