CALL FOR MONOGRAPH PAPERS

TSM II

2nd International Conference on Telephone Survey Methodology

January 2006

In 1987, the 1st International Conference on Telephone Survey Methodology
was held in Charlotte, NC. The conference generated a widely read book on
telephone survey methodology (Groves, Biemer, Lyberg, Massey, Nicholls and
Waksberg, 1989). Although that book continues to be a standard reference
for many professionals, the rapid changes in telecommunications and in
telephone survey methodology over the past 15 years make the volume
increasingly dated. Considerable research has occurred since 1987,
including myriad advances in random telephone sampling, often in response to
changes in the telecommunication system. The goal of this second conference
will be to bring together survey researchers and practitioners concerned
with telephone survey methodology and practice in order to stimulate
research papers that (1) contribute to the science of measuring and/or
reducing errors attributable to poor telephone survey design, (2) provide
documentation of current practices, and (3) stimulate new ideas for further
research and development. A monograph that presents state-of-the-art
research and practices related to telephone survey methodology will be
prepared based on papers presented at the conference. The edited monograph
is expected to be published by Wiley.

The TSM II Editorial Committee (James Lepkowski, Clyde Tucker, Michael
Brick, Paul Lavrakas, Edith de Leeuw, Michael Link, Lilli Japec, and Roberta
Sangster) invites all interested researchers to submit abstracts for
consideration for the monograph. The abstract should be no more than 1000
words. The deadline for submitting abstracts is September 1, 2004.
Abstracts should be submitted through the American Statistical Association's
website  < www.amstat.org <http://www.amstat.org/> >.
A link to TSM II will be established soon. Any questions should
be sent to Clyde Tucker at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics at
[log in to unmask] <<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> or to [log in to unmask]
Note: Abstracts not accepted for the monograph will be forwarded, with the
author's permission, for consideration by the committee selecting
contributed papers for the conference.

To make the monograph as useful and interesting as possible, authors are
encouraged to think about the following questions when considering possible
topics:

What's new and/or on the horizon?
What's can we say is still tried and true, and why?
What methods address changing needs or the changing environment?
How do circumstances vary throughout the world, and what are the
implications?
Where are telephone surveys and methods headed in the 21st century?

Although not exhaustive, the following is a list of possible topics for
monograph papers:

Sampling Design
Frame construction
Types of sampling-list-assisted, Mitofsky-Waksberg, registers, etc.
Within household selection
Noncoverage issues: cell only households and no-phone households
Mixed mode designs
Sampling rare populations

Data Collection Issues
Questionnaire development and testing
Translation
CATI software
Mode effects
Interviewer effects
Responsive (dynamic) telephone survey design
Coding

Operational Aspects of Telephone Surveys
Cost management
Cost-benefit analysis
Case management and call scheduling
Training and monitoring interviewers
Interviewer recruitment and turnover
Meeting time deadlines and client expectations
Methodological innovation within a production environment
Response outcomes; response rates and their calculation

Estimation Issues
Editing and imputation
Variance and bias estimation
Weighting telephone service interruption and non-telephone household
Post-stratification
Combining data across modes and frames
Time series

Nonresponse
Privacy and confidentiality
Public perceptions of telephone surveys vs. telemarketing
The effects of new technologies and/or legislation on telephone nonresponse
Statistical adjustment for nonresponse
Non-ignorable nonresponse error
Methods to reduce and/or measure nonresponse (refusals vs. noncontacts)






*************************************
Peter Lynn ([log in to unmask])
Professor of Survey Methodology
Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)
University of Essex, Colchester, UK CO4 3SQ
tel: +44 (0)1206 874809; fax: +44 (0)1206 873151
http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/