1. Collecting Research Data with
Questionnaires and Interviews
Longstreet, Walker, & Winters

2. Questionnaires and Interviews as
Data Collection Methods
• Questionnaires are printed forms that ask the
same questions of all individuals in the
sample and for which respondents record
their answers in verbal form.
• Interviews consist of oral questions asked by
the interviewer and oral responses by the
research participants.

3. Selecting a Method to Use
• Advantages of Questionnaires include:
• The cost of sampling respondents is lower
• Less time is involved in collecting data
• A major disadvantage of questionnaires is that there
no ability to probe respondents regarding their
responses.

4. Selecting a Method to Use
• Advantages of Interviews include:
• Interviews are adaptable.
• Interviewers can follow up with a respondents
answer to ask why they believe, feel, or responded
accordingly.
• Disadvantage:
• Time
• Cost for training and observation equipment

5. Steps in Constructing
Questionnaires and Interviews
Questionnaires Interviews
2. Define the Research 2. Define the Purpose of the
Objectives Interview
3. Select the Sample 3. Select the Sample
4. Design the questionnaire 4. Designing the Interview
5. Pilot Test the questionnaire Format
6. Pre-contacting the Sample 5. Developing Questions
6. Write a Cover Letter 6. Selecting and Training
7. Follow Up with Non- 7. Pilot-testing
respondents 8. Conducting the Interview