C7 Flashcards
what are interrogative methods? what types are there?
Quant data can be collected by getting people to answer questions. These are prepared to advance and are standardised, structured or semi-structured forms - an interview schedule or questionnaire, sometimes in dairy format.
People answer these in one of two ways;
Self-completion - form must be delivered / given to person who must fill it in and sent back / collected. This can be done by post / internet / in person. You can also place this where your ‘targets’ are likely to find it e.g. customer satisfaction at hotels.
Interviewer administered - either F2F or phone, interviewer records the answers on the questionnaire.
How to decide which interrogative method? What will this depend on?
The option you choose will depend on a number of things:
Study and objectives
Topic / issues under investigation
Reaching right sample
Achieving right numbers
Time and budget available
If you need to see how people do something rather than have them tell you how they do it for example, you may opt for observation over any interrogative method.
If you have a long and relatively complex qnn you may opt for a F2F survey as this approach can sustain longer and more complex interviews.
Sensitive natured issues may be better for a phone interview or online survey as they provide a degree of anonymity and distance that a F2F interview does not.
If sample is hard to reach e.g. sample of businesses execs for example, a telephone, email or postal survey may be the best or only way of contacting them.
If you are working to tight budget you may choose online or postal over F2F (no interviewer cost)
Tight timescales may opt for telephone or interview survey as F2F or postal interviews can have relatively large turnaround times
To decide what method is most suitable for a research problem you should know the sort of evidence you need research to deliver. Once that is known, you can evaluate methods on offer and determine which will be best at delivering that evidence.
Impact of interviewer variance?
Interviewers may react to or interact differently with different respondents, and respondents will react differently to different interviewers. There is evidence to show that appearance, age, gender, social grade, ethnic background, religion and attitude / personality have an impact on the interviewing process and outcome of the interviewer. This is true for phone interviews too - where respondents may come to conclusions on interviewers voice characteristics. To minimise impacts of interviewer variance interviewers are trained to carry out interviews according to instructions provided and to do so in a profissional, courteous and objective way.
What is the role of the interviewer? What skills does this take?
Two jobs to do: contact people who match the sample criteria of the survey and encourage them to take part, and administer the survey. This requires a high level of interpersonal skill, sound understanding of data collection and research processes, including responsibilities under data protection legislation as well as those set out in relevant code of professional conduct e.g. MRS COC.
what is the IQCS?
Set up by MRS to address the issue of quality in fieldwork, now run by an independent legal entity. Any company wishing to join the scheme must meet minimum standards in a number of areas including recruitment, training, quality control, survey administration and office standards. Aim of the scheme is to assure clients that data collected is to acceptable and ethical standards.
are there any accreditations for interviewers?
MRS have an accreditation scheme for interviewers, with aim to set national professional standards for interviewing and to provide recognised qualifications. To become accredited, interviews must complete a training scheme by an accredited trainer. On completion of training the interview is awarded.
What is the job of interviewer briefings?
Interviewers are briefed in detail about requirements of each particular jon. Aim of briefing interviewers on each job is to ensure overall consistency of approach - by making sure that they understand clearly how to administer that particular questionnaire and to address any concerns or questions they may have about it. Client service / field exec / supervisor / area manager will give a briefing, which sometimes involves those commissioning work. Most briefings for telephone interviews occur F2F - mainly due to working from a centralised location. F2F briefings for F2F interviews are also common - though those that include geographically dispersed interviewers and supervisors are less likely, due to cost.
what are street interviews?
Conducted in busy streets, mostly in town centres where there is high pedestrian traffic. Interviewers approach people who seem to fit sampling criteria, if research is being conducted under a quota sample; if a random sample is required the interviewer approaches the nth passer-by and requests an interview. Typically last no longer than 10 minutes as people are unlikely to stand around on the street for longer than that.
what are shopping centre / hall interviews?
Advantages of this method compared to street interviews lies in comfort of environment - protected from weather and traffic free. This allows a slightly longer interview - up to 15 minutes. The layout of the centre may offer interviewing station with tables and chairs which to seat respondent - this is what may be referred to as a hall test, they are loner and would not be feasible in the street and can last up to 30 minutes. This format also allows scope for stimulus material e.g. tasting a product.
As these locations are private property, permission must be obtained in order to conduct fieldwork; a fee is usually payable. When necessary nd relevant interviews can take place in shops.
what issue smust be considered if planning to conduct hall test involving testing food or dirnk?
MRS publishes a checklist of issues needed to address if planning to conduct hall test which involves testing food / drink:
Suitable / hygienic venue
Hall management satisfaction at testing products proposed to test e.g. alcohol in a church
Sufficient space and facilities and access to these e.g. refrigerated units, sufficient plugs for electrical appliances
Required standards of kitchen and whether it has all equipment you require
what are in-home interviews?
Conducted in the home of the respondent or on doorstep. May be used for several reasons:
Recruitment of sample necessary by going door to door to specific addresses e.g. random sampling from electoral register or specific areas of streets identified under geodemographic classification system as containing type of people likely to meet sampling criteria
Home environment is most suitable as necessary to refer to items used in home, or relaxed environment for sensitive topics.
May require interviewer to record observations e.g. brand and model of computer or washing machine - something respondent is unlikely to remember in detail
Allows longer interview - usually 45 minutes to an hour
what are workplace interviews?
