Research Professor, Survey Research Center, Program Director, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, Professor of Psychology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Information, School of Information
Biography
Dr. Conrad is a survey methodologist whose recent work has focused on respondents’ understanding of survey questions. He also studies biases in respondents’ judgments about the frequency of their behaviors, the effect of automatic progress feedback on respondents’ willingness to continue filling out a questionnaire, and the decision to participate in a survey among potential respondents.
Video Communication Technologies in Survey Data CollectionFunded Research
Publications
- Lee, Sunghee, Conrad, Frederick G, Davis, Rachel E, Johnson, Timothy P, Resnicow, Ken , Thrasher, James F, Mesa, Anna , Peterson, Karen E. 2020. The Influence of Item Characteristics on Acquiescence among Latino Survey Respondents. Field Methods 32(1):3-22.
- Michael F. Schober, Conrad, Frederick G, Antoun, Christopher, Alison W. Bowers, Hupp, Andrew L, H. Yanna Yan, Conrad, Frederick G, Antoun, Christopher, Alison W. Bowers, Hupp, Andrew L, H. Yanna Yan. 2020. Interacting with Interviewers in Text and Voice Interviews on Smartphones. Interviewer Effects from a Total Survey Error Perspective :179-190.
- Antoun, Christopher, Conrad, Frederick G, Couper, Mick P, West, Brady Thomas. 2019. Simultaneous estimation of multiple sources of error in a smartphone-based survey. Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology 7(1):93-117.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Corey, Jason , Goldstein, Samantha , Ostrow, Joseph , Sadowsky, Michael . 2019. Extreme re-listening: Songs people love . . . and continue to love. Psychology of Music 47(2):157-172.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Liu, Mingnan . 2019. Where Should I Start? On Default Values for Slider Questions in Web Surveys. Social Science Computer Review 37(2):248-269.
- Couper, Mick P, Conrad, Frederick G, Geary, Rebecca S, Erens, Bob , Copas, Andrew J, Burkill, Sarah , Sonnenberg, Pam , Mercer, Catherine H. 2019. Measuring sexual behaviours and attitudes in hard-to-reach groups. A comparison of a non-probability web survey with a national probability sample survey. Survey Methods: Insights from the Field (SMIF)
- Conrad, Frederick G, Kreuter, Frauke, Sun, Hanyu . 2019. The Relationship between Interviewer-Respondent Rapport and Data Quality. Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology
- West, Brady Thomas, Conrad, Frederick G, Kreuter, Frauke, Mittereder, Felicitas . 2018. Can conversational interviewing improve survey response quality without increasing interviewer effects?. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society) 181(1):181-203.
- West, Brady Thomas, Kreuter, Frauke, Conrad, Frederick G, Durow, Jennifer R., Mittereder, Felicitas . 2018. Interviewer-respondent Interactions in Conversational and Standardized Interviewing. Field Methods 30(1):3-21.
- West, Brady Thomas, Conrad, Frederick G, Kreuter, Frauke, Mittereder, Felicitas . 2018. Nonresponse and Measurement Error Variance among Interviewers in Standardized and Conversational Interviewing. Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology 6(3):335-359.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Allum, Nick , Wenz, Alexander . 2018. Consequences of mid-stream mode-switching in a panel survey. Survey Research Methods 12(1)
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F, Suessbrick, Anna L. 2018. When Do Misunderstandings Matter? Evidence From Survey Interviews About Smoking. Topics in Cognitive Science 10(2):452-484.
- Pasek, Josh, Conrad, Frederick G, Yan, H Y, Newport, Frank , Marken, Stephanie . 2018. The Stability of Economic Correlations over Time: Identifying Conditions under Which Survey Tracking Polls and Twitter Sentiment Yield Similar Conclusions. Public opinion quarterly 82(3):470-492.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Zhang, Chan . 2018. Intervening to Reduce Satisficing Behaviors in Web Surveys: Evidence From Two Experiments on How It Works. Social Science Computer Review 36(1):57-81.
