Exploring the impact of mode on key health estimates in the National Health Interview Survey

In an effort to increase response rates and decrease costs, many survey operations have begun to use several modes to collect relevant data. While the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a multipurpose household health survey conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is primarily a face-to-face survey, interviewers also rely on the telephone to complete some interviews. This has raised questions about the quality of resulting data. To address these questions, data from the 2005 NHIS are used to analyze the impact of mode on eight key health indicators.