New Methodological Perspectives for Victimization Surveys: The Potentials of Computer-Assisted Telephone Surveys and Some Related Innovations

Abstract

Victimization surveys conducted outside the United States have largely followed the design of the American National Crime Survey (NCS). Due to financial constraints, however, they have consistently used far smaller samples, and they never adopted the panel design (bounding of interviews) of the NCS. Drawing on experiences from the Swiss Crime Survey, it is argued that computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) offer interesting solutions to the methodological difficulties resulting from these constraints. Also CATI may allow for a more precise location of incidents in time and space, and may be more efficient in controlling attrition rate (and interviewer behavior). Taken together, the suggested methodological innovations may result in more valid estimates of victimization rates.