A Hybrid Response Process Model for Business Surveys

Diane K. Willimack, Elizabeth Nichols

Abstract:
Based on findings from unstructured interviews with business data reporters at 30 large multi-unit companies, we formulate a hybrid response process model for establishment surveys. The proposed model expands upon Tourangeau’s (1984) cognitive response model – comprehension, retrieval, judgment and communication – to explicitly include influences that are organizational in nature. The additional steps frame the cognitive response process, set its context, and may potentially contribute to measurement error. Originally developed in 1998–99, the model appears to have influenced establishment survey pretesting and measurement error research both within the U.S. and abroad. The current article presents the original research, along with reinterpretation of available literature, providing additional conceptual and empirical justification for the organizational steps in the hybrid model.

Keywords:
Cognitive response model, establishments, record-keeping, measurement error, response burden