Surveys that take repeat measurements on the same individuals (panel or follow-up surveys) are often used to measure change in employment characteristics. This article is concerned with measurement error in such estimates of change and, specifically, how the error might be reduced by the use of dependent interviewing (DI) techniques. We use data from a large-scale experiment that involved two interviews at an interval of around 17 months and compare estimates of change that are obtained using three different interviewing techniques: traditional independent interviewing (INDI), proactive dependent interviewing (PDI) and reactive dependent interviewing (RDI). We examine three characteristics of the respondent's employment (occupation, employed status, and whether or not the respondent has managerial or supervisory responsibilities) and three characteristics of the employing organisation (industry, type of organisation, number of employees). We focus on the estimation of change in each of these six characteristics. We find that PDI results in lower levels of observed change for occupation, industry and number of employees. This reduction in observed change appears to represent a reduction in measurement error as the effect of PDI is particularly pronounced amongst respondents who have not reported a change in job between survey waves. Levels of change in employment characteristics amongst INDI respondents who have not reported a change in job remain implausibly high. The reduction in measurement error brought about by PDI is particularly associated with certain employment characteristics. A reduction in the observed level of change in occupation is associated with SOC major groups 1-4 and respondents working at workplaces with large number of employees. A reduction in the observed level of change in industry is associated with certain industries and with respondents who are managers or professionals (SOC major groups 1 or 2) or have foreman or supervisor status. A reduction with PDI in the observed level of change in number of employees at the workplace is associated with large workplaces, having foreman/supervisor status, being employed in the public administration or education sectors, and being in a craft or related occupation or a plant or machine operative. We also found that measurement error was particularly reduced by PDI amongst respondents aged 36 or over and amongst the most highly qualified respondents.
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Paper provided by Institute for Social and Economic Research in its series ISER working papers with number
2004-26.
Length: 19 Date of creation: 01 Apr 2005 Date of revision: Publication status: published Handle: RePEc:ese:iserwp:2004-26
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