Interviewers are a principal source of error in quantitative surveys. While surveys are often self-administered (e.g. in online surveys), it is often required to administer these face-to- face. This is the case, for example, in census surveys in low-income areas where there is little internet penetration, like that of the quality-of-life surveys presently being conducted in multiple countries through a residential door-to-door approach (Carr et al., 2018). In such situations, the social interaction between the interviewer conducting the survey and the interviewee is likely to introduce bias into the survey data collected. Interviewer effects (IE) can influence both item non-response and answer quality, i.e., participants not providing the true answer (Harling, et al., 2019). In an attempt to gain more representative data, this study conducted an exploratory analysis on the possible antecedents and consequences of interviewer effects using the Living Wage survey presently being conducted in South Africa, as the study context. To this end, I examine the systematic biasing effects associated with deploying the same group interviewers (n = 10), of the same ethnicity, age, and of equal gender distribution across five sampling areas in Cape Town in a quasi-experimental design (n = 282). This study highlighted that each interviewer is associated with a unique set of systematic bias that varies dependent on the survey item type. Sensitive items requiring respondents to disclose personal information were the most prone to bias, followed by interviewer-referencing and attitudinal items sequentially. Furthermore, this study found that gender differences in the interview had a marginal influence on the attitudes respondents are willing to share. I hope to contribute to an understanding and critical consideration of the antecedents and consequences of deploying human interviewers for collecting quantitative surveys, especially in a context where ethnic, gender and political differences are loaded in social interactions and are likely to contribute to respondents obscuring their responses.

Deforestation and land use change are widespread in western Uganda. However, the spatial patterns and time-series of change and the reasons why it is occurring remain to be fully investigated. In this work a combination of satellite imagery and social surveys is used to quantify forest gains and loss over the last three decades in the region close to Lake Albert, whilst also providing an account of possible drivers of change. This area proves to be interesting as it covers regions with both formally protected areas (gazetted regions) and un-protected forest, the latter being largely under private ownership. Remote sensing data from the Landsat satellites were gathered for forest change detection, and were processed using standard remote sensing techniques, then quantified using GIS and regression methods. Fieldwork allowed these data to be ground truthed while gathering (quantitative) household surveys and (qualitative) key informant interviews. Quantitative surveys were analysed using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis, and were compared qualitatively with the satellite analysis and stakeholder interviews. The results show that forest cover declined significantly outside gazetted areas at the expense of varying local?scale processes, although the protection of the gazetted forests was remarkably successful. In forest corridors outside gazetted regions, losses exceeded 90% (p<0.05). Survey data suggest that rural poor households were more likely to be situated in forested regions, and were more dependent on forest resources for their livelihoods. However, the drivers of change were spatially variable, with expansion of sugarcane farming being a likely driver in the northern areas, but small?scale agricultural expansion a significant factor in the more southern parts of the study region. While there is wide agreement within the data that the patterns of forest cover and land use changes are anthropogenically driven, more specific drivers are swamped by intricacies of the bio-physical and socio-economic preconditions that are inseparable in both space and time, although agricultural expansion and population growth were evident and pervasive. The analyses provide insights into complex anthropogenic processes at various spatial scales, and policy recommendations provided are widely applicable for developing countries struggling to conserve nature whilst boosting economic growth.

The primary objective of this thesis is to study the role of surveys as power factor with a particular focus on studies of Internet users. The conditions and practices of the private research field are related to the academic discourse on the essence of science as well as to media's role in society. The methodological basis of the quantitative studies and their practices are examined in relation to a range of competing theories on the nature of science and its role in society. Earlier contributions to the criticism of quantitative surveys are also discussed. The methodological problems are further highlighted by concrete examples based on own analyses of various data collections. One empirical part of the thesis consists of analyses of survey studies as reported in the press coverage of the Internet in 1997, 1999 and 2000. The goal of the analyses is to show that surveys are an important mechanism for creating truth effects. The methodological tools are part of the struggle for mastery of the discourse –thereby confirming or changing existing power relations – in part through the dissemination of selected results in the media. Through a perusal of the newspaper articles with regard to the context in which the keywords "Internet" and "survey" appear and what the specific actor says, to whom, with which intention, an overall discourse appears, which reveals that the leading commercial actors endeavour to promote the development of the Internet in accordance with their aspirations. The published results are also related to other, more complex analyses of data collections from the same period. In another empirical part of the thesis findings from some fifty interviews with various experts are presented. The aim is to evaluate the methodological sources of error associated with sampling, the carrying out of studies, the analysis of results and other factors that have to do with the value of the surveys as basic facts, as well as the survey buyers’ awareness of the nature of the errors and their relevance for the results. The quantitative surveys appear as an uncontrolled and uncertain source of knowledge. The survey industry is profit-oriented and characterised by competition whereby methodological issues often land up in the background. The final discussion addresses a set of mechanisms by which the interested parties from the media industry use the ratings in the internal competition or in various administrative documents. They achieve this by establishing a "common currency" on the basis of such studies, which is valid in relation to other interested parties, such as media owners and advertisers. Different strategies developed by the survey industry in order to lend more market value to their products are also discussed. The methodological problems, the lack of openness to external scrutiny and the dependence on the economic field signify that the praxis of the survey field essentially deviates from the basic concepts of science. Surveys take therefore undue  advantage of scientific legitimacy.

Bibliographic record PROKOP, Daniel. (2012). Election polls in the Czech Republic: Methodological Optimization. Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institut of Sociological Studies. Thesis academic consultant: Mgr. Jindřich Krejčí, Ph.D. Abstract The thesis focuses on the election-polls and prediction of election results in the Czech Republic. Using data of research company MEDIAN s.r.o. from face-to-face (CAPI) and telephone interviewing (CATI) in election year 2010 it examines possibilities of methodological optimizations which could lead to reducing systematic bias and discrepancies of pre-election polls the election results. In particular, it discusses these methodological solutions: mix-mode data collection (combination of CATI and CAPI), data weighting focused on specific factors correlated with voting behavior, including preferences of undecided voters, prediction of the respondents' participation in elections, election-polls results time-series smoothing. Based on these analyses the thesis tries to articulate general findings which could be fruitful in discussion about Czech election-polls and their methodology in general. In the thesis, basic and advanced statistic methods (CART, exponential smoothing, etc.) are being used to achieve given research goals. Keywords: election...