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In chapter 5 we learned that the best way to work informational interviews was to allow

flexibility and adaptability into your interview guide. Allowing yourself to go off course can be

very beneficial during informational interviews because you can follow-up on answers or

questions that will provide more information. Also, being able to reproduce the interview is

not essential. The exact opposite is true of survey interviews. Survey interviews are pre-

planned, highly-scheduled, and must be replicable.

You know those phone surveys you get every now and then? How about a customer

satisfaction questionnaire sent in the mail following a Drs visit or a new purchase? Those are all

examples of survey interviews. While survey interviews can be administered face-to-face, the

majority are now conducted via telephone, traditional mail, e-mail, and through websites. Each

method has its own set of advantages and disadvantages to consider and may not be

appropriate for every situation.

It is imperative that you specifically nail down the purpose of your survey before you start

creating the questions or thinking of the people who might respond. This is because you need

to determine whether you need to conduct a qualitative or

quantitative survey. If you need a refresher of the difference

between qualitative and quantitative research, check out this

YouTube video (reminder, I love stupid humor so while the

content is solid, the delivery is amusing. To me, anyway. )

As stated above, replicability is central in survey interviews. The goal of standardization is that

each respondent be exposed to the same question experience and that the recording of

answers be the same, too, so that any differences in the answers can be correctly interpreted

as reflecting differences between respondents rather than differences in the process that

produce the answer (Dewey, 2000. para. 1). That means that your questions and survey

instrument must be carefully crafted and systematically administered in order to ensure that all

respondents are provided with the same survey experience.

Chapter 6 is going to focus on building the survey interview. It will cover how the interview

guide and schedule need to be structured, the types of questions to include, and how to handle

the opening and closing of a survey interview.

In module 6, you will be introduced to the Survey Says! Learning Opportunity. This is a small

group project with a relatively quick turnaround period (3 weeks). The purpose of this task is to

present you with the opportunity to plan, design, administer, and interpret a survey interview.

I know you are all cringing at the idea of online group work, but I promise you it is only as

difficult as you make it. It is very likely that over the course of your career you will have to

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virtually collaborate with colleagues; so this learning opportunity is giving you experience that

will benefit you down the road.

References

Dewey, Jennifer. (2000). Guidelines for survey interviewing. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

Smcilquham (Producer). (2012, March 6). Quantitative vs qualitative research [Youtube video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlU22hTyIs4

Additional Sources

Web Center for Social Research Methods - http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/survtype.php

Write Content Solutions Writing Survey Questions and Interview questions of Good Quality - http://www.write.com/writing-guides/research-writing/research-process/writing-survey-questions-and-interview-questions-of-good-quality/

A Quick Guide with Examples http://www.slideshare.net/rowanfreeman/a-quick-guide-to-survey-questions-with-examples?related=1

Purdue OWL: Conducting Primary Research - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/559/05/