- Kreuter, Frauke, Conrad, Frederick G, Horwitz, Rachel . 2017. Using Mouse Movements to Predict Web Survey Response Difficulty. Social Science Computer Review 35(3)
- Conrad, Frederick G. 2017. Effects of Mobile versus PC Web on Survey Response QualityA Crossover Experiment in a Probability Web Panel. Public opinion quarterly 81:280-306.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Hupp, Andrew L, Schober, Michael F, Yan, H Yanna. 2017. Text Interviews on Mobile Devices. Total Survey Error in Practice :299-318.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Hupp, Andrew L, Schober, Michael F, Yan, H Y, Johnston, Michael , Ehlen, Patrick , Vickers, Lucas , Zhang, Chan . 2017. Respondent mode choice in a smartphone survey. Public opinion quarterly 81:307-337.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Zhang, Chan . 2017. Reducing speeding in web surveys by providing immediate feedback. Survey Research Methods 11(1):45-61.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Sun, Hanyu . 2017. Examples in Open-Ended Survey Questions. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 29(4):690-702.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Zhang, Chan , Schober, Michael F. 2016. Comparisons of Online Recruitment Strategies for Convenience Samples: Craigslist, Google AdWords, Facebook, and Amazon Mechanical Turk. Field Methods 28(3):231-246.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Burkill, Sarah , Copas, Andrew , Clifton, Soazig , Prah, Philip , Datta, Jessica , Wellings, Kaye , Johnson, Anne M, Erens, Bob . 2016. Using the Web to Collect Data on Sensitive Behaviours: A Study Looking at Mode Effects on the British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. Plos One 11:e0147983.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Sakshaug, Joseph Walter. 2016. Classifying Open-Ended Reports: Factors Affecting the Reliability of Occupation Codes. Journal of Official Statistics 32(1):75-92.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Liu, Mingnan . 2016. An experiment testing six formats of 101-point rating scales. Computers in Human Behavior 55(Part A):364371.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Lee, Sunghee, Liu, Mingnan . 2016. Comparing acquiescent and extreme response styles in face-to-face and web surveys. Quality & Quantity
- Pasek, Josh, Guggenheim, Lauren, Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F, Lampe, Cliff . 2016. Social Media Analyses for Social Measurement. Public opinion quarterly 80(1):180-211.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Orlowski, Rachel, Schober, Michael F, Jans, Matt , Nielsen, Daniel , Levenstein, Rachel . 2015. Comprehension and engagement in survey interviews with virtual agents. Frontiers in Psychology 6:1578.
- Lee, Sunghee, Conrad, Frederick G, Liu, Mingnan . 2015. Comparing Extreme Response Styles between Agree-Disagree and Item-Specific Scales. Public opinion quarterly 79(4):952-975.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Hupp, Andrew L, Johnston, Matthew, Schober, M F, Antoun, C , Ehlen, P , Fail, S , Vickers, L , Yan, H Y, Zhang, C . 2015. Precision and Disclosure in Text and Voice Interviews on Smartphones. PloS one 10:e0128337.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 2015. Improving Social Measurement by Understanding Interaction in Survey Interviews. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences 2(1):211-219.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F, Schwartz, Norbert . 2014. Pragmatic Processes in Survey Interviewing. The Oxford Handbook of Language and Social Psychology :1-20.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Erens, B , Burkill, S , Clifton, S , Tanton, C , Phelps, A , Datta, J , Mercer, C H, Sonnenberg, P , Prah, P , Mitchell, K R, Wellings, K , Johnson, A M, Copas, A J. 2014. Nonprobability Web surveys to measure sexual behaviors and attitudes in the general population: a comparison with a probability sample interview survey. Journal of medical Internet research 16:e276.
- Freedman, Vicki A, Conrad, Frederick G, Schwarz, Norbert, Stafford, Frank P., Cornman, J . 2014. Does Time Fly When You Are Having Fun? A Day Reconstruction Method Analysis. Journal of happiness studies 15(3):639-655.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Ye, Cong . 2014. The Effects of Providing Examples in Survey Questions. Public opinion quarterly 78:100-125.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Jose Benki, Kreuter, Frauke, Groves, Robert M., Broome, Jessica S, Vannette, David , McClain, Colleen . 2013. Interviewer speech and the success of survey invitations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A: Statistics in Society 176(1):191-210.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Zhang, Chan . 2013. The Design of Grids in Web Surveys. Social Science Computer Review 31(3):322-345.
- Freedman, Vicki A, Conrad, Frederick G, Broome, J , Cornman, J C. 2013. Interviewer and Respondent Interactions and Quality Assessments in a Time Diary Study. Electronic international journal of time use research 10(1):55-75.
