The 2008 Warren J. Mitofsky Innovators Award goes to Mick P. Couper for demonstrating and advocating the use of paradata by survey researchers as a tool for understanding the behavior of survey respondents. First introduced in a 1998 presentation to the American Statistical Association, analysis of paradata allows researchers to better understand features of the survey situation, interviewer behavior, and the respondent environment, each of which can greatly affect survey quality.
 
In his early work on paradata, Dr. Couper studied behaviors coded from camera recordings of interviews and data collected from trace files recording interviewer keystrokes. The use of paradata has since been expanded to the study of interviewer observations, response latencies, mouse movement data, call record observations, and a host of computer-assisted tracking mechanisms for understanding respondent behavior. In less than a decade, the analysis of paradata has become a standard used throughout the world.
 
His innovation lies in recognizing the vast potential of paradata and showing the research community practical ways to exploit its power. Measures of paradata have been integrated into large-scale scientific surveys including the European Social Survey, the National Election Studies, the National Health Interview Survey, the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, and the General Social Survey.  His work with paradata has facilitated new ways of thinking about survey responses, survey quality, and research design. The Warren J. Mitofsky Innovators Award is named after the recently deceased pollster who was known for innovation in research, such as helping to devise random-digit dialing and exit polling methods.
 
Dr. Couper – who also co-authored the book receiving an award this year – is a Research Professor in the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.  He is also a Research Professor in the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, a consortium of the University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, and Westat.  He received a Ph.D. in sociology from Rhodes University, an M.A. in applied social research from the University of Michigan, and an M.Soc.Sc. from the University of Cape Town.  His current research interests include survey nonresponse, design and implementation of survey data collection, effects of technology on the survey process, and computer-assisted interviewing, including both interviewer-administered (CATI and CAPI) and self-administered (web, audio-CASI, etc.) methods.
 
Contact award winner: Mick Couper