The cost of conducting face-to-face household interviews in a rural, Native American population: The North Carolina Native American cervical cancer prevention project

BACKGROUND. This article focuses on planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating the data collection method used for evaluating a community health education program in a rural setting, the North Carolina Native American Cervical Cancer Prevention Program. METHODS. Evaluation of program effectiveness used face-to face interviews with a randomly selected sample of women from the target population. Selection of a data collection method was based on thorough community and program analysis. Each element of the community's analysis revealed key cultural, environmental, and procedural factors that affected the selection of an appropriate data collection method. RESULTS. Costs per completed interview varied over time, ranging from a low of $48 during the height of survey activity to $243. The average cost per completed interview overall was $113. CONCLUSIONS. Several factors contributed to the overall costs of interviews, including the economy of the community, the number of call-backs made to contact women, and local environmental conditions.