Chapter-10:

Survey Research:
Communicating with
Respondents

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Interviews as Interactive Communication

• Interactive Survey Approaches

 Those that allow spontaneous two-way interaction
between the interviewer and the respondent.
 Can be either personal or electronic.
• Noninteractive Media
 Those that do not facilitate two-way communication
and are largely a vehicle by which respondents give
answers to static questions.
 Tradition forms with less flexibility
 Self-administered mail and Internet surveys

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Personal Interviews
• A personal interview is a form of direct
communication in which an interviewer asks
respondents questions face-to-face.
 Versatile and flexible
 Truly interactive

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Advantages of Personal Interviews

Opportunity
for Feedback
High Probing Complex
Participation Answers

Personal
Personal
Props and Interviews
Interviews Length of
Visual Aids Interview

Completeness of
Questionnaire

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Disadvantages of Personal Interviews

Lack
Lackof
of
Interviewer
Interviewer Anonymity
Anonymityof
of
Influence
Influence Respondent
Respondent

Personal
Personal
Interviews
Interviews

Cost
Cost

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Door-to-Door Interviews
• Personal interviews conducted at respondents’
doorsteps in an effort to increase the
participation rate in the survey.
• Callbacks
 Attempts to recontact individuals selected for a
sample who were not available initially.

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Door-to-Door Interview Characteristics
• Speed of data collection: • Degree of interviewer influence
moderate to fast of answer: high
• Geographical flexibility: limited • Supervision of interviewers:
to moderate moderate
• Respondent cooperation: • Anonymity of respondent: low
excellent
• Ease of call back or follow-up:
• Versatility of questioning: quite
difficult
versatile
• Questionnaire length: long • Cost: highest due to travel
costs
• Item nonresponse: low
• Special features: visual
• Possibility of respondent
materials may be shown or
misunderstanding: lowest
demonstrated; extended
probing possible

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Mall Intercept Personal Interview
• Personal interviews conducted in a shopping
mall.
• Interviewers typically intercept shoppers at a
central point within the shopping center or at the
main entrance.

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Mall Intercept Interview Characteristics
• Speed of data collection: fast • Degree of interviewer influence
• Geographical flexibility: of answers: highest
confined, urban bias • Supervision of interviewers:
• Respondent cooperation: moderate to high
moderate to low • Anonymity of respondent: low
• Versatility of questioning: • Ease of call back or follow-up:
extremely versatile difficult
• Questionnaire length: moderate • Cost: Lower than door-to-door
to long
• Special features: taste tests,
• Item nonresponse: medium viewing of TV commercials
• Possibility of respondent possible
misunderstanding: lowest

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Personal Interviews
• Global Considerations
 Variations in willingness to participate
 Sensitivity to interview subject matter
 Beliefs about appropriate business conduct

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Telephone Interviews
• Telephone Interviews
 Personal interviews conducted by telephone.
 The mainstay of commercial survey research.
 “No-call” legislation has limited this capacity.
• Mobile Phone Interviews
 In U.S., no telemarketing can be directed toward
mobile phone numbers.
 Recipient of call is even more likely to be distracted.
 Area codes not necessarily tied to geography.
 Phones have varying abilities.

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Phone Interview Characteristics
• Speed
• Cost
• Absence of face-to-face contact
• Cooperation
• Incentives to respond
• Representative samples
• Callbacks
• Limited duration
• Lack of visual medium

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Types of Telephone Interviews
• Central Location Interviewing
 Conducting interviews from a central location allowing firms to
hire a staff of professional interviewers and to supervise and
control the quality of interviewing more effectively.
• Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
 Allows answers to telephone interviews to be entered directly
into a computer for processing.
• Computerized Voice-Activated Telephone Interview
 Combining computerized telephone dialing and voice-activated
computer messages to allow researchers to conduct telephone
interviews without human interviewers.

