Part Two

DATA COLLECTION, SAMPLING AND INTERVIEWING

Availability of information with the respondent Cognition Motivation

Locating the respondents

Obtaining the Interview

Asking questions

Recording the answers

THE INTERVIEWERS TASK

Errors may arise if the interviewer is unable to establish a proper rapport with the respondent. If the interviewer has deliberately or inadvertently not followed the instructions.

If the interviewer gives undue emphasis to a particular word or a part of the question.
If the interviewer omits any questions in haste, the answers will not be complete. The interviewer may commit some error in the recording of responses.

The interviewer should be in good health. He should be an extrovert. He should be well-dressed and possess a pleasing personality. The knowledge of the regional language must be possessed by the

interviewer. An interviewer must be educated and well-qualified. As wide discrepancies in the class or status of the interviewer and respondent inhibit certain types of responses, these should be avoided as far as possible. An interviewer must be capable of communicating with the respondent.

Initial training Training for individual studies

Gathering and training interviewers on the fundamentals of interviewing, including application forms. Alerting and briefing interviewers for a particular job. Allocating territory Carefully studying the first days work, and correcting errors. Editing all work Validating some of the reports Keeping careful production records Reviewing time sheets Rendering a detailed bill for the work

Three major techniques1. Depth interviews 2. Focus group interviews 3. Projective techniques

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In this an interview is held without the aid of a structured questionnaire. The interviewer has freedom in conducting it in the manner he desires. They are more appropriate in case of sensitive issues which may require more probing.

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Advantages:-

It is able to discover hidden motivations which

really determine consumer behaviour. It may also lead to the development of a motivational pattern with respect to a particular brand or other action under investigation. It provides a strong stimulus to the insight of the interviewer.

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Limitations:-

It

does not provide a systematic structure for interpretation of the information obtained. The information obtained is non-quantifiable and is based on human judgement. It needs far more vigilance and training on the part of the interviewer.

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The interviewer collects a small number of representative consumers for discussion on a particular subject. The optimal size of a focus group is usually taken to be about eight people.

The entire group discussion is recorded on a tape recorder.

Group interview studies are often fast and cheap. It is appropriate for generating hypothesis more so in cases
when the available information is scanty. This technique brings the respondent and the client closer. It is appropriate to handle contingencies. Respondents in a group interview stimulate one another. Its findings emerge in a form which is fully understandable to the clients.

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Some of the advantages of the focus group technique also

lead to misuses.

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It does not indicate how extensive the attitudes expressed by

the participants .

The data are not at all projectable.

The moderator might have his own biases and limitations.

Another difficulty relates to the recruitment of participants.

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Such techniques are based on the principle of confronting an individual with a purposely ambiguous situation which he must interpret. The ambiguous may just be a word, an incomplete sentence, or a picture.

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Word Association Test Sentence Completion Test Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Story Completion Test Cartoons (Blank Balloons)

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In computer interviews, respondents enter the data into a computer in response to questions presented on the monitor. Three types of Computer interviewing: 1. The respondents are selected from door-to-door surveys or in shopping malls, trade fairs or exhibitions. 2. The researcher places a computer at a suitable place such as a shopping mall. 3. It is essentially a telephone interview.

It is very economical. Questionnaire can be generated in a short time. The actual interviewing time is considerably reduced. More accurate data can be obtained through it. The analysis of data can be completed in a very short time.

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One

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may question the representativeness of the sample. In a questionnaire having one or more open-ended questions, each response will be different. Computer-aided telephone interviews are not frequently used.