Interviewing Exam 2
filter strategy
-lets you find out what the respondent knows; not just yes or no, goes further -if their response is yes, use follow-up ques to reveal the extent and accuracy of ques
situational factors
know when and where it will take places, will outside influences affect it, how much time will it be and how much time do you have to prepare, prepare for any emotional outburst, etc
repeat strategy
lets you find out if the respondent is being consistent w/ answers, especially on controversial topics -dont be too obvious
random sampling
like "drawing names from a hat" -completely random
ordinal scales
rating and ranking scales; there is some kind of relationship btwn the respondent and the variables you ask
bogardus social distance scale
used to determine how people feel about issues from a distance to up close and personal -ex) asking respondents how they feel about oil drilling expanding in the US, their state, their county, etc.
Shuffle Strategy
varies the order of answer options from one interview to the next to prevent order bias
What six questions may be primary in your interview guide?
who, what, when, where, why, how
random digit sampling
you may choose every 10th number in a telephone book, or every 5th name on a roster of clients
Ranking ordinal Scale
you must rank the listed topics from 1-5
quantitative survey
you want to determine frequencies of behavior, degrees of feelings, consensus of opinions, causes and effects, preferences, averages, and make predictions. your findings are presented in quantitative form in which numbers are critical. (Elicit answers that are easy to record, tabulate, and analyze).
leaning question strategy
- good for getting the "undecided people" to decide -ex) which way are you leaning on the vote? "if you had to vote today, what would you vote?"
Margin of Error
- probability that each person might be selected - this is how precise a survey is.. "degree of similarity between sample results and the results from 100 percent count obtained in an identical manner"
Sample point
- represents a geographical area that contain specific types of persons. - it gives the survey designer control over selections of interviewees without resorting to a list of names, random digits, or telephone numbers
Handling Emotional Interviewees
- tactful and sincere reply's will help EX: "its okay to cry" "take your time". Remain silent until a person regains composure. Treat others as yo would like to be treated.
What does Charles Redding say?
-A bad survey is worse than no survey -also gave helpful suggestions for handling massive amounts of info generated in a survey (ex: be selective, capitalize on the potential data, dig for gold and look for whats missing
Golden rule- what is it and what does it mean?
-Do unto others as you would have them do unto you -parties will comm more freely and accurately if they trust you -do not have any kind of attitude; be courteous
handling reticent interviews
-Use conversation starters by asking about furniture, awards, or arrangements of furniture - ask easy quest then ease into more substantive topics -use an inverted questions sequence if open ended questions aren't working -Probe: use silent and nudging
handling confused interviews
-be sensitive and patient -restate and rephrase ques tactfully
What does the closing look like?
-brief and fully written out -let the respondent know that if they want the results of the survey, to leave their email
impact of telephone interviewing for surveys
-cheap and inexpensive so has become dominant -most people don't like being interviewed this way -faster results
what is the role of the interviewer in closing an interview?
-clear housing questions: what have i asked you that you would like to ad? What have I not asked you? - the interviewee needs to be part of the closing-from start to finish; when you get ready to end it, they need to be aware -make sure its a dialogue, not a monologue
Handling Hostile Interviews
-determine if the hostility is actually directed towards you or just an outcome of other events and you are the punching bag -Probe: Non- Directive interviewing approach;"you appear to be very angry this morning" "you seem very upset" Don't be accusatory or confrontational -ask neutral, open-ended ques
handling dissimilar interviews
-differences could be gender, race, age, ethnicity,etc -having an understanding of people unlike ourselves is useful
shuffle strategy
-good for longer surveys, you rotate the order of the ques and change the order of the answers
How does status affect the interview when the interviewer is superior to the interviewee?
-interviewer can control the interview and reward the interviewee -the interviewee will be motivated to respond and honored - (Lieutenent to Sergeant, CEO to division head, physician to practitoner)
What does Nalder say about selecting interviewers?
-it is good to be curious about everyone and everything -they also need to have good manners, be patient, persistent, organized
advantages of interviewing face-to-face
-its easier for the interviewer to establish credibility and create an air of seriousness -generally the best way -can clarify something if needed -can observe attitudes and reactions of respondents
Why do we want to pretest a survey interview?
-leaves nothing to chance b/c things on paper might not work in real life -allows us to adjust, delete or add ques based on how well they worked in the practice
chain or contingency strategy
-like a built-in probing ques -can be tedious but good way to get detail
handling evasive interviews
-listen closely and phrase ques to avoid unclear answers -evasive strategies might be humor, fake hostility, counter ques or ambiguous language - "well how would you answer that? " - "what do you think we should do"
level of info
-most important criteria -what is their level of expertise? -there are diff sources
motivating interviewees
-remain neutral -control the interview without interrupting -use probing questions
sanitized vs. real setting situations
-sanitized: quiet setting in a relaxed environ away from noise and external distractions -real: if you really want to know how people feel you need the "real" setting, be respectful of those around and the emotions likely part of it
willingness
-show the interviewee why it is in their best interest to speak w/ you -dont threaten, simply pressure
disadvantages of interviewing face-to-face
-takes more time -costs more -slow
How does status affect the interview when the interviewer is subordinate to the interviewee?
-the interviewer doesn't need to be an expert -the interviewee will not feel threatened, speak more freely - student to professor, associate to manager
margin of error & level of confidence
-the smaller the margin of error, the larger the level of confidence -most surveys obtain a 95% level of conf. - margin of errors should be about 3%-5%
handling talkative interviews (What type questions? Example.
