Chapter 11 Direct Data Collection: Surveys and Interviews

1
Chapter 11Direct Data Collection Surveys and
Interviews

• Zina OLeary

2
The Benefits Of Direct Data Collection

• Surveys and interviews are key in social
  science data collection because they allow
  researchers to directly ask what they want, the
  way they want to.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
3
Surveying

• Surveying involves gathering information from
  respondents related to their characteristics,
  attributes, how they live, opinions, etc. through
  administration of a questionnaire.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
4
Survey Types

• Surveys can
• reach a large number of respondents
• generate standardized, quantifiable, empirical
  data - as well as some qualitative data
• and offer confidentiality / anonymity.
• They can be
• descriptive or explanatory
• involve entire populations or samples of
  populations
• capture a moment or map trends
• administered in a number of ways.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
5
Surveys

• Conducting a survey capable of generating
  credible data requires
• thorough planning
• meticulous instrument construction
• comprehensive piloting
• reflexive redevelopment
• deliberate execution
• and appropriate analysis.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
6
Questionnaire Development

• Questionnaire development should begin by
  turning to relevant literature in a search for
  existing instruments that might be drawn upon.
• Questionnaire development begins with concept
  operationalization (turning abstract concepts
  into measurable variables). This often involves
  construction of various scales such as Likert,
  Guttman, and Thurstone.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
7
Questions to Avoid

• Poorly worded questions
• complex terms and language
• ambiguous questions
• double negatives
• double-barreled questions.
• Biased/ leading/or loaded
• ring true statements
• hard to disagree with statements
• leading questions.
• Problematic for the respondent
• recall dependent questions
• offensive questions
• questions with assumed knowledge
• questions with unwarranted assumptions
• questions with socially desirable responses.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
8
Response Categories

• Survey questions can either be open or
  closed
• Open questions - These questions ask respondents
  to construct answers using their own words. Open
  questions can generate rich and candid data, but
  it can be data that is difficult to code and
  analyze.
• Closed questions - These questions force
  respondents to choose from a range of
  predetermined responses, and are generally easy
  to code and statistically analyze.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
9
Response Categories for Closed Questions

• Yes / No - Agree / Disagree
• Do you drink alcohol? Yes/ No
•  Fill in the blank
• How much to you weigh?
  ______________
• Choosing from a list
• What would you drink most often?
• Beer Wine Spirits Mixed
  drinks Cocktails
• Ordering options
• Please place the following drinks in order of
  preference
• Beer Wine Spirits
  Mixed drinks Cocktails
• Likert type scaling
• It is normal for teenagers to binge drink
  
• 1 2 3
  4 5
• disagree unsure agree
  strongly agree strongly disagree
•  

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
10
Additional Considerations in Survey Construction

• Providing clear background information and lucid
  instructions
• Logical organization
• Comprehensive coverage without undue length
• User friendly and aesthetically pleasing layout
  and design.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
11
Interviewing

• Interviewing involves asking respondents a series
  of open-ended questions.
• Interviews can generate both standardized
  quantifiable data, and more in-depth qualitative
  data.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
12
Interview Types

• Interviews can range from
• formal to informal
• structured to unstructured
• can be one on one or involve groups.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
13
Conducting an Interview

• Conducting an interview that can generate
  relevant and credible data requires
• thorough planning
• considered preparation of an interview schedule
  and recording system
• sufficient piloting
• reflexive modification
• the actual interview
• and appropriate analysis.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
14
Conducting an Interview

• Conducting an interview can be an intimidating
  experience that does get easier with practice.
• It is worth remembering that the main
  objective of any interview is to facilitate an
  interviewees ability to answer.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
15
Conducting an Interview

• Two important considerations in interviewing
  are
• Presentation of self
• Preliminaries
• be on time!
• set up and check equipment
• establish rapport
• introduce the study
• explain ethics.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
16
The Questioning Process

• Listen more than talk
•   In order to facilitate an interviewees ability
  to answer you need to
• ease respondents into the interview
• ask strategic questions
• prompt and probe appropriately
• keep it moving
• be true to your role
• wind it down when the time is right.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage
17
Remember

• Your interview should ease the respondent into
  main questions and themes with sensitive
  questions only coming after the interview is in
  full swing.
• The questions you ask should be ones that
  facilitate rich answers. You will also need to
  consider what means you will use to capture these
  answers.
• As an interviewer you will need to be true to the
  researcher role and manage your subjectivities at
  all times.

Zina OLeary (2009) The Essential Guide to Doing
Your Research Project. London Sage