When it comes to conducting research, the party responsible for gathering the data has two options; they can either be passive and observe or actively communicate. As Cooper and Schindler (2011) stated, the researcher “…determines the appropriate data collection approach largely by identifying the types of information needed – investigative questions the researcher must answer” (p. 248). Passive observations look to identify conditions, behaviors, events and processes whereas the communication approach looks to find attitudes, motivations, intentions and expectations. The rest of this post concentrates on the active participation methods.
Active participation can fall into three categories: the self –administered interview also known as questionnaires; the face-to-face interview; and interview by telephone.
Self-administered surveys can be mailed, faxed or couriered in paper form, computer based via the intranet or given a questionnaire as what a person might see in a restaurant or hotel room. This method allows contact with otherwise inaccessible participants, has very little operating cost, requires very minimal staff and allows the contributing party time to think about their answer before turning in their responses.
[...] Ashford bus 642 week 4 discussion 1 Discuss the following questions then respond to at least two of your fellow students' postings. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of self-administered interviewing, face-to-face interviewing, and telephone interviewing. What is necessary for the success of each of these three methods? How do these survey methods compare? When it comes to conducting research, the party responsible for gathering the data has two options; they can either be passive and observe or actively communicate. As Cooper and Schindler (2011) stated, the researcher determines the appropriate data collection approach largely by identifying the types of information needed investigative questions the researcher must answer” (p. [...]
[...] Some of the advantages include lower costs than personal interview, expanded geographical coverage and faster completion times. The disadvantages include a lower response rate due to things like the National Do Not Call Registry, the interview length must be limited and some target groups may not even be reachable by telephone. For this method to work the interviewer must be trained, a good amount of participants must be selected knowing that not all are going to participate, and the use of a computer assisted software makes the responses more direct and reduces error and costs. [...]
[...] Reference Cooper, D. & Schindler, P. (2011). Business Research Methods. Eleventh Edition. McGraw-Hill Irwin: New York , N.Y. [...]
[...] The interviewer needs to be highly trained and be aware that the participants' responses may be inadvertently coached by the interviewer. With all three methods, there contains a certain amount of error: error in the questions themselves; error with the interviewer; even errors within the participants themselves. Cooper and Schindler stated it best when they said, “Researchers cannot help a business decision maker answer a research question if they select of craft inappropriate questions, ask them in an inappropriate order, or use inappropriate transitions and instructions to elicit information” (p. [...]
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