Respondent-Interviewer Rapport

Respondents and interviewers interact during the conduct of surveys, and this interaction, no matter how brief, is the basis for a social relationship between the two. Often this relationship begins when the interviewer calls or visits the respondent in an attempt to initiate and complete an interview. Other times, the respondent may call the interviewer in order to complete an interview. During the social interaction of conducting an interview, the respondent and interviewer will typically develop a rapport.

The establishment of rapport between the respondent and the interviewer, or lack thereof, is a key element in the interviewer gaining the respondent's cooperation to complete an interview. If a good rapport is not established, the likelihood of the interviewer completing an interview decreases. Further, good rapport will make the respondent comfortable with answering questions that could be considered personal or embarrassing. It is important for interviewers to convey a neutral, nonjudgmental attitude toward respondents regardless of the survey topic or [Page 744]the content of the respondents' answers in order to make the respondent as comfortable as possible. A respondent who is comfortable is more likely to provide accurate responses and take the survey request seriously.

The rapport between respondents and interviewers plays a large role in the interview process. Interviewers are largely initially responsible for developing and maintaining rapport with respondents. The respondent has to feel comfortable with the survey, and this can be influenced by how key information about what the survey requires is delivered by the interviewer. The respondent must also believe that the survey request is legitimate and the data they provide will be protected. Interviewers must explain the reason for the survey, set the tone for the interview, convey the importance of the survey, and set up the expectations for how the interview will proceed from the start of the interview. Further, a respondent's decision to participate, as well as his or her attitude about participating (e.g. the seriousness of the survey request) is impacted by his or her feelings about the interviewer and the rapport that has been established.

Rapport is usually established during the first few seconds of a call or visit; however, the rapport should continue to build throughout the interaction. Interviewers should be trained in ways to quickly establish a rapport with the respondents. Gaining cooperation to complete an interview through establishing rapport is the target outcome of each respondent-interviewer interaction, and this target outcome is the same for both in-person and telephone interviews. In both interview modes, it is important that interviewers convey a friendly, professional tone. Interviewers must also be sincere, confident, knowledgeable, and well prepared for their interactions with respondents. All of these interviewer characteristics taken together will impact the kind of rapport established with the respondent. However, the communication channels through which interviewers have to convey these key characteristics differ based on interview mode. For in-person interviews, respondents have all communication channels with which to establish rapport with the interviewer, including verbal and nonverbal. Conversely, for telephone interviews, the respondent has only verbal communication channels (which involves two things: the interviewers' voice characteristics and the words they say) on which to judge the interviewer. Because of these differences in communication channels, training for in-person and field interviewers differs somewhat on how to convey the key interviewing characteristics.

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