Friday, February 24, 2017

What Mode for Your Survey?

There are three modes of administering surveys, they are face-to-face, telephone, and self-administered (on paper or through the computer). How do you decide which to use? There is no single best method; all have advantages and disadvantages, which are summarized in the table below (modified from Vogt et al., 2012, p. 20).
                                                                                Mode of administration
Advantages and disadvantages
Face-to-Face
Telephone
Self-Administered
1. Usable with respondents who cannot read
Yes
Yes
No
2. Researcher can explain the meaning of a question
Yes
Yes
No
3. Researcher knows identity of respondent
Yes
Yes
No
4. Interaction with administer of survey
High
Medium
Low
5. Certainty that all respondents get exactly the same question
Low
Medium
High
6. Cost per respondent
High
Medium
Low
7. Time per question
High
High
Low
8. Possible to administer in groups
Yes
No
Yes
9. Effort required to obtain a large sample size
High
Medium
Low
10. Problems of access to respondents in remote or unsafe areas
Yes
No
No
11. Researcher's efficiency tied to that of postal, internet, or telephone system
No
Yes
Yes
As the researcher, you need to weigh each of these considerations, keeping both the advantages and disadvantages in mind.

Next time I will post an updated blog index. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

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