TELEPHONE SURVEY

 

• An increasingly popular technique but had a rather bad reputation among professional researchers
• Limited to those people who have telephones
• This fact leads to sampling problems like:

v     UNLISTED NUMBERS. If the survey sample was selected from the pages of a telephone directory, it would totally omit all those people—typically richer—who requested that their numbers not published. Solution: Instead of selecting numbers from the directory, generate random numbers to give listed and unlisted numbers an equal chance of selection

v     WHO SHOULD BE INTERVIEWED at the number selected and called.

Solution: 1. Selecting the hours of calling- will increase the chances of all family members being at home not only the housewives

                2. Quota sampling design- insure that overall, sufficient numbers of all kinds of family members are interviewed

                3. Random assignment- specify who is to be interviewed at each specific number called

• It has many advantages:

ü      It saves time and money

ü      You can dress any way you please without affecting the answers of the respondents

ü      Respondents will sometimes be more honest in giving socially disapproved answers (not have to look into your eyes)

ü      This type of survey can give you greater control over data collection if several interviewees are engaged in the project.

 

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