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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Lorraine T. Midanik, PhD, Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, 120 Haviland Hall, MC #7400, Berkeley, CA 94720-7400, (510) 642-7974, lmidanik@berkeley.edu and Thomas Greenfield, PhD, Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Bay Center Bldg C, Suite 400, 6475 Christie Ave, Emeryville, CA 94608.

Interactive voice response (IVR) offers a computer-based interviewing technique in which research subjects or patients interact directly with a computerized system instead of responding aloud to human interviewer questions. This technique increases respondents' sense of privacy and their willingness to report their attitudes and behaviors more fully. The purpose of this study is to test this technology to reduce the error associated with potential under-reporting introduced by human telephone interviewers asking about alcohol-related problems, physical and sexual abuse, risky sexual behavior, and sexual orientation. As part of the data collection effort for the 2005 National Alcohol Survey, subsamples of respondents were given either an IVR module on alcohol-related problems or a module on physical/sexual abuse and sexual orientation in the course of a CATI interview. IVR responses were compared to non-IVR CATI responses for each item to determine if mode of data collection affects prevalence rates. Results indicate no significant differences between IVR and non-IVR groups on alcohol-related problem items. However, IVR generated significantly higher rates of childhood sexual abuse among Latino respondents (12.9% versus 8.1%). Moreover, a significantly higher proportion of Latino respondents using IVR reported being bisexual or homosexual compared to Latino respondents who were asked their sexual orientation by a telephone interviewer (8.9% versus 5.5%). These findings underscore the importance of assessing mode of data collection among ethnic groups when developing surveys.

Learning Objectives:

• Demonstrate the use of IVR in national alcohol surveys
• Understand the impact of data collection modality on answers to sensitive questions on alcohol problems and other areas.
• Assess the importance of cultural factors on survey responses to sensitive questions.

Keywords: Alcohol Use, Methodology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No