Suitable when the subject matter of the interview is related to respondents’ work or workplace. Takes place in an office or suitable meeting room / quiet area. Somewhere with no interruptions.
Weaknesses of F2F data collection?
Relatively expensive and time consuming
Difficult to cover remote or rural locations
Cluster sampling methods, which service to reduce travel time and cost risk introducing sample bias
Representativeness can be put on line due to difficulty of obtaining interviews of higher income areas or reluctant to interview in socially deprived neighbourhoods from a safety POV
Potential respondents may be concerned about safety in socially deprived areas too, opening door letting into home etc
Finding respondents at home or at work at a suitable time can be difficult - mitigation can be performed by making appointments which further adds to cost and time of interview
Interruptions fro other members of household or workforce, particularly presence of someone else in room during interview can impact quality of data
Greater tendency for socially desirable responses in F2F methods
Quality control procedures at greater distance than telephone interviewing, so greater scope for interviewer bias or cheating
What is phone data collection? fixed line / mobile and CATI
Most phone interviewing is conducted form specialist telephone units or centres, which tend to use computer-aided telephone interviewing CATI systems. Multi-country studies can be conducted from a central telephone unit enabling greater control over admin and delivery of the sort of consistency such projects demand. Traditional phone interviews using paper and pencil are still used in small-scale B2B surveys for example. Using centralised facility allows F2F briefings for interviewers to be conducted.
Fixed line phone interviews tend to last 15 to 20 minutes, if the subject area is of interest to respondent this may be longer. Mobile phone interviewers tend to be shorter - 15 to 20 minutes, as people can be under time constraints when using mobile - to do with location, cost of receiving calls or concern about battery. If mobile numbers are randomly generated you will not know anything about location or person that will answer - this takes sufficient planning to manage this, as need to determine whether respondent is eligible to take part, whether they are in a safe environment (eg. not in public space whilst sharing personal data), and not taking part in calls that will cost respondent money.
strengths of phone interviews
Offer greater degree of perceived anonymity than F2F, so useful for sensitive or intimate subjects and reducing social desirability bias
Geographically dispersed sample can be obtain more easy
Many groups of people are accessible due to mobile phones
Telephone survey may reach wider spectrum of respondents e.g. socially deprived areas where interviewers may be reluctant to work or higher income areas where access to homes is difficult
Maybe only way of reaching populations such as business community
Possible to record open-ended questions in full
Greater quality control possible, with interviewers being monitored live rather than retrospectively via backchecking
Relatively easy to monitor interview length and time take for individual questions - this can facilitate dynamic pilot study with questions being amended where relevant,
Faster than F2F interviewing, more questions asked in short period of time with project turnaround times being shorter - therefore more cost effective too
weaknesses of phone interviews
Proportion of households with a fixed line is in decline whilst the proportion of those with mobile phones has increased, as is mobile-only households - demographics of the two are different (mobile, tend to be younger and more likely to be in employment). There are no reliable sampling frames for mobile phone numbers, random digit dialing (RDD) is possible, but runs the risk of finding many non-allocated numbers. There is the issue also of not knowing the location of phone users, which can be problematic if you are trying to use a sample from a specific geographic area. Extensive screening may be required to determine eligibility.
Directories are available for fixed line numbers, but due to decline of usership they no longer provide sufficient coverage
There is also issue of more than one fixed line per household and more than one mobile phone / sim per person
Rise in telemarketing has made people suspicious of bona fide research and has impacted on response rate, as has incidence of telephone answering machine sand voicemail, caller screening
Benefits of social interaction - building rapport with respondents are lost. It can be easier to refuse interview or drop out early and harder for interviewer to encourage respondent to take part
Difficult to include stimulus material but can be overcome by sending material out to respondents in advance of interview
What are self-completion methods of data collection? Under what conditions are they effective?
Most cost-effective way of collecting data - due to no interviewers. Can be administered by post or online or email or web, or handed out in person or left in a place where the target group has access to it. Data on sensitive data where respondents may be too embarrassed to provide answers to the interviewer can be collected.
Self completion surveys are effective method of collecting data if you ensure that:
Nature of research and topic are suited to the method of delivery
Topic relevant and of interest to target population
Suitable way of reaching and achieving response from target population
Qnn is well designed - clear, easy to follow and easy to complete and suitable length for medium. Presented in a professional manner.
what are Techniques to increase response rate
Success lies in encouraging response, on which representativeness of sample relies, depends on all of these. Response rates for self-completion methods tend to be significantly lower than interviewer-administered methods. Many online surveys achieve a response of 10 per cent or less. While match between research topic and population of interest , design of questionnaire or diary are crucial in trying to maximise response rate, there are other techniques or processes that can help. These include personalised covering letter or email, sponsorship, advance or pre-notification of the survey, reminders to complete and return questionnaire, incentives, for postal surveys a return envelope.
What kind of incentives can be given? What are incentives?
Used to encourage response / thank respondents for time taken to complete survey. These can be:
Pre-paid - presented upfront with survey questionnaire
Sent on receipt of completed questionnaire which can be monetary incentives, vouchers and non-monetary e.g. pen, book, copy of research report, entry in prize draw.
