Random Digit Dialing: A Sampling Technique for Telephone Surveys

This paper describes an investigation into the efficiency of a random-digit-dialed telephone survey for the collection of health attitude information. Data come from a survey of adults in Oakland County, Michigan, conducted during the 1976–77 swine influenza immunization campaign. Information is presented on the results of dialing to sample telephone numbers, the frequency of nonworking numbers within the sample, problems with numbers that were never answered, and precision of sample estimates. In addition, some rough estimates of cost are presented and compared to survey costs reported in other studies. Findings suggest that random digit dialing is an efficient survey method, both in terms of cost in implementation and sampling precision.