5. Survey Research: Interviews & Questionnaires

Question 1

One of the most significant considerations in survey research is whether to ask a question in an “open” or “closed” format? What are open questions and closed questions?

Answer 1

open questions: can reply however they wish

closed questions: presented with a fixed alternatives to choose an appropriate answer

Question 2

What are the advantages of open questions? (4)

Answer 2

• allow unexpected replies
• can tap into unpromoted knowledge
• Salience (importance) of particular issues for respondents can be examined
• Can generate fixed-choice format answers

Question 3

What are the disadvantages of open questions? (4)

Answer 3

• time consuming
• answers must be coded
• less convenient, may require transcribing
• face inter-interviewer variability

Question 4

What are the advantages of closed questions? (3)

Answer 4

• minimize intra-interviewer variability + inter-interviewer variability
• may make it easier to understand questions bc the answers are provided
• reduces time and response rate issues

Question 5

Poorly worded questions

Interviewer error in asking a question

Misunderstanding on the part of the interviewee

Interviewee lapses in memory

Interviewer error in recording information

Mistakes in entering the data into a computer file

Biases related to the characteristics of interviewers and/or interviewees

Answer 5

Some prominent sources of error in closed-question survey research

Question 6

refers to the inconsistency or variation in the way an interviewer conducts multiple interviews over time. Essentially, it’s the variability that occurs within the same interviewer across different interviews. Factors such as mood, fatigue, or evolving understanding of the topic can contribute to intra-interviewer variability.

Answer 6

Intra-interviewer Variability

Question 7

refers to differences in how different interviewers conduct interviews within the same study. Each interviewer may have their own style, biases, or interpretations, leading to variations in how data are collected. This can impact the reliability and validity of the study findings.

Answer 7

Inter-interviewer variability

Question 8

What are the six types of questions asked in interviews + survey?

Answer 8

1. personal factual questions
2. factual questions about others
3. factual questions about entity or event
4. questions about attitudes
5. questions about beliefs
6. questions about knowledge

Question 9

• keep the research question in mind
• focus on exactly what you want to know
• put yourself in the position of the respondent (how would I answer the question?)
• minimize technical terms and be sure that respondents have knowledge needed to answer the question
• ensure that there is symmetry between a closed question and its answers, that the answers are balanced, and the answers do not overlap
• don’t overstretch people’s memories
• carefully consider “don’t know” options
• consider question order

Answer 9

rules for designing questions

Question 10

What should you avoid for designing questions?

Answer 10

ambiguous terms, long questions, double-barrelled questions, very general questions, leading questions, questions that are actually two questions, questions that include negatives ESP double negatives

Question 11

one of the rules of designing questions is to avoid provoking a “response set.” how does a response set exist?

Answer 11

A response set exists if responses are motivated by something other than the person’s actual feeling about the items. (people answering all ‘yes’ or all ‘no’)

Question 12

What are Vignette questions?

Answer 12

presenting people with one or more scenarios and asking how they would respond. designed to create distance between questions and respondents and hopefully get a more candid response. However, what people say and what they actually do might not align.

Question 13

What is running a pilot study?

Answer 13

Used to test whether individual items or the instrument as a whole operates well and used with open questions to generate closed questions for subsequent studies.

Question 14

Focus groups

Answer 14

more than one person being interviewed at a time - common but not always desirable.

Question 15

What are the strengths of telephone interviews? (4)

Answer 15

• Good for national or governmental research
• Cheaper and quicker to administer, especially where the respondents are geographically spread out
• Easier to supervise and therefore reduce interviewer errors upfront
• Reduced bias arising from “interviewer effect”

Question 16

What are the weaknesses of telephone interviews? (5)

Answer 16

May exclude people

hard to sustain for long periods of time

Cannot collect additional information for understanding respondent’s social conditions

Difficult to be sure that the targeted respondent is the right person

Visual aids cannot be used to assist the interview

Question 17

Programs are used in conducting the interviews, answers are recorded immediately in electronic form

Answer 17

Computer-assisted interviewing (if yes press 1 if no press 2)

Question 18

Online (email) personal interviews

Answer 18

Quality of face-to-face interviewing with efficiency and economy of the Internet, no need to transcribe, but fairly high dropout rate

Question 19

What are four important things you need to know for conducting Interviews:

Answer 19

1. know the schedule
2. prepare the introduction
3. establish rapport (harmonious relationship)
4. Probing (follow a standardized format)

Question 20

occurs if the interviewer suggests a specific answer for the interviewee

Answer 20

Prompting - interviewers should avoid prompting and do everything they can so that respondents provide their own reply

Question 21

Ways to determine the quality of interviewer’s training and the quality of interview (3):

Answer 21

-Check the response rates obtained by individual interviewers
-Examine completed schedules for omissions and proper completion
-Make call-backs on a sample of respondents

Question 22

are essentially structured interviews without an interviewer. They involve filling out a form, which is then returned to the researcher, often by mail. Because the respondent has to read this without the aid of an interviewer, it has to be very clear and easy to follow.

Answer 22

Questionnaires

Question 23

Compared to interviews, questionnaires tend to have (3)…

Answer 23

1. fewer “open” questions
2. have simple designs
3. are short since because long ones can discourage respondent

Question 24

Advantages of questionnaires over structured interviews (3):

Answer 24

1. cheaper, quicker
2. no interviewer effects
3. social desirability bias seems to be reduced

Question 25

Disadvantages of questionnaires over structured interviews (4)

Answer 25

1. researcher cannot explain the question
2. greater risk of missing data b/c of lack of probing
3. difficult to ask a lot of questions
4. difficult to ask “open” questions

Question 26

Designing the questionnaire (4)

Answer 26

1. clear presentation
2. vertical/horizontal closed answers?
3. include clear instructions
4. keep questions and answers together on the same page

Question 27

a form of questionnaire where participants record their feelings, perceptions, and actions. Should be given explicit instructions on how to complete the diary. Used for quantitative/qualitative research.

Answer 27

Researcher-driven diaries

Question 28

Advantages of diary method over interviews and questionnaires:

Answer 28

Good for getting Fairly accurate data about frequency or time spent on behaviours of interest and about sequencing of behaviours

data on sensitive matters

Question 29

disadvantages of diary method over interviews & questionnaires (3)

Answer 29

More expensive than personal interviews

Attrition: People may get tired of filling them in

Details may not be recorded fully enough

Question 30

Since large amounts of quantitative data already exist, raw statistical data is available on various topics. Using someone elses’ data

Answer 30

Secondary Analysis of Survey Data