Group- 7

CHAPTER 18
FIELDWORK
Group Members

17 AIS 18 17 AIS 56

17 AIS 19 17 AIS 57
17 AIS 25 16 AIS 69
17 AIS 28 16 AIS 67
17 AIS 29
17 AIS 48
17 AIS 49
Who conduct the fieldwork
Fieldinterviewing services
In house interview
Capable peopl and trust them
Highly educated and trained person
In House Training For . Inexperienced
Interviewers
How to make initial contact with the
respondent secure the interview?
How to ask survey question?
How to probe?
How to record responses?
How to terminate the interview?
Making Initial Contact and Securing the
Interview
 PERSONAL INTERVIEWS
Good afternoon, my name is _____________, and I’m with [insert
name of firm], an international research company. We are conducting
a survey concerning _____________. I would like to get a few of your
ideas. Itwill take [insert accurate time estimate] minutes.
 TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS
Good evening, my name is ________________. I am not trying to sell
anything. I’m calling from [insertname of firm] in Mason, Ohio. We
are seeking your opinions on some important matters and it will only
take[insert accurate time estimate] minutes of your time.
 INTERNET SURVEYS
We are contacting you because of your interest in [subject matter
inserted here]. We would like to inviteyou to participate in a survey
that asks your opinion on matters related to [subject matter inserted
here].
Making Initial Contact and Securing the
Interview
 Foot-in-the-door compliance technique
A technique for obtaining a high response rate, in which compliance with a
large or difficult task is in ducedby first obtaining the respondent’s compliance
with a smaller request.

 Door-in-the-face compliance technique

A two-step process for securing a high response rate. In step 1 an initial

request, so large that nearly everyone refuses it, is made. Next, a second
request is made for a smaller favor; respondents are expected tocomply with
this more reasonable request.
Asking the question
Purpose of an interview?
 Five types of major rules for asking
questions?
Probing
Verbal attempts made by a field worker
when therespondent must be motivated to
communicate his or her answers more
fully.

Probes enlarge and clarify.

Recording the response.
 An analyst who fails to instruct fieldworkers in the
techniques o fproperly recording survey answers rarely
forgets to do a second time.
Some suggestions for recording open ended
answers.
 Recording responses during the interview.
 Use the respondent’s own words.
Sensitive topics.
Especially for sensitive topics, decisions about how to record
responses may be difficult than these guidelines suggest.
Terminating the Interview
Principles of Good Interviewing
One reason for its success is its careful attention to
fieldwork. This section presents this organization’s principles of
good interviewing . For clarity, they have been divided into two
categories: the basics (the interviewing point of view) and
required practices (standard inquiry premises and procedures).
The Basics
Interviewing is a skilled occupation so not everyone can do it, and
even fewer can do it extremely well.
Required Practices:
1.Complete the number of interviews according to the
sampling plan assigned to you.
2.Follow the directions provided.
3.Make every effort to keep schedules.
4.Keep control of each interview you do.
5.Complete the questionnaires meticulously.
6.Check over each questionnaire you have completed.
7.Compare your sample execution and assigned quota with
the total number of questionnaires you have
completed.
8.Clear up any questions with the research agency.
Fieldwork Management
Robert Burns’s poem “To a Mouse”:
The best laid schemes o’ mice and men
Gang aft a-gley;
An’ lea’e us nought but grief and pain,For
promis’d joy.
Briefing Session for Experienced
Interviewers
1.fieldworkers must be briefed on the background of the
sponsoring organization, sampling techniques, asking of
questions, callback procedures, and other matters specific
to the particular project.
2.if there are any special instructions—for example, about
using show cards or video equipment or restricted
interviewing times—they should also be covered during
the training session.
3. a demo interview session can be arranged
4.Instructions for handling certain key questions are
always important.
Training to Avoid Procedural Errors in
Sample Selection
A number of research projects allow the interviewer to be
at least partially responsible for selecting the sample.
These sampling methods offer the potential for selection
bias. This potential for bias is obvious in the case of quota
sampling but less obvious in other cases. For example, in
probability sampling in which every nth house is selected,
the fieldworker uses his or her discretion in identifying
housing units. Avoiding selection bias may be more
difficult than it sounds. For example, in an old, exclusive
neighborhood, a mansion’s coach house or servants’
quarters may have been converted into an apartment that
should be identified as a housing unit.
This type of dwelling and other unusual housing
units apartments with alley entrances only, lake
cottages, or rooming houses) may be overlooked,
giving rise to selection error. Errors may also
occur in the selection of random-digit dialing
samples. Considerable effort should be expended
in training and supervisory control to minimize
these errors. Another selection problem is the
practice of contacting a respondent when and
where it is convenient for both parties.
Consider the following anecdote from an industrial
research interviewer :& quote ; Occasionally getting to the
interview is half the challenge and tests the interviewer’s
ingenuity. Finding your way around a huge steel mill is not
easy . Even worse is trying to find a correct turn-off to
gravel pit D when it’s snowing so hard that most direction
signs are obliterated. In arranging an appointment with an
executive at a rock quarry outside Kansas City, he told me
his office was in “ Cave Number 3.” It was no joke. To my
surprise, I found a luxurious executive office in a cave,
which had long ago been hollowed by digging for raw
material.& quote ;
* In that case, finding the sample unit was half the battle.
Supervision of Fieldworkers
Supervision of interviewers, like other forms of supervision, refers to
controlling the efforts of workers. Field supervision of interviewers
requires checking to see that field procedures are being
properly followed.
Sampling verification:
Another important job of a supervisor is to verify that interviews are
being conducted according to the sampling plan rather than with the
sampling units most accessible to the interviewer.
Supervisors are responsible for motivating interviewers to follow the
sampling plan carefully.
Supervisors must also make sure that the right people within the
household or sampling unit are being contacted.
Interviewer Cheating
 The most blatant form of interviewer cheating occurs when an
interviewer falsifies interviews, merely filling in fake answers
rather than contacting respondents.
 An interviewer may fake part of a questionnaire to make it
acceptable to the field supervisor

 Interviewers may fake answers when they find questions

embarrassing or troublesome to ask because of sensitive subjects