The Elderly Respondent: Experiences from a Large-Scale Survey of the Aged

This article examines the particular advantages and disadvantages associated with interviewing older people. Expected problems included those relating to the physical and mental health status of the elderly, repondent fatigue, the acceptability of particular questions, and the suitability of certain formats. Overall, physical and mental frailty and respondent fatique led to few interviewing difficulties. Elderly respondents were found to be somewhat reticent on traditionally “difficult” questions such as income, but no particular problems were encountered with potentially emotional or threatening topics. The main advantages were those associated with high levels of cooperation and interest and few limitations on the time available to respondents to complete the interview.