- Freedman, Vicki A, Schwarz, Norbert, Conrad, Frederick G, Stafford, Frank P.. 2013. Measuring Time Use of Older Couples: Lessons from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Field Methods 25(4):405-422.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Reichert, Heidi Ann, Lind, Laura H, Schober, Michael F. 2013. Why do survey respondents disclose more when computers ask the questions?. Public opinion quarterly 77(4):888-935.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger. 2013. The Science of Web Surveys. 1
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger. 2013. "Up Means Good": The Effect of Screen Position on Evaluative Ratings in Web Surveys. Public opinion quarterly 77(S1):69-88.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Zhang, Chan . 2013. Speeding in Web Surveys: The tendency to answer very fast and its association with straightlining. Survey Research Methods 8(2):127-135.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Lee, Pearl, Brown, N R, Vanderveen, S A. 2012. Historically-defined autobiographical periods: Their origins and implications. Understanding Autobiographical Memory: Theories and Approaches 1st
- Freedman, Vicki A, Conrad, Frederick G, Schwarz, Norbert, Stafford, Frank P., Cornman, Jennifer C. 2012. Assessing Time Diary Quality for Older Couples: An Analysis of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics' Disability and Use of Time (DUST) Supplement. Annals of economics and statistics 105:271-289. PMCID: PMC3613756.
- Freedman, Vicki A, Schwarz, Norbert, Conrad, Frederick G, Stafford, Frank P., Cornman, Jennifer C. 2012. Disability, participation, and subjective wellbeing among older couples. Part Special Issue: Men, masculinities and suicidal behaviour 74(4):588-596.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F, Dijkstra, Wil , Ongena, Yfke P. 2012. Disfluencies and Gaze Aversion in Unreliable Responses to Survey Questions. Journal of Official Statistics 28(4):555-582.
- Freedman, Vicki A, Frank P. Stafford, Conrad, Frederick G, Schwarz, Norbert, Jennifer Cornman C. 2012. Assessing Time Diary Quality for Older Couples: An Analysis of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ Disability and Use of Time (DUST) Supplement. Annals of economics and statistics 105:271-289. PMCID: PMC3613756.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Blair, Johnny . 2011. Sample Size for Cognitive Interview Pretesting. Public opinion quarterly 75(4):636-658.
- Conrad, Frederick G. 2011. Response 2 to Miller's Chapter: Cognitive Interviewing. Question Evaluation Methods :93-102.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Kennedy, C . 2011. Designing Input Fields for Non-Narrative Open-Ended Responses in Web Surveys. Journal of Official Statistics 27(1):65-85. PMCID: PMC3570266.
- Caldwell, Cleopatra Howard, Conrad, Frederick G, Houle, Christy , Joseph, Christine , Parker, Edith , Clark, Noreen . 2011. Congruence between Urban Adolescent and Caregiver Responses to Questions about the Adolescent's Asthma. Journal of Urban Health 88(1):30-40.
- Yan, Ting, Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger. 2011. Should I Stay or Should I go: The Effects of Progress Feedback, Promised Task Duration, and Length of Questionnaire on Completing Web Surveys. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 23(2):131-147.
- Christy Houle, Christine Joseph, Caldwell, Cleopatra Howard, Conrad, Frederick G, Edith Parker, Noreen Clark. 2011. Congruence between Urban Adolescent and Caregiver Responses to Questions about the Adolescent’s Asthma. Journal of Urban Health 88(1):30-40.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Peytchev, Andrey A.. 2010. The impact of progress indicators on task completion. Modelling user experience - An agenda for research and practice 22(5):417-427.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Singer, Eleanor, Groves, Robert M.. 2010. Experimental Studies of Disclosure Risk, Disclosure Harm, Topic Sensitivity, and Survey Participation. Journal of Official Statistics 26(2):287-300.
- Traugott, Michael W, Conrad, Frederick G, Hanmer, Michael J, Park, Won-Ho , Niemi, Richard G, Herrnson, Paul S, Bederson, Benjamin B. 2010. Losing Fewer Votes: The Impact of Changing Voting Systems on Residual Votes. Political Research Quarterly 63(1):129-142.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Peytchev, Andrey A., Tourangeau, Roger. 2010. Increasing Respondents' Use of Definitions in Web Surveys. Journal of Official Statistics 26(4):633-650. PMCID: PMC3570267.
