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?