DOUGLAS W. MAYNARD is Professor of Sociology at the University ofWisconsin, Madison. HANNEKE HOUTKOOP-STEENSTRA is Assistant Professor ofLinguistics/Dutch at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. NORA CATE SCHAEFFER is Professor of Sociology at the University ofWisconsin, Madison. JOHANNES VAN DER ZOUWEN is Professor of Social Research Methods atVrije University in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

"...with this volume a hardly discovered area is systematically'scouted' and by doing this the authors take a big step from the'art of asking questions' to a 'science of asking questions.'"(Journal of Official Statistics, June 2003) "...reviews in detail the complex interaction between theinterviewer and the respondent in the context of the surveyinterview." (Population and Development Review, Vol. 29, No.2, June 2003) "...provides a very comprehensive discussion of the topics underconsideration here." (Technometrics, Vol. 45, No. 2, May2003) "Multi-disciplinary approaches to survey interviews arepresented in this collection of papers..." (Reference &Research Book News, May 2002)

• Preface. PART 1: THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONS Standardization and It's Discontents (D.W. Maynard and N.C.Schaeffer). Why Study Inteaction in the Survey Interview?: Response from aSurvey Researcher (J. van der Zouwen). A Collaborative View of Standardized Survey Interviews (M.F.Schober and F.G. Conrad). Conversation with a Purpose--or Conversation? Interaction in theStandardized Interview (N.C. Schaeffer). The Living Text: Written Instructions and Situated Actions inTelephone Surveys (M. Lynch). Survey Inteviews as Talk-in-Interaction (E.A. Schegloff). PART 2: RECRUITMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY INTERVIEW Introductory Interactions in Telephone Surveys and Nonresponse(M.P. Couper and R.M. Groves). Opening and Closing the Gate: The Work of Optimism in RecruitingSurvey Respondents (D.W. Maynard and N.C. Schaeffer). Effects of Introduction in Large-Scale Telephone Survey Interviews(H. Houtkoop-Steenstra and H. van den Bergh). Refusal Conversion and Tailoring (D.W. Maynard and N.C.Schaeffer). PART 3: INTERACTION BETWEEN INTERVIEWER AND RESPONDENT. Questioning Turn Format and Turn-Taking Problems in StandardizedInterviews (H. Houtkoop-Steenstra). Occasions for Intervention: Interactional Resources forComprehension in Standardized Survey Interviews (N.C. Schaeffer andD.W Maynard). Achieving Understanding in the Standardized Survey Interview:Repair Sequences (R.J. Moore and D.W. Maynard). Ad Hoc Inquiries: Two Preferences in the Design of RoutineQuestions in an Open Context. (J. Heritage). Standardization Vs. Rapport: How Interviewers Handle the Laughterof Respondents During Telephone Surveys (D. Lavin and D.W.Maynard). How Uniform Is Standardization? Variation Within and Across SurveyResearch Centers Regarding Protocols for Interviewing (J. Viternaand D.W. Maynard). PART 4: INTERACTION AND SURVEY DATA QUATLITY Transcribing, Coding, and Analyzing Verbal Interaction in SurveyInterviews (W. Dijkstra). Testing Questionnaires Using Interaction Coding (J. van der Zouwenand W.Dijkstra). How Interviewers Make Coding Decisions (T. Hak). The Impact of Technology on Interaction in Computer-AssistedInterviews (M. Fuchs). Appendix 1: Transcribing Conventions. Appendix 2: Transcript for Interview AW01. Author Index. Subject Index.