Data Collection February 2, 2011

Objectives By the end of this meeting, participants should be able to: Describe the advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face interviews, telephone surveys, and self-administered questionnaires as data collection tools. Evaluate the usefulness of each of these three for various research questions.

3 Data Collection Methods Face to Face Interviews Telephone Interviews Self-administered Questionnaires (Mail and )

4 Face to Face Interviews General Method Organization hires and trains interviewers Organization contacts potential respondents and informs them of an upcoming interview Interviewers survey respondents either in a home or an office

5 Face to Face Interviews Advantages Ability for respondents to offer a wide variety of respondents (less constrained) Greater comfort for the respondent (particularly in home settings) Ability of the interviewer to build a rapport with the respondent Ability of the interviewer to probe for deeper or clearer answers

6 Face to Face Interviews Advantages (cont.) e)Highest response rate, leading to the best sample f)No obvious selection biases

7 Face to Face Interviews Disadvantages Quality and training of the interviewers plays a major role in success Danger of race of interviewer effects Initial contact is frequently difficult Difficulty in contacting the specific person in the house needed for the survey Difficulty in ensuring that there is no audience

8 Face to Face Interviews Disadvantages (cont.) f)Need to preserve the precise response without making the respondent uncomfortable g)Confidentiality may be harder to assure h)Difficulty with interviewer supervision i)National or even state surveys can be cost prohibitive j)Most importantly: very expensive

9 Telephone Surveys General Method A computer program generates a set of random telephone numbers, generally trying to exclude business numbers A group of interviewers call respondents from a centralized location Many large firms use computer-assisted interviewing (CATI) where a computer program prompts the interviewers with questions and records answers

10 Telephone Surveys Advantages Speed, potentially the fastest of the three broad types Allows for the highest level of supervision CATI systems allow for a very high rate of accuracy in transcribing answers and preparing data Until recent years led to very accurate responses (greater than 60% but declining)

11 Telephone Surveys Advantages (Cont.) e)Good method for getting at sensitive behavior (racist beliefs, drug use, sexual behavior, etc.) f)Can easily generate a national or statewide sample g)Most importantly: inexpensive

12 Telephone Surveys Disadvantages High refusal rates aided by caller id and cell phone usage may lead to a biased sample Even when people do not refuse, interviewer mistrust is common High SES (socio-economic) bias Generally poor interviewing environment

13 Self-administered Questionnaire General Method Surveys may be mailed to respondents, who then fill out the form and mail it back or given to a researcher Surveys may be given to groups of people in an institutional setting (such as a school, large employers, etc.). I.e., reviews of a class.

14 Self-administered Questionnaire General Method (Cont.) c)Respondents may be stopped in a public place and asked to fill out a questionnaire in a public place (i.e., the mall) d)Newer method, people get surveys ed to them or linked in s

15 Self-administered Questionnaire Advantages Potentially inexpensive, there is no need for a number of interviewers although return incentives can cost money Limited intrusion for respondents Lower SES bias of the survey can help reach a hard to reach population Internet or mail surveys can easily generate a national or state sample No race of interviewer effects

16 Self-administered Questionnaires Disadvantages Potentially very low response rate Responses tend to be biased towards lower SES people Surveys need to be relatively short No possibility for follow up questions Internet surveys tend to be biased based on party, gender, age and class

17 For Next Time Read WKB chapter 6 Answer the following questions: – 1. You want to poll a national sample of young voters about their views toward their local House member. What method would you use? Why would this method be superior to other methods? – 2. You want to conduct a regional poll of views towards an environmental issue but you lack a large budget. What method would you use? Why would this method be superior to other methods?