ERIC Number: EJ1194062
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Nov
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1525-822X
EISSN: N/A
Do Listeners Perceive Interviewers' Attributes from Their Voices and Do Perceptions Differ by Question Type?
Charoenruk, Nuttirudee; Olson, Kristen
Field Methods, v30 n4 p312-328 Nov 2018
As an aural mode, an interviewer's voice is an important part of telephone surveys. A speaker's voice can convey information about his or her trustworthiness and confidence, among other attributes. Consequently, respondents may perceive attributes of interviewers from their voices. We evaluated how five perceived attributes of interviewers (expertise, confidence, reliability, trustworthiness, and easiness to understand) are associated with interviewer voice characteristics (pitch, intonation, speech rate, and disfluencies) and whether this varies by types of question and interviewer characteristics. Overall, listeners perceived interviewers' attributes from their voices. Interviewers with higher pitched voices, moderate intonation, a faster pace, and fewer disfluencies were rated more positively, but these ratings differed somewhat for socially undesirable and complex questions. Reading questions at the recommended speech rate of two words per second leads to negative perceptions of interviewers.
Descriptors: Intonation, Telephone Surveys, Speech Skills, Auditory Perception, Listening Skills, Listening, Correlation, Interviews, Personality Traits, Expertise, Self Esteem, Reliability, Credibility
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: SES1356985; SES1132015