1. Chapter 6 The Survey Interview

2. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter Summary Purpose and Research Structuring the Interview Survey Questions Selecting Interviewees Selecting and Training Interviewers Conducting Survey Interviews Coding, Tabulation, and Analysis The Respondent in Survey Interviews Summary

3. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Purpose and Research Determining Purpose What types of information do you need? How soon must you complete the survey and compile the results? How much time will you have for each interview? How will you use the information obtained? What are your short- and long-range goals? What are your resources?

4. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Purpose and Research Conducting Research Don’t assume adequate knowledge of a topic. Don’t waste time learning what you already know.

5. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Structuring the Interview Interview Guide and Schedule A detailed guide is easily transformed into a scheduled format. Standardization is essential for surveys.

6. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Structuring the Interview The Opening There are no ice-breaker questions or small talk in surveys. Surveys must be structured so that each interviewee goes through an identical interview process. Write out the opening and require each interviewer to recite it verbatim.

7. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Structuring the Interview The Closing The closing is usually brief and expresses appreciation for the time and effort expended by the interviewee. Do not get defensive or bad-mouth the survey.

8. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Survey Questions Planning Survey Questions Interviewers cannot make on-the-spot adjustments.

9. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Survey Questions Phrasing Questions Every word in every question may influence results. Adapt phrasing to all members of a target population. Be wary of negatively phrased questions.

10. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Survey Questions Sample Question Development Keep recording of answers in mind when phrasing questions. Build in secondary questions for reasons, knowledge level, and qualifiers.

11. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Survey Questions Question Strategies Filter Strategy Repeat Strategy Leaning Question Strategy Shuffle Strategy Chain or Contingency Strategy

12. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Survey Questions Question Scales Interval Scales Evaluative Frequency Numerical Nominal Scales Ordinal Scales Bogardus Social Distance Scale

13. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Survey Questions Question Sequences Question sequences complement question strategies.

14. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Selecting Interviewees Defining the Population Sampling Principles A population is the targeted group of respondents. A sample is a miniature version of the whole. Margin of error determines the worth of a survey. A sample is the actual number of persons interviewed.

15. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Selecting Interviewees Sampling Techniques Random Sampling Table of Random Numbers Skip Interval or Random Digit Stratified Random Sample Sample Point Self-Selection

16. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Selecting and Training Interviewers Number Needed You will most often need several interviewers. Overburdening interviewers will damage the quality of interviews and the data received.

17. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Selecting and Training Interviewers Qualifications Interviewers must follow the rules. If a survey requires probing and adaptation to different interviewees, professionally trained interviewers tend to be more efficient.

18. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Selecting and Training Interviewers Personal Characteristics Interviewer Credibility Interviewee Skepticism Similarity of Interviewer and Interviewee

19. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Selecting and Training Interviewers Training Interviewers Preparing for an Interview Conducting the Interview Asking Questions Receiving Answers Closing the Interview

20. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Conducting Survey Interviews Pretesting the Interview Lack of pretesting invites disaster. Leave nothing unquestioned.

21. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Conducting Survey Interviews Interviewing Through the Internet Advantages High response rate Easier to establish credibility Longer interviews are tolerated Able to target specific audiences Disadvantages Costly Time-consuming Representativeness not guaranteed

22. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Conducting Survey Interviews Interviewing by Telephone Research on Using the Telephone Telephone interviews may be inexpensive in money but costly in results.

23. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Conducting Survey Interviews Interviewing by Telephone Advantages of the Telephone The telephone permits interviews around the world without moving from an office or home, flying or driving long distances, or contracting with people far removed from any control.

24. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Conducting Survey Interviews Interviewing by Telephone Opening the Telephone Interview Opening the telephone interview is critical. The essential role of the voice is missing in Internet interviews.

25. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Conducting Survey Interviews Interviewing by Telephone How to Use the Telephone Do nothing but ask and listen during telephone interviews.

26. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Conducting Survey Interviews Interviewing Through the Internet Advantages Less expensive Faster Target audiences can be narrowly defined More honest answers More detailed answers Disadvantages Limited nonverbal information Reduced response rates Interactional spontaneity lost Possible sample problems

27. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Coding, Tabulation, and Analysis Coding and Tabulation Begin the final phase of the survey by coding all answers that were not pre-coded, usually the open-ended questions. Record answers to open-ended questions with great care.

28. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Coding, Tabulation, and Analysis Analysis Analysis is making sense of your data. Know the limitations of your survey. Be careful in using survey results.

29. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Respondent in Survey Interviews The Opening Understand what a survey is all about before participating.

30. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Respondent in Survey Interviews The Question Phase Listen perceptively. Think before answering.

31. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Summary The survey interview is the most meticulously planned and executed of interviews. The purpose of the survey interview is to establish a solid basis of fact from which to draw conclusions. Survey respondents must determine the nature of the survey and its purposes before taking part.