survey techniques

Stephen Lattimore
Ed Shawcross
Ellie Hendrick
Lizzie Chisholm
Jessica Magaye
SURVEY TECHNIQUES

 Survey and quantitative observation techniques vital in descriptive
research designs.
 Examples being: telephone interviews, street interviews, computer –
assisted telephone/personal interviews, personal in-home or office
interviews, street interviews, postal interviews, mail panels, email and
internet surveys.
OVERVIEW

SURVEY TECHNIQUES
Forms of administering questions and receiving results:
 Verbally
 Writing
 Via a computer
Structured data collection – use of a formal questionnaire that presents questions in a
prearranged order.

PROS AND CONS - SURVEY TECHNIQUES
Pros Cons
Simple to administer Respondents may be unwilling to give
desired information
Data consistent Wording of questions not easy
Reduced variability within results Surveys with closed-ended questions may
have a lower validity rate than other question
types.
Data can be easily analysis Wording of questions not easy
A broad range of data can be collected (e.g.,
attitudes, opinions, beliefs, values, behavior,
factual)
Data errors due to question non-responses
may exist
Cost-effective, but cost depends on survey
mode
Survey question answer options could lead to
unclear data because certain answer options
may be interpreted differently by respondents
Can be administered remotely via
online, mobile devices, mail, email, kiosk, or
telephone.
Customized surveys can run the risk of
containing certain types of errors

For major models for survey questionnaires:
 Telephone interviews
 Personal interviews
 Mail interviews
 Electronic interviews
SURVEY METHOD

 May be categorised as in-home, in-office, street or computer-assisted
 They constitute around 31% of the worldwide total spend on research
methods.
 Sweden : 6%
 Russia: 65%
PERSONAL INTERVIEWS

 Respondents are interviewed face to face in their homes or in their
workplace.
 Personal in home interviews are used because of the reassurances of
quality of the interview process and the nature of the questions that are
being administered.
 Recently the use of personal in-home interviews has declined due to their
high cost.
PERSONAL IN-HOME AND IN-OFFICE
INTERVIEWS

INTERVIEWS

Omnibus survey:
A distinctive form of survey that serves the needs of a syndicated group:
targets particular types of respondents, using demographics
With that target group of respondents, a core set of questions can be asked,
with other questions added as syndicate members wish.
In-office research:
used extensively in business-to-business research to research subjects
which cannot be effectively interviewed by telephone or mail
INTERVIEWS

 Respondents intercepted whilst in town centres or shopping centre
 Advantage: more efficient for the respondent to come to the interviewer
than for the interviewer to go to the respondent.
 May be questioned there and then in the street or taken to a specific test
facility.
 Street interviews can be used to test merchandising ideas,
advertisements and other forms of marketing communications.
STREET INTERVIEWS

 The respondent sits in front of computer terminal and answers a
questionnaire on the screen by using keyboard or a mouse
 CAPI has been classified as a personal interview techniques there is
usually a host to help and guide the respondent
 Used to collect data at test facilities from street interviews, product
clinics, conferences and trade shows
 CAPI is a major development for marketers, especially in financial
services. As the respondent answers the questions, latter questions are
filtered out, in accordance with those previously answered
COMPUTER-ASSISTED PERSONAL INTERVIEWS
(CAPI)

Email V. Internet
Together, they constitute to 11% of the worldwide total spend on research
methods. However can range a lot from Italy at 1% and Australia at 20%.
ELECTRONIC SURVEYS

 Use of ASCII
 Can be responded to and read by respondents with or without internet
access
 Closed/open ended answers in designated spaces then click ‘reply’
 Responses are data entered and tabulated in the manner of a traditional
mail survey
 Although, program can be written that interprets the emailed responses
and reads the answers directly into compatible format
EMAIL

 Can appear dry and uninteresting
 Questionnaires cannot utilise programmed skip patterns, logic checks or
randomisation
 Limited intelligence of ASCII text cannot keep a respondent from choosing
the wrong amount of answers etc
 Skipping questions must appear explicitly
 These factors can reduce quality of data therefore can require mush post-
survey data cleaning
 Problems in locating accurate and current email addresses
 Questionnaires may not reach respondents due to spam protection
software
PROS AND CONS - EMAILS

 Use hypertext markup language (HTML)
 Surveys can be posted on website – respondents recruited online from
potential respondent databases maintained by a marketing research firm
 Participants asked to go to specific web location
 Every all or every x person are allowed to complete the survey
 Several advantages over email: HTML V ASCII
 Survey Stimuli can be added such as graphs and tables
 Data will require some processing before it can be tabulated and used in
statistical package
INTERNET

Pros Cons
Speed Sampling Frames
Quality of data Access to the web
Interviewer bias removed Technical problems
Cost
Contacting certain target groups
PROS AND CONS - INTERNET

 Not all survey techniques are appropriate for a given situation
 Comparative evaluation of survey techniques must be carried out to to
determine which techniques are most appropriate
 Evaluation of techniques through the consideration of 16 different factors
A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF SURVEY
TECHNIQUES

THE 16 SURVEY FACTORS
1) Flexibility of Data Collection*
2) Diversity of Questions
3) Use of Physical Stimuli
4) Sample Control
5) Control of Data Collection
Environment
6) Control of Field Force
7) Quantity of Data
8) Response Rate*
9) Perceived Response Anonymity
10) Social Desirability*
11) Obtaining Sensitive Information
12) Potential for Interviewer Bias
13) Potential to Probe Respondents
14) Potential to Build Rapport
15) Speed*
16) Cost*

Types of Telephone Interview
 Traditional
 Computer Assisted
Traditional
 Involves ringing a sample of respondents and asking a series of questions.
 Interviewer records all results on a paper questionnaire
Advantages
 From one location a large geographical location can be covered including international markets.
Disadvantages
 Telephone Interviewers have to write down all answers to any open ended questions resulting in a large
amount of data
 Interviewers have to find appropriate questions for some types of respondents, therefore taking up a large
amount of time.
Conclusion
 Today the traditional method of telephone interview is used very rarely and CATI is instead used.
TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS

Method
 Uses a computerised questionnaire to respondents over telephone with the interviewer
using a computer
 The interviewer then reads the questions which appear on the screen and directly input
the results to the online file on the computer for immediate analysis.
Advantages
 Speed of collecting data is very efficient and the analysis is conducted very quickly. This
is important where people’s opinions and attitudes may change over a short period of
time.
 The interviewer is shown one question at a time to show the respondent, this means
that once the information of response has been filled in the computer can
automatically adapt the questionnaire to suit the respondent and gain as much useful
information as possible.
 As the system is consistently updated it can provide interim reports almost
instantaneously.
COMPUTERISED – ASSISTED TELEPHONE
INTERVIEWS (CTAI)

Disadvantages
 Statistics shows that the willingness for respondents to answer a questionnaire via telephone is very low.
 Many large companies are now implementing new company policies to stop marketing researchers calling
business individuals.
Conclusion
Most companies that commission market research stops their own employees from taking part in the
interviews. This is because;
 The confidentiality of information divulged to interviewers.
 Taking part is seen as no direct benefit to the company.
 These two points shows that the information the company are trying to gain is very sensitive and the
company wants accurate information and by letting employees take part could tarnish the accuracy of the
final reports.
COMPUTERISED – ASSISTED TELEPHONE
INTERVIEWS (CTAI)

Go to www.menti.com and use the code 64 15 24
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