4 - Survey Research, Structured Interviews, and Questionaires

Question 1

prominent sources of error

Answer 1

• poorly worded questions
• interviewer error in asking question
• interviewee misunderstanding question
• interviewer lapses in memory
• interviewer error in recording answer
• mistakes entering data into computer
• bias caused by innate characteristics of interview(er/ee)
• intra-interviewer variability
• inter-interviewer variability

Question 2

advantages of phone surveys

Answer 2

• cheaper and quicker
• easier to supervise
• confidentiality is not as much of an obstacle
• reduces bias because interviewer and interviewee can’t see each other

Question 3

disadvantages of phone surveys

Answer 3

• can only reach those with listed phone number
• hard to communicate with hearing impaired
• cannot be sustained for long times (

Question 4

advantages and disadvantages of computer assisted interviewing

Answer 4

• good for filter questions
• good for randomizing order
• loss of sponteneity
• lack of rapport/commitment/motivation

Question 5

research driven diaries

Answer 5

record of feelings/actions shortly after they occue

Question 6

advantages and disadvantages of research driven diaries

Answer 6

• accurate data
• expensive
• attrition
• details may not be recorded quickly enough

Question 7

advantages of questionnaires

Answer 7

• cheaper
• quick
• easier
• absence of interviewer effects

Question 8

disadvantages of questionnaires

Answer 8

• cannot explain question
• greater risk of missing data
• cannot probe
• difficult to ask a lot of questions
• questionnaire can be read as a whole
• cannot verify who took the survey

Question 9

problems with respondents

Answer 9

• acquiescence (agreeing just to please the interviewer, ex: bodychecking should be banned from hockey)
• social desirability
• laziness/boredom