Survey Research - Types of surveys: advantages and disadvantages
8 important questions on Survey Research - Types of surveys: advantages and disadvantages
What are the advantages of mail and self-administered questionnaires?
- Directly to respondents
- Inexpensive
- Easy for a single researcher
- Wide geographical area at low cost
- Respondent can complete the questionnaire when it is convenient
- Offer anonymity and avoid interviewer bias
What are the disadvantages of mail and self-administered questionnaires?
- Low response rate
- Reminder letters adds to the time and cost of data collection
- You have no control over the conditions under which a mail quesitonnarie is completed
- No one is present to clarify questions or to probe for more information
- It is possible that someone other than the sampeld respondent completed the questionnaire
- Answer questions in a different order than what you intended
- Incomplete questionnaires
- Limits the kinds of questions usable
- Ill suited for the illiterate or near-illiterate
What are the disadvantages of web surveys?
- Sampling and unequal internet access or use
- Self-selection
- Verify respondents needed
- Technical glitches
- Higher grades + faster learning
- Never study anything twice
- 100% sure, 100% understanding
What are the advantages of web surveys?
What are the disadvantages of telephone interviews?
- Higher cost
- Limited length
- Respondents without a telephone are impossible to reach
- Reduces anonymity
- Interviewer bias
- Questions requiring visual aids are impossible
- Sampling cell phone numbers is possible, but it is more difficult, more costly and has lower rates of survey participation
What are the advantages of telephone interviews?
- Entire population can be reached
- PRocess is traightforward
- Acceptable response rates
- Flexible
- Control the sequence of quesions
What are the disadvantages of face-to-face interviews?
- High costs
- Training, travel, supervision and personnel costs
- Interviewer bias
- Interviewer supervision is less
What are the advantages of face to face interviews?
- Highest response rates
- Permit the longerst questionnaires
- Interviewers can also observe the surroundings and can use nonverbal communication and visual aids.
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