-use probes to get back on topic -Probe: Targeted closed type questions will help stay on topic -use signaling that you need to move on "im glad you mentioned that. Tell me about.." "that interesting. what about..."
How important listening is for probing questions
-wait for natural pauses to ask probes -put thought into them and try to keep them open-ended -know when to back off -avoid probing pitfalls
ability
-will they be able to give you accurate or honest info? -study the interviewee beforehand to know what type of person they are
What does the opening look like? How is it written?
-written out word-for-word and have it printed on top of the interview -state who you are, why your doing the survey, who you represent, and how long it should take -no small talk
3 steps in preparing for an informational interview
1. determine your goal 2. research your topic 3. structure the interview: develop an interview guide and schedule
About how many surveys are conducted annually?
American adults are asked to participate 7 billion times a year
Interview Guide
Areas and sub areas that will evolve into your guide
Chain or Contingency Strategy
a chain of questions. 1a. 1b. 1c. 1d. etc. all questions relate or follow up on the previous question
what is the role of the funnel sequence of questions?
a study of the effect of ques order suggests that general ques should come before more specific ques - this is the funnel sequence
Ordinal Scales
ask respondents to rate or rank the options in their implied or stated relationship to one another Ex: rank these hotels that you traveled to around the world in comparison to each other " avg. abov. average. , average etc.
Frequency interval scale
ask respondents to select a number that most accurately reflects how often they do something or use something ex: " more than once a week. once a week every other week one or twice a month"
nominal scales
ask you to pick a variable -ex) what is your classification at TCU? Freshman, Soph, jun, senior
Interval Scales Example
asked respondents to make a judgement about a topic. "strongly agree agree neutral disagree " anything that has to do with a judgement or opinion
ranking ordinal scale
asks you to rank the order based on a list of options
What is the role of ice-breakers in this interview?
casual and simple conversation starter helps gain trust and openness; make sure it fits the interview
what is the first step in selecting interviewees for your survey?
determine your population - you need to make sure it is a group of people that can provide the info you need, we can't interview everyone in a population so we need to determine an appropriate sample
longitudinal surveys
determines trends in feeling, thought or knowledge over time. Ex: Freshmen year to Senior Year this tactic involves a lot of work
availability
don't just assume an interviewee is available, make sure you ask
Repeat Strategy
enables you to determine if an interviewee is consistent in responses on a topic, particularly a controversial one "6. do you supervise your children's use of computers at home? Later Repeat and reword: "Do you children have free access to computers at home"
Filter Strategy
enables you to determine interviewee knowledge of a topic "are you familiar with the water companies proposed rate increase for next year" "yes i am" "what is the water company proposing"
rating ordinal scale
ex: you have traveled a lot over the last 5 yrs, rank the following APPLICABLE hotels; then gives various options
qualitative survey
explore ideas and feelings, dig deeply into issues, discover motivations and understand different perspectives or behaviors. findings are presented in narrative form in which words are critical.(highly-scheduled interview, open-ended questions, planned probes)
What does Ogle mean by "secondary relationships"?
informational interviews rely on them; they are not intimate and rely on surface cues such as similarity, appearance and nonverbal behavior
commonly used schedule for informational interviews
moderately scheduled format; flexibility underscores the essence of the interview schedule
stratified random sampling
more precise than random sampling; breaks groups down into percentages and we try to sample proportionally from them
challenges of coding and tabulating for what kind of ques?
open-ended ques require more analysis and structuring before developing a coding system
convenience sampling
popular b/c respondents are easy to reach -ex) interviewers stopping students as they exit a classroom building
interval scales - 3 types
provide distance between measures -evaluative: asks for judgments about people, places, things or ideas (ex: strongly agree to strongly disagree range) -frequency: seeks the # of times something happens (ex: how many time a week do you eat at the bluu?) -numerical: deals with ranges like income, age
Nominal Scales
provide mutually exclusive variables and ask respondents to name the most appropriate variable Ex: Do you consider yourself to be " democrat republican libertarian independent other" also can be used for other nouns or topics
reliability and replicability - what is their importance in the survey interview?
reliability (assurance the same types of info are collected in repeated interviews) and replicability (the duplication of the interview) are essential, because as inteviwers operate from planned and highly stucture interviews they may ask only preplanned probing questions
Numerical Interval Scales
select a range or level that accurately reflects their age, income. educational level, or rank. ex: "18-24 25-34 35-49"
cross-sectional surveys
takes a slice of what is felt, thought, or known during a narrow time span -happens in the now
self-selection sampling
the most inaccurate of sampling methods -voluntary; usually people who feel most for/ against a topic -ex) calling into a radio or tv station
Situation & product
the situation you're in might impact your goal (good or bad) & the end product (what you hope to achieve when this is done)
What is the most common question sequence for survey interviews?
the tunnel sequence of questions
what is the role of probing ques in survey interviews? dangers?
they can allow more detail; dangerous b/c makes it difficult to have identical surveys over and over, also allows for more interviewer bias
primary sources
those directly involved w/ the info you want
support sources
those w/ important connections to primary sources
expert sources
those w/ superior knowledge or skills relating to the info you need
how much research is needed to fully prepare?
up to 10 times the actual interview time
Leaning Question Strategy
use this if interviewees are reluctant to take stands or make a decision. For example they continually pick "unsure or undecided on your survey" Ex: Question. (if undecided go to 9B.) " if you had to choose today what would you choose"
selecting interviewees
your situation and purpose will affect the party you must interview; once this is established use 4 criteria to select interviewees: level of info, availability, willingness, and ability