Exploratory Virtual Interviewing for the Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI) Research and Development Field Test

• In Event: From Experiment to Insight: Shaping the Future of Justice Surveys

Abstract

The Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI) Research and Development field test included an experiment to evaluate an alternate mode of data collection to maximize data quality while minimizing burden to facilities and incarcerated persons. The central goals of this field test were to examine the feasibility of facilities to support virtual survey administration and measure the effects of administration mode on sample member participation and data quality. The field test assessed potential mode differences by randomly assigning half of selected incarcerated participants within each facility to be interviewed either in-person or virtually. Both field test data collection modes were interviewer-administered; however, there could be mode effects based on whether the interviewer was physically present during the interview. The field test involved a sample of about 20 state and federal facilities from which approximately 2,000 incarcerated individuals were sampled to participate. This presentation will discuss challenges and opportunities for virtual survey administration in prison facilities and findings related to mode effects.

Author

• Emily Buehler, Bureau of Justice Statistics