Do CAPI or PAPI Interviews Take Longer?
The transition from paper-based personal interviews to computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) is already well underway. Much of the early research focused on operational issues and concerns about data quality differences between the methods. Attention is now being turned to more detailed assessments of specific features of the new data collection technology and its impact on the survey process. This article deals with the question of relative administration of survey questions between paper and pencil and CAPI modes. Using data from a series of interviews (14 PAPI and 37 CAPI) using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) instrument conducted as part of usability testing of the instrument, a large number (over 2,200) of comparable items from the socio-demographic part of the instrument were subjected to detailed time and activity coding. These data allow us to examine reasons for time differences across the modes. Where items are comparable in terms of design across modes,
