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UNSTRUCTURED AND STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS 235

In sum, the advantages of computer-assisted interviews can be stated simply
as quick and more accurate information gathering, plus faster and easier analy-
sis of data. The field costs are low and automatic tabulation of results is possi-
ble. It is more efficient in terms of costs and time, once the initial heavy
investment in equipment and software has been made. However, to be really
cost-effective, large surveys should be done frequently enough to warrant the
heavy front-end investment and programming costs.

Computer-Aided Survey Services
Several research organizations offer their services to companies who engage in
occasional data gathering. For instance, the National Computer Network provides
computer survey services for conducting marketing studies. Some of the advan-
tages of using these services are that (1) the researcher can start analyzing the
data even as the field survey is in progress, since results can be transmitted to
clients through modem in raw or tabulated form; (2) data can be automatically
“cleaned up” and errors, if any, fixed even as they are being collected; (3) biases
due to ordering questions in a particular way (known as the ordering effects) can
be eliminated since meaningful random start patterns can be incorporated into
the questioning process; (4) skip patterns (e.g., if the answer to this question is
NO, skip to question #19) can be programmed into the process; and (5) ques-
tions can be customized to incorporate the respondents’ terminology of concepts
into subsequent questions.
Computer surveys can be conducted either by mailing the disks to respondents
or through online surveys, with the respondents’ personal computers being
hooked up to computer networks. Survey System provided by Creative Reasearch
Systems and Interview System provided by Compaq Co. are two of the several
computer survey systems available in the market.

Advantages of Software Packages

Field notes taken by interviewers as they collect data generally have to be tran-
scribed, hand-coded, hand-tabulated, and so on—all of which are tedious and
time consuming. Computers vastly ease the interviewers’ job with regard to these
activities. Automatic indexing of the data can be done with special programs. The
two modes in operation are (1) indexing such that specific responses are coded
in a particular way; and (2) retrieval of data with a fast search speed—covering
10,000 pages in less than 5 seconds. Text-oriented database management
retrieval program allows the user to go through the text, inserting marks that link
related units of text. The associative links formed are analytical categories spec-
ified by the researcher. Once the links are created, the program allows the user
to activate them by opening multiple windows on the screen.
We thus see that computers make a big impact on data collection. With greater
technological advancement and a reduction of hardware and software costs,
computer-assisted interviews promise to become a primary method of data col-
lection in the future.