182 15.11 Face-to-Face (138/94) -- Information Strategies for Communicators

182 15.11 Face-to-Face Trained interviewers meet individually with the survey respondents and ask them the survey questions in person - Advantages: - longer and more complex questions can be accommodated - questions that require the respondent to react to visual images can be asked Disadvantages: - labor costs for interviewer training is high - transportation costs for interviewers’ travel to and from the respondents’ locations are very high - respondents are less and less likely to allow strangers into their homes so the completion rate is low Evaluating face-to-face survey data: The following questions are important guides to determining the quality of the firm doing the survey and to the reliability of the information gathered by the survey: - How were the interviewers selected? - Were the interviewers chosen to avoid the bias of race, age, sex or other social factors that might limit respondents’ comfort level in participating? - How was the work of each interviewer checked? - What instructions did the interviewers receive regarding the selection of respondents?