- Caldwell, Cleopatra Howard, Conrad, Frederick G, Houle, C R, Joiner, T A, Parker, E A, Clark, N M. 2010. Blowing the Whistle: What do African American Adolescents with Asthma and Their Caregivers Understand by "Wheeze?". Journal of Asthma 47(1):26-32.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Brown, Norman R, Lee, Peter J, Krslak, Mirna , G.B. Hansen, Tia , Havelka, Jelena , Reddon, John R. 2009. Research Report: Living in History: How War, Terrorism, and Natural Disaster Affect the Organization of Autobiographical Memory. Psychological Science 20(4):399-405.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Traugott, Michael W, Bederson, Benjamin B, Lewis, Brian , Peytcheva, Emilia , Hanmer, Michael J, Herrnson, Paul S, Niemi, Richard G. 2009. Electronic voting eliminates hanging chads but introduces new usability challenges. International journal of human-computer studies 67(1):111-124.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Blair, Johnny . 2009. Sources of Error in Cognitive Interviews. Public opinion quarterly 73(1):32-55.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Rips, Lance J, Fricker, S S. 2009. Seam effects in quantitative responses. Journal of Official Statistics 25(3):339-361.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 2008. Envisioning the survey interview of the future. Wiley series in survey methodology :298.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 2008. New frontiers in standardized survey interviewing. Handbook of emergent methods :173.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F, Dijkstra, W . 2008. Cues of communication difficulty in telephone interviews. Advances in telephone survey methodology :212.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Singer, Eleanor, Groves, Robert M.. 2008. Risk of Disclosure, Perceptions of Risk, and Concerns about Privacy and Confidentiality as Factors in Survey Participation. Journal of official statistics 24(2):255-275.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Galesic, Mirta . 2008. Eye-Tracking Data. Public opinion quarterly 72(5):892-913.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Traugott, Michael W, Herrnson, Paul S, Niemi, R G, Hammer, M J, Bederson, B B. 2008. Voting technology : the not-so-simple act of casting a ballot. :215.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Traugott, Michael W, Herrnson, Paul S, Niemi, Richard G, Hanmer, Michael J, Francia, Peter L, Bederson, Benjamin B. 2008. Voters' Evaluations of Electronic Voting Systems: Results From a Usability Field Study. American Politics Research 36(4):580-611.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 2008. Survey interviews and new communication technologies. Envisioning the survey interview of the future
- Conrad, Frederick G, Bruce, Tonn E. 2007. Thinking about the future: A psychological analysis. Social behavior and personality 35(7):889-902.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F, Coiner, Tania . 2007. Bringing features of human dialogue to web surveys. Applied Cognitive Psychology 21(2):165-187.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger. 2007. Visual Context Effects in Web Surveys. Public opinion quarterly 71(4):623-634.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Ehlen, Patrick , Schober, Michael F. 2007. Modeling Speech Disfluency to Predict Conceptual Misalignment in Speech Survey Interfaces. Discourse Processes 44(3):245-265.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger. 2007. Color, Labels, and Interpretive Heuristics for Response Scales. Public opinion quarterly 71(1):91-112.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Peytchev, Andrey A.. 2006. Use and non-use of clarification features in web surveys. Journal of Official Statistics 22(2):245-269.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Singer, Eleanor. 2006. Evaluating the effectiveness of visual analog scales - A web experiment. Social Science Computer Review 24(2):227-245.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tonn, Bruce , Hemrick, Angela . 2006. Cognitive representations of the future: Survey results. Futures 38(7):810-829.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Lee, Sunghee, Tourangeau, Roger, Arens, Zachary , Fricker, Scott S, Smith, Elisha . 2006. Everyday Concepts and Classification Errors: Judgments of Disability and Residence. Journal of official statistics 22(3):385-418.
