Ch.10 Test Questions & Answers - Structured Interviewing

Chapter 10 - Structured interviewing

Test Bank

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 01

01) The research interview is a more prominent data collection strategy in quantitative rather than qualitative research.

a. True

b. False

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 02

02) Which of the following is not a source of error in survey research?

1. a poorly worded question;
2. the way the question is asked by the interviewer;
3. misunderstanding on the part of the interviewee;
4. memory problems on the part of the interviewee;
5. the way the information is recorded by the interviewer;
6. the way the information is processed, either when answers are coded or when data are entered into the computer.

a. Poorly worded question

b. Memory problems on behalf of the interviewee

c. The way information is recoded by the interviewer

d. The prestige of the organisation collecting the data

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 03

03) In a semi-structured interview, the questions are very specific rather than general.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 04

04) In a focus group, interviewees discuss a topic in a focussed yet individual way.

a. True

b. False

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 05

05) Which of the following is not an advantage of telephone over personal interviews?

On a like-for-like basis, they are far cheaper and also quicker to administer. This arises because, for personal interviews, interviewers have to spend a great deal of time and money travelling between respondents. This factor will be even more pronounced when a sample is geographically dispersed, a problem that is only partially mitigated for in personal interview surveys by strategies such as cluster sampling. Of course, tele- phone interviews take time, and hired interviewers have to be paid, but the cost of conducting a telephone interview will still be lower than a comparable personal one.

The telephone interview is easier to supervise than the personal interview. This is a particular advantage when there are several interviewers, since it becomes easier to check on interviewers’ transgressions in the asking of questions, such as rephrasing questions or the inappropriate use of probes by the interviewer. Probes are stimuli introduced by the interviewer to elicit further information from the interviewee when the latter’s response is inadequate, either because it fails to answer the question or because it answers the question but there is insufficient detail.

Telephone interviewing has a further advantage that is to do with evidence (which is not as clear-cut as one might want) that suggests that, in personal interviews, respondents’ replies are sometimes affected by characteristics of the interviewer (for example, class or ethnicity) and indeed by his or her mere presence (implying that the interviewees may reply in ways they feel will be deemed desirable by interviewers). The remoteness of the interviewer in telephone interviewing removes this potential source of bias to a significant extent. The interviewer’s personal characteristics cannot be seen and the fact that he or she is not physically present may o set the likelihood of respondents’ answers being affected by the interviewer.

a. They are cheaper and easier to administer

b. Research evidence suggests that people prefer being interviewed over the phone rather than in person

c. Telephone interviews are easier to supervise than personal interviews

d. Personal interviews are sometimes affected by the characteristics of the interviewer and telephone interviewing removes this source of bias

Type: multiple response question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 06

06) Which of the following are limitations of telephone interviewing compared to personal interviewing? Please select all that apply.

