Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

SURVEY RESEARCH

have some advantages over live interviewers, such as

rapid and automated data collection, no interviewer

reading or recording errors, and high anonymity.

Some IVR interviewers have a live interviewer to

recruit and set up the respondent and then records

the questions following the setup. IVR can be suc-

cessful for very short and very simple surveys.

Disadvantages.IVR has a sharp drop-off rate (as
many as 40 percent not completing the long ques-
tionnaires).^52 Moderately high cost and limited
interview length are also disadvantages of both
CATI and traditional telephone interviews. In addi-
tion, the call may come at an inconvenient time and
respondents without a telephone are impossible to
reach. The use of an interviewer reduces anonymity
but introduces potential interviewer bias. Open-
ended questions are difficult to use, and questions
requiring visual aids are impossible. Interviewers
can note only serious disruptions (e.g., background
noise) and respondent tone of voice (e.g., anger or
flippancy) or hesitancy.
Survey researchers developed telephone inter-
viewing when people had only landline phones.
Increased cell phone use since 2000 has become an
issue. As of 2006, about one in four adults aged 18
to 24 years in the United States lived in cell-phone-
only households and are not covered by current RDD
landline sampling procedures. The cell-phone-only
population is likely to increase, suggesting a grow-
ing need to combine samples that include both cell
phone and landline phone respondents. In compari-
son to landline surveys, cell phone surveys tend to
have lower response rates, higher refusal rates, and
lower rates of turning an initial refusal into partici-
pation. Early studies provide some suggestions for
cell phone interviews such as calling during evening
weekday hours, letting a cell phone ring longer than
a landline, being extra alert to cues that suggest it is
a bad time to do the interview (e.g., the respondent
is operating a motor vehicle), needing to schedule a
callback, and deciding how long to wait before
recontacting the cell phone number.^53

Face-to-Face Interviews

Advantages.Face-to-face interviews have the

highest response rates and permit the longest and

most complex questionnaires. They have all the

advantages of the telephone interview and allow

interviewers to observe the surroundings and to use

nonverbal communication and visual aids. Well-

trained interviewers can ask all types of questions

and can use extensive probes.

Disadvantages.High cost is the biggest disad-

vantage of face-to-face interviews. The training,

travel, supervision, and personnel costs for inter-

views can be high. Interviewer bias is also greatest

in face-to-face interviews. The interviewer’s appear-

ance, tone of voice, question wording, and so forth

may affect the respondent. In addition, interviewer

supervision is lower than for telephone interviews

that supervisors monitor by listening in.^54

A variation on the face-to-face survey with

questions on sensitive issues is CAPI (described

earlier in the chapter). A CAPI interviewer with

a laptop computer is present, and the respondent

completes questions on the laptop. The interviewer

serves to motivate completion and to clarify

questions.

Web Surveys

The public did not have widespread access to the

Internet and e-mail until the end of the 1990s. For

example, in 1994, only 3 percent of the U.S. popu-

lation had e-mail at home or work; by 2007, 62 per-

cent of households had both e-mail and Internet

connections. By 2012, some projections suggest

that 77 percent of households will be connected.

Internet connection rates are higher in other nations,

for example, 97 percent in South Korea, 82 percent

in the Netherlands, 81 percent in Hong King, 79 per-

cent in Canada, and 77 percent in Japan.^55

Advantages.Web-based or e-mail surveys are

very fast and inexpensive; they allow flexible

design and can use visual images and even audio or

video. The two types of Web surveys are static and

interactive. A static Web or e-mail survey is like the

presentation of a page of paper but on the computer

screen. An interactive Web or e-mail survey has

contingency questions and may present different

questions to different respondents based on prior

answers.