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Telephone Interview Recap
• Speed of data collection: very • Supervision of interviewers:
fast high, especially with central
• Geographical flexibility: high location interviewing

• Respondent cooperation: good • Anonymity of respondent:

moderate
• Versatility of questioning:
moderate • Ease of call back or follow-up:
easy
• Questionnaire length: moderate
• Cost: low to moderate
• Item nonresponse: medium
• Special features: fieldwork and
• Possibility of respondent
supervision of data collection
misunderstanding: average
are simplified; quite adaptable
• Degree of interviewer influence to computer technology
of answer: moderate

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 EXHIBIT 10.1 Self-Administered Questionnaires Can Be Either Printed or Electronic

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Mail Questionnaires
• Characteristics of Mail Questionnaires
 Geographical flexibility
 Cost
 Respondent convenience
 Anonymity of respondent
 Absence of interviewer
 Standardized questions
 Time is money
 Length of mail questionnaire

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Self-Administered Questionnaires
• Response Rate
 The number of questionnaires returned or completed
divided by the number of eligible people who were
asked to participate in the survey.
• Factors that Bias the Response Rate
 Persons who will complete questionnaires versus
those persons who will not.
 Person filling out survey is not the intended subject.

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Increasing Response Rates for Mail Surveys
• Cover letter
• Money helps
• Interesting questions
• Follow-ups
• Advance notification
• Survey sponsorship
• Other techniques
• Keying mail questionnaires
with codes

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 EXHIBIT 10.2
A Cover
Letter
Requesting
Participation
in a Survey

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 EXHIBIT 10.3 Plots of Actual Response Patterns for Two Commercial Surveys

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Fax Surveys
• A survey that uses fax machines as a way for
respondents to receive and return
questionnaires.
• Advantages
 Reduce sender’s printing and postage costs
 Is quicker than traditional mail surveys
• Disadvantage
 Only respondents with fax machines who are willing
to exert the extra effort will return questionnaires.

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 E-Mail Surveys
• Surveys distributed through electronic mail.
• Ways to contact respondents:
 Include a questionnaire in the body of an e-mail.
 Distribute questionnaire as an attachment.
 Include a hyperlink within the body of an e-mail.
• Advantages
 Speed of distribution
 Lower distribution and processing costs
 Faster turnaround time
 More flexibility
 Less handling of paper questionnaires
• Disadvantage
 Not all e-mail systems have the same capacity

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Internet Surveys
• A self-administered questionnaire posted on a
Web site.
 Respondents provide answers to questions displayed
online by highlighting a phrase, clicking an icon, or
keying in an answer.

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Internet Survey Characteristics
• Speed and cost • Callbacks
effectiveness • Personalized and flexible
• Visual appeal and questioning
interactivity • Respondent anonymity
• Respondent participation • Response rates
and cooperation • Security concerns
• Representative samples
• Accurate real-time data
capture

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Other Approaches
• Kiosk Surveys
 Placed in high-traffic locations (e.g., airports).

• Mixed-Mode Survey Research

 Employs any combination of survey methods.

• Text-Message Surveys
 May use SMS (short-message service) or MMS
(Multi-Media Service).

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Selecting the Appropriate Survey Approach

• Questions to be answered:
 Is the assistance of an interviewer necessary?
 Are respondents interested in the issues being
investigated?
 Will cooperation be easily attained?
 How quickly is the information needed?
 Will the study require a long and complex
questionnaire?
 How large is the budget?

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Pretesting Survey Instruments
• Pretesting
 Screening procedure that involves a trial run with a
group of respondents to iron out fundamental
problems in the survey design.
• Basic Ways to Pretest:
 Screen the questionnaire with other research
professionals.
 Have the client or the research manager review the
finalized questionnaire.
 Collect data from a small number of respondents.

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Ethical Issues in Survey Research
• Many ethical issues apply to survey research:
 Respondents’ right to privacy
 Use of deception
 Respondents’ right to be informed
 Need for confidentiality
 Need for honesty in collecting data
 Need for objectivity in reporting data

© 2016 Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.