THE ANSWERING MACHINE GENERATION: WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT PROBLEM DO THEY POSE FOR SURVEY RESEARCH?

Increased incidence of telephone answering machines and theuse of such devices to screen calls pose a potential threatto the representativeness of samples in telephone surveys. Usingdata from nine statewide surveys, this analysis examines theextent to which answering machines are used to screen callsand the demographic characteristics associated with answeringmachine use and call screening. Results show that at most twoto three percent of households use answering machines to screencalls, and that such screening is more likely to take placein households with higher family incomes, outside rural areas,and which include individuals who are younger and have higherlevels of education. While call screening does not presentlythreaten the representativeness of samples in telephone surveys,the increased incidence of answering machines together withthe increased percentage of households indicating these devicesare sometimes used to screen calls demonstrate that the potentialbias from this source is growing.