Verbal and Paralinguistic Behaviors in Cognitive Assessments in a Survey Interview

Survey researchers have examined the interaction between interviewers and respondents for behavioral evidence of difficulties with the survey task or measurement error or both. Using detailed coding of interaction during cognitive assessments conducted by telephone in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we examine the relationships between behaviors by the respondent and performance on a letter fluency task designed to measure verbal semantic memory and a digit ordering task designed to measure fluid intelligence and working memory span. We find that longer response latencies are associated with poorer performance on the letter fluency task but with better performance on the digit ordering task. “Don’t know” answers are unrelated to success in the letter fluency task but are associated with poorer performance on the digit ordering task. Results for other behaviors are more complex and less conclusive.