Dependent Interviewing

Dependent interviewing is a method of scripting computer-assisted survey questionnaires, in which information about each respondent known prior to the interview is used to determine question routing and wording. This method of personalizing questionnaires can be used to reduce respondent burden and measurement error. The prior information can be incorporated reactively, for in-interview edit checks, or proactively, to remind respondents of previous answers.

Dependent interviewing exploits the potential of scripting computer-assisted questionnaires such that each interview is automatically tailored to the respondent's situation. This can be done using routing instructions and text fills, such that both the selection of questions and their wording are adapted to the respondent's situation. Both routing and text fills are usually based on responses to earlier questions in the questionnaire. Dependent ...