The authors discuss their testing efforts to develop and assess a new National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) instrument as part of a multiyear effort to update the existing core survey instrument; the document reports on the large-scale national field and web tests to determine the feasibility of using a self-administered, web-based instrument for the NCVS.
This report describes the large-scale national field test and web test to explore the feasibility of using a self-administered, web-based instrument for the NCVS. It details the methodology and findings from this test of two survey modes. The report examines the performance of an interviewer-administered version of the new NCVS instrument compared to a self administered version. The testing was a part of the NCVS Instrument Redesign and Testing Project, a major multiyear effort to revamp the existing core survey instrument, which was last updated in 1992. The effort had three main goals: modernize the organization and content of the NCVS instrument, increase the quality of information collected and efficiency of the instrument flow, and improve the measurement and classification of crime.