Gathering Complete Response from Mexican‐Americans by Personal Interview

To investigate the quality of response to the personal interview a survey was undertaken among Mexican‐American migrant parents and children. These representative samples were used to determine how complete the response would be to the interview in terms of sample mortality, item nonresponse, and the detail given to open‐ended items. Differences in respondent characteristics and the type of item were considered. These data indicate the serious problems which may result from utilizing interview results in social action research projects. Significant differences exist in the completeness of response given to demographic as opposed to perceptual items. Differences also exist depending upon the characteristics of the respondent. Implications of the results for social action research projects and future research are discussed.