- Conrad, Frederick G. 2005. Standardized interviewing and alternatives. Polling America: An Encyclopedia of Public Opinion :774-777.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 2005. Promoting uniform question understanding in today's and tomorrow's surveys. Journal of Official Statistics 21(2):215-231.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Traugott, Michael W, Herrnson, P S, Bederson, B B, Lee, B , Francia, P L, Sherman, R M, Niemi, R G. 2005. Early Appraisals of Electronic Voting. Social Science Computer Review 23:274-292.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Blair, John D. 2004. Aspects of data quality in cognitive interviews: the case of verbal reports. Questionnaire Development, Evaluation and Testing Methods 67-88
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger, Crawford, Scott D. 2004. What They See Is What We Get - Response Options for Web Surveys. Social Science Computer Review 22(1):111-127.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F, Fricker, Scott S. 2004. Misunderstanding Standardized Language in Research Interviews. Applied Cognitive Psychology 18:169-188.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tourangeau, Roger. 2004. Spacing, Position, and Order - Interpretive Heuristics for Visual Features of Survey Questions. Public Opinion Quarterly 68(3):368-393.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Brown, Norman R, Dashen, M . 2003. Estimating the Frequency of Events From Unnatural Categories. Memory & Cognition 31(4):552-562.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Rips, Lance J, Fricker, Scott S. 2003. Straightening the Seam Effect in Panel Surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly 67(4):522-554.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 2003. Does conversational interviewing reduce survey measurement error?. Interviewing, Vol 1
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tonn, Bruce . 2003. A technique for characterizing the attributes of hard-to-price products. Field Methods 15(2):202-217.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Bosley, J J. 2002. Usability testing of data access tools. Usability Evaluation and Interface Design: Cognitive Engineering, Intelligent Agents and Virtual Reality :978-982.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 2002. A collaborative view of standardized survey interviews. Standardization and Tacit Knowledge: Interaction and Practice in the Survey Interview :67-94.
- Conrad, Frederick G. 2001. Review of "The Science of Self-Report: Implications for Research and Practice". Journal of Official Statistics 17(3):436-439.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 2000. Clarifying question meaning in a household telephone survey. Public opinion quarterly 64(1):1.
- Conrad, Frederick G. 1999. Customizing survey procedures to reduce measurement error. Cognition and survey research :301-317.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Bosley, J J, Uglow, D A. 1998. Pen CASIC: Design and usability. Computer assisted survey information collection :521-541.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Brown, Norman R, Cashman, Erin R. 1998. Strategies for Estimating Behavioural Frequency in Survey Interviews. Memory 6(4):339-366.
- Conrad, Frederick G. 1997. Measuring consumption and consuming measurement: The challenge of studying consumers from a federal perspective. Advances in consumer research, Vol. 24 :330-332.
- Conrad, Frederick G. 1997. Using expert systems to model and improve survey classification processes. Survey measurement and process quality :393-414.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Payne, David G. 1997. Intersections in basic and applied memory research. International Conference on Practical Aspects of Memory ; (3rd :; 1994 :; University of Maryland)
- Conrad, Frederick G, Payne, David G, Hager, D R. 1997. Basic and applied memory research: Empirical, theoretical and metatheoretical issues. Intersections in basic and applied memory research
- Conrad, Frederick G, Schober, Michael F. 1997. Does Conversational Interviewing Reduce Survey Measurement Error?. Public opinion quarterly 61(4):576-602.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Brown, Norman R. 1996. Estimating frequency: A multiple strategy perspective. Basic and applied memory research: Practical applications :166-179.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tucker, N C. 1996. How has cognitive psychology affected survey methodology. Amstat News (March):29-31.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Tucker, N C. 1996. What does cognitive psychology offer survey methodology. Amstat News January:27-29.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Levi, Michael D. 1996. A heuristic evaluation of a World Wide Web prototype. interactions 3(4):50-61.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Anderson, John R, Corbett, Albert T. 1993. The LISP tutuor and skill acquisition. Rules of the mind :143-164.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Anderson, John R, Corbett, Albert T, Fincham, J M, Hoffman, D , Wu, Q . 1993. Computer programming and transfer. Rules of the mind :205-233.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Rips, Lance J. 1990. Parts of Activities: Reply to Fellbaum and Miller (1990). Psychological review 97(4):571.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Anderson, John R, Corbett, Albert T. 1989. Skill acquisition and the LISP tutor. Cognitive Science 13(4):467-505.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Rips, Lance J. 1989. Folk Psychology of Mental Activities. Psychological review 96(2):187.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Rips, Lance J. 1986. Conceptual combination and the given/new distinction. Journal of Memory and Language 25(3):255-278.
- Conrad, Frederick G, Rips, Lance J. 1983. Individual differences in deduction. Cognition and Brain Theory 6:259-285.