World Values Survey 2000, Wave 4

The main method of data collection in the WVS survey is face-to-face interview at respondent’s home / place of residence. Respondent’s answers could be recorded in a paper questionnaire (traditional way) or by CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview). The approval of the Scientific Advisory Committee in writing is necessary for application of any methods of data collection other than face-to-face interview. Following the sampling, each country is left with a representative national sample of its public. These persons are then interviewed during a limited time frame decided by the Executive Committee of the World Values Survey using the uniformly structured questionnaires. The survey is carried out by professional organizations using face-to-face interviews or phone interviews for remote areas. Each country has a Principal Investigator (social scientists working in academic institutions) who is responsible for conducting the survey in accordance with the fixed rules and procedures. During the field work, the agency has to report in writing according to a specific check-list. Internal consistency checks are made between the sampling design and the outcome and rigorous data cleaning procedures are followed at the WVS data archive. No country is included in a wave before full documentation has been delivered. This means a data set with the completed methodological questionnaire and a report of country-specific information (for example important political events during the fieldwork, problems particular to the country). Once all the surveys are completed, the Principal Investigator has access to all surveys and data. Non-response is an issue of increasing concern in sample surveys. Investigators are expected to make every reasonable effort to minimize non-response. In countries using a full probability design, no replacements are allowed. PIs should plan on as many call-backs as the funding will allow. In countries using some form of quota sampling, every effort should be made to interview the first contact.

Fieldwork:
Control of the WVS field staff was directed from Canadian Facts' head office in Toronto. All field and office supervisory staff reported to the WVS project national field director. The office staff included one field director in the Vancouver office, two in the Montreal office and two in the Toronto office. Additionally, the field staff included 15 regional supervisors. The responsibilities of the national field director included: Briefing and training of all supervisory staff; Regular performance monitoring; Preparation of weekly field status reports; Co-ordination of shipping survey materials; Quality control of all interviewing procedures; Organization of a minimum (10%) head office verification on all fieldwork; Investigation and reporting on all verification problems. The responsibilities of the office and regional field supervisors included: Briefing and training of all interviewers; Performance monitoring of all interviewers; Weekly reporting of field status; Review of completed interviews to ensure that procedures were correctly followed; Continuous liaison with interviewers so that specific problems could be transmitted to the national field director and resolved with minimum delay; Initial verification of at least one interview from each assigned location; A completeness check on all interviews. All supervisory staff were personally briefed by the WVS national field director. Briefings involved a full review of training and monitoring procedures required at the interviewer level. All interviewers were also briefed in person by trained supervisory staff. The training sessions always included the conduct of test interviews. Interviewers were required to conduct a minimum of one test interview among friends or relatives as a means of ensuring complete familiarity with procedures before commencement of actual fieldwork. All interviewers received a copy of a special WVS training manual prepared by Canadian Facts. The precise written instructions clearly outline all survey requirements, call-back procedures, and questionnaire administration instructions. Call-back procedures were designed to optimize expenditures of field resources for this study. The number of call-backs was initiated at different times of the day and on different days of the week to maximize completion rates. The number of calls made to each selected household varied by community size within region stratum as follows: Number of Personal Attempts 1. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver 5 2. Quebec City, Ottawa/Hull, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton 4 3. Remaining Communities 100K and over 4 4. Communities 10-100K 3 5. Communities under 10K 2 As a further means of boosting response rates, some additional calls were made to "not-at-homes." Furthermore, after every attempt to gain co-operation, some locations with low completion rates were re-cycled to a
special team of interviewers who followed up after a 2 or 3 week hiatus. Completed questionnaires were always reviewed by supervisors prior to their return to head office. Incomplete or improperly conducted interviews were returned to the field for completion by either the same or, if necessary, a different interviewer. Interviewers were required to complete report forms for each assigned location. On-going tallies provided supervisory staff with the information necessary to re-assign work or address particular problems. In Montreal, Ottawa/Hull, Northern New Brunswick and designated areas in Northern Ontario, bilingual interviewers were used. The validation of interviewing by Canadian Facts took place immediately after conduct of field work. Field supervisors were required to verify at least one interview from each assigned location. Upon receipt of each assignment, further reviews were carried out by senior field staff at Canadian Facts' head office in Toronto. A minimum of 1 in 20 interviews was verified from each interviewers work. Approximately 10% of the interviews were supervised and 10% were back-checked.