Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

(Brent) #1
SURVEY RESEARCH

TABLE 4 Types of Surveys and Their Features

FEATURES TYPE OF SURVEY
Mail
Questionnaire

Telephone
Interview

Face-to-Face
Interview

Web
Survey

Administrative Issues
Cost Cheap Moderate Expensive Cheapest
Speed Slowest Fast Slow to moderate Fastest
Length (number of
questions)


Moderate Short Longest Moderate

Response rate Lowest Moderate Highest Moderate


Research Control
Probes possible No Yes Yes No
Specific respondent No Yes Yes No
Question sequence No Yes Yes Yes
Only one respondent No Yes Yes No
Visual observation No No Yes Yes


Success with Different Questions
Visual aids Limited None Yes Yes
Open-ended questions Limited Limited Yes Yes
Contingency questions Limited Yes Yes Yes
Complex questions Limited Limited Yes Yes
Sensitive questions Some Limited Limited Yes


Sources of Bias
Social desirability No Some Worse No
Interviewer bias No Some Worse No
Respondent’s reading
skill level


Ye s No No Some

we discuss here. Computer-assisted telephone
interviewing (CATI)systems are widely used.^51
When using CATI, the interviewer sits in front of a
computer, which makes the calls. Wearing a headset
and microphone, the interviewer reads the questions

from a computer screen for the specific respondent
called and then enters the answer via the computer
keyboard. The computer program will control which
question next appears and will allow for complex
contingency questions. CATI speeds the process and
reduces interviewer errors. It also eliminates the sep-
arate step of having the interviewer write responses
on paper and then having someone else enter infor-
mation into a computer, and speeds data collection.
Interactive voice response (IVR)includes sev-
eral computer-automated systems available through
phone technology and is widely used in marketing.
IVR has a respondent listen to questions and
response options over the telephone and indicate
responses by touch-tone entry or by voice (the com-
puter uses voice recognition software). IVR may

Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI)
Technique in which the interviewer sits before a com-
puter screen and keyboard, reads questions from the
screen, and enters answers directly into the computer.
Interactive voice response (IVR) A technique in
telephone interviewing in which respondents hear
computer-automated questions and indicate their
responses by touch-tone phone entry or voice-
activated software.
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