Are Telephone Surveys Suitable for Studying Substance Abuse? Cost, Administration, Coverage and Response Rate Issues

Substance-abuse telephone surveys have become increasingly popular; however, the methodological literature has focused solely on potential disadvantages of the method when compared to face-to-face surveys. Striving for greater balance, this paper examines the potential advantages (lower cost, greater security and privacy, and easier administration) and disadvantages (noncoverage, lower response rates, and lower validity). Existing evidence suggests that the disadvantages typically have a small impact on prevalence estimates. When there is a risk of substantial bias, researchers should employ available techniques for minimizing it. On balance, the telephone survey's advantages appear to outweigh the disadvantages for many research problems, but enhanced designs are needed to realize the method's full potential in this substantive area.