• People who do not own or who are not contactable by telephone obviously cannot be interviewed by tele- phone. In business research, this characteristic is most likely to be a feature of lower-status employees and, therefore, the potential for sampling bias exists. Lower- income households are more likely not to own a tele- phone; also, many people choose to be ex-directory—that is, they have taken action for their telephone numbers not to appear in a telephone directory. Again, these people cannot be interviewed by telephone. One possible solution to this last difficulty is random digit dialling. With this technique, the computer randomly selects telephone numbers within a predefined geographical area. Not only is this a random process that conforms to the rules about probability sampling examined in Chapter 8; it also stands a chance of getting at ex-directory households, though it cannot, of course, gain access to those without a telephone at all.
• The length of a telephone interview is unlikely to be sustainable beyond 20–25 minutes, whereas personal interviews can be much longer than this (Frey 2004).
• The question of whether response rates (see Key concept 8.5) are lower with surveys by telephone interview than with surveys by personal interview is unclear, in that there is little consistent evidence on this question. However, there is a general belief that telephone interviews achieve slightly lower rates than personal interviews (Frey and Oishi 1995; Shuy 2002; Frey 2004) (see Table 28.1).
• There is some evidence to suggest that telephone interviews fare less well for the asking of questions about sensitive issues, such as workplace bullying or drug and alcohol use. However, the evidence is not entirely consistent on this point, though it is probably sufficient to suggest that, when many questions of this kind are to be used, a personal interview may be superior (Shuy 2002).
• Developments in telephone communications, such as answerphones, other forms of call screening, and mobile phones, have almost certainly had an adverse effect on telephone surveys in terms of response rates and the general difficulty of getting access to respondents through conventional landlines. Households that rely exclusively on mobile phones represent a particular difficulty.
• Telephone interviewers cannot engage in observation. This means that they are not in a position to respond to signs of puzzlement or unease on the faces of respondents when they are asked a question. In a personal interview, the interviewer may respond to such signs by restating the question or attempting to clarify the meaning of the question, though this has to be handled in a standardized way as far as possible. A further issue relating to the inability of the interviewer to observe is that, sometimes, interviewers may be asked to collect subsidiary information in connection with their visits (for example, whether or not health and safety procedures are made evident at a business premises). Such information cannot be collected when telephone interviews are employed.
• It is frequently the case that specific individuals in households or firms are the targets of an interview. In other words, simply anybody will not do. This requirement is likely to arise from the specifications of the population to be sampled, which means that people in a certain role or position or with particular characteristics are to be interviewed. It is probably more difficult to ascertain by telephone interview whether or not the correct person is replying.
• The telephone interviewer cannot readily employ visual aids such as show cards (see Tips and skills ‘A show card’ and Tips and skills ‘Another show card’) from which respondents might be asked to select their replies, or use diagrams or photographs.
• There is some evidence to suggest that the quality of data derived from telephone interviews is inferior to that of comparable face-to-face interviews. A series of experiments reported by Holbrook et al. (2003) on the mode of survey administration in the USA using long questionnaires found that respondents interviewed by telephone were more likely to express no opinion or ‘don’t know’ (see Chapter 11 for more on this issue); to answer in the same way to a series of linked questions; to express socially desirable answers; to be apprehensive about the interview; and to be more likely to be dissatisfied with the time taken by the interview (even though interviews were invariably shorter than in the face-to-face mode). Also, telephone interviewees tended to be less engaged with the interview process. While these results should be viewed with caution, since studies like these are bound to be affected by such factors as the use of a large questionnaire on a national sample, they do provide interesting food for thought.

a. They are unlikely to be sustainable beyond 20-25 minutes

b. They are more effective for sensitive issues like workplace bullying or substance abuse

c. The quality of data from telephone interviewing is superior to that obtained from personal interviews

d. Telephone interviews achieve slightly slower response rates than personal interviews

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 07

07) The acronym “CATI” stands for:

a. Computer-aided technology interviewing

b. Consumer-assisted technology intervention

c. Computer-assisted telephone interviewing

d. Computer-assisted technology interviewing

Type: multiple response question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 08

08) Which of the following are not considerations on the issue of question order? Please select all that apply.

1. Within a survey, question order should not be varied (unless, of course, question order is the subject of the study!).
2. Researchers should be sensitive to the possible implications of the effect of early questions on answers to subsequent questions.

a. Questions need to be somewhat uniform

b. Researchers need to be sensitive to the possible implications of the effect of early questions on answers to subsequent questions

c. The most challenging questions should be asked first

d. Question order should not be varied

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 09

09) Probing is unproblematic for any researcher employing a structured interview method.

a. True

b. False

Type: multiple response question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 10

10) What is another name for “show cards” in an interview study?

a. Trump Cards

b. Vision Cards

c. Highlight Cards

d. Flash Cards

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 11

11) Which of the following areas would a researcher not need training in to conduct an interview?

a. Contacting perspective respondents and providing an introduction to the study

b. Using appropriate styles of probing

c. Being able to maintain eye contact

d. Recording exactly what is said

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 12

12) Which of the following best describes social desirability bias?

a. Respondents will only provide answers to interviewers they regard as socially desirable

b. Respondents answers to questions are related to their perception of the social desirability of those answers

c. Interviewers will often try to steer respondents toward the most socially desirable response

d. Market researchers will only interview those who they feel are the most socially desirable

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 13

13) What does acquiescence refer to in an interview study?

a. Where people agree with a whole set of questions or items

b. Where people agree or disagree with a whole set of questions or items

c. Where the researcher dominates the interview

d. Where the interviewee dominates the interview

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 14

14) How can acquiescence be avoided in an interview study?

a. By agreeing with everything the interviewee says

b. By asking some questions in the opposite way from the rest of the questions

c. By being confrontational with the interviewee

d. By taking firm control of the interview

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 15

15) What is the best way to overcome the so-called “problem of meaning” in structured interview research?

a. Correcting for it

b. Having inter-coder reliability

c. Ignoring it

d. Doing multiple studies