Strategies to secure compliance for a mall intercept interview

Subjects in a shopping mall were approached with a request to participate in a survey. Half the subjects were touched and gazed at by interviewers and the other half were not. These nonverbal techniques increased compliance to participate in the interviewing task and somewhat decreased respondents' perceived burden. The touch and no-touch groups did not differ in response quality, apparent response bias, or volunteer bias. Compliance was related to the gender of the interviewer but not related to that of the respondent. Implications for mall intercept surveys are discussed.