Questionnaires by Telephone or Interviews
Ways of Issuing Questionnaires
There are a number of ways that you can issue a questionnaire, with each having their individual advantages and disadvantages.
a) Personal Interviews (face-to-face)
This method involves you (or your staff) to directly ask your questions to people face-to-face by randomly selecting people from, say, a high street or in a shopping centre, etc. You may even decide to target residential areas by doing a door-to-door questionnaire. The interviewer will record the answers to the questions therefore minimising the requirements of those being interviewed: it would be off-putting and result in a reduced chance of co-operation if they had to fill out the form themselves.
Advantages:
- Interviewer can explain questions that may not be understood completely
- Response rate is usually higher than the other methods
- The questionnaire will be completed in full where other methods may return blank responses
- Body language can be monitored
Disadvantages:
- Response rate is usually linked to the skills and attitude of the interviewer (would be an advantage if you have highly skilled interviewers with an enthusiastic and determined attitude)
- Time consuming
- Interviewees have little time to think
- Can be expensive if you use an agency to plan the operation and then collect information
b) Telephone Interviews
Similar to the method above, the interviewer will contact people via a telephone call and ask the questions over the phone. These people may be contacted at random or you may target certain locations, customers, etc if your questionnaire is directed towards specific people or areas. Once again, the interviewer will record the answers to the questions as they ask them over the phone.
Advantages:
- Quick and easy to perform
- Can cover a wide region of the population
- Higher response to postal questionnaires (see c)
Disadvantages:
- People do not often trust telephone interviews
- Questionnaires have to be kept short to maintain interest and co-operation
- Interviewees have little time to think
- Expensive although the expense is usually less than personal interviews
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