Page 252 - [Uma_Sekaran]_Research_methods_for_business__a_sk(BookZZ.org)

236 DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Review of Interviewing
Interviews are one method of obtaining data; they can be either unstructured or
structured, and can be conducted face to face, over the telephone, or through
the medium of the PC. Unstructured interviews are usually conducted to obtain
definite ideas about what is, and is not, important and relevant to particular prob-
lem situations. Structured interviews give more in-depth information about spe-
cific variables of interest. To minimize bias in responses, the interviewer must
establish rapport with the respondents and ask unbiased questions. The face-to-
face interview and that conducted over the telephone have their advantages and
disadvantages, and both have their use in different circumstances. Computer-
assisted interviewing, which entails heavy initial investment, is an asset for inter-
viewing and for the analyses of qualitative, spontaneous responses. Computer
interactive interviews show promise to become an increasingly important mode
of data collection in the future. Next, we will see how data can be gathered
through questionnaires.

PART II: QUESTIONNAIRES

A questionnaire is a preformulated written set of questions to which respondents
record their answers, usually within rather closely defined alternatives. Ques-
tionnaires are an efficient data collection mechanism when the researcher knows
exactly what is required and how to measure the variables of interest. Ques-
tionnaires can be administered personally, mailed to the respondents, or elec-
tronically distributed.

Personally Administered Questionnaires
When the survey is confined to a local area, and the organization is willing and
able to assemble groups of employees to respond to the questionnaries at the
workplace, a good way to collect data is to personally administer the question-
naires. The main advantage of this is that the researcher or a member of the
research team can collect all the completed responses within a short period of
time. Any doubts that the respondents might have on any question could be clar-
ified on the spot. The researcher is also afforded the opportunity to introduce the
research topic and motivate the respondents to offer their frank answers. Admin-
istering questionnaires to large numbers of individuals at the same time is less
expensive and consumes less time than interviewing; it does not also require as
much skill to administer the questionnaire as to conduct interviews. Wherever
possible, questionnaires are best administered personally to groups of people
because of these advantages. However, organizations are often unable or disin-
clined to allow work hours to be spent on data collection, and other ways of get-
ting the questionnaries back after completion may have to be found. In such
cases, employees may be given blank questionnaires to be collected from them
personally on completion after a few days, or mailed back by a certain date in