title: Ethnic Differences in the Quality of the Interview Process and Implications for Survey Analysis: The Case of Indigenous Australians.
abstract: Comparable survey data on Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are highly sought after by policymakers to inform policies aimed at closing ethnic socio-economic gaps. However, collection of such data is compromised by group differences in socio-economic status and cultural norms. We use data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and multiple-membership multilevel regression models that allow for individual and interviewer effects to examine differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in approximate measures of the quality of the interview process. We find that there are both direct and indirect ethnic effects on different dimensions of interview process quality, with Indigenous Australians faring worse than non-Indigenous Australians in all outcomes ceteris paribus. This indicates that nationwide surveys must feature interview protocols that are sensitive to the needs and culture of Indigenous respondents to improve the quality of the survey information gathered from this subpopulation.
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland, Postal address: ISSR, Building 39a (GPN3), The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Perales
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland, Postal address: ISSR, Building 39a (GPN3), The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baffour
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Postal address: Telethon Kids Institute, 100 Roberts Road, Subiaco, WA 6008, Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mitrou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000208:ethnology; D003710:Demography; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006303:Health Services, Indigenous; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires