INTERVIEWING OLDER ADULTS: MODE COMPARISON USING DATA FROM A FACE-TO-FACE SURVEY AND A TELEPHONE RESURVEY

A face-to-face survey conducted in 1984 with a sample of 1491residents of the Detroit metropolitan area (including an oversampleof older adults) and a reinterview of a random subset of theserespondents by telephone were used to compare the two modesof data collection across two age levels. Except for a tendencytoward a disproportionately large number of DK answers and adisproportionately large amount of interviewer assistance onthe telephone, respondents 60 years of age and older did notexhibit larger mode differences than did respondents under 60.For both age groups, response distributions were rather similar,suggesting little effect of mode. Likewise, response style differedlittle by mode, while a higher proportion of missing data (i.e.,"I don't know" answers) was given on the telephone. The responserate for the telephone reinterview was 90%, somewhat lower forolder than younger persons. The findings support the feasibilityof using the telephone for reinterviewing older adults.     

A CONCEPTUAL DESCRIPTION OF A FINANCIAL PLANNING MODEL FOR COMMERCIAL BANKS

This paper describes a conceptually sound and powerful model to aid bank managers in short and long range decision making for the management of the financial performance of the bank. The planning model is a key element in an integrated computer-based planning system which includes a forecast of economic, monetary, and loan market conditions, an analysis of internal relationships, and a system of reports which provide management with access to historical data and planning summaries. The planning model at the heart of the system, contains an imbedded linear programming algorithm to optimize “balance sheet management” decisions within liquidity and capital adequacy constraints. The model recognizes the interaction between assets and liabilities, it recognizes the time value of money, and it accommodates the difference between the net marginal yield for decision making, and the gross average yield used for determining revenue. Finally, the model recognizes the crucial role of liquidity with an important treatment of gross cash flows from normal asset turnover as a major source of liquidity, and the liquidity aspects of liabilities, as well as the more traditional concept of asset marketability.     

Interviewing Older Adults: A Comparison of Telephone and Face-to-Face Modalities

This article examines telephone interviewing of older adultsand compares it with face-to-face interviews. Specifically,the following issues are examined in several national surveys:(1) differences in age distributions between the samples ofadults reached in both modes; (2) explanations for potentialdifferences in age distributions; (3) differences between thetwo modes in demographic characteristics in the adults reached,in interview process and in response quality, and how thesemode differences vary by age of the respondents. Telephone surveystend to underrepresent older persons, and older persons whodo participate in a telephone survey are disproportion atelywell educated. Implications of the lower response rate amongolder persons are softened by the fact that reponse distributionsacross a range of questions show little difference by interviewmode between older persons and persons of other age groups.     

MACROECONOMIC STABILITY AND THE SHORT RUN FEDERAL RESERVE REACTION FUNCTION, 1969–1979

This paper examines the dynamic stability of a situation in which monetary policy is implemented by means of short-run control of interest rates. Using a simple dynamic model it is shown that such procedures may lead to instability unless the central bank allows the controlled interest rate to adjust sufficiently to economic developments. The theoretical model is then used to guide an empirical examination and evaluation of Federal Reserve behavior for the period 1969–1979. Evidence is presented that on average over this period the Federal Reserve's control of the Federal funds rate could have been a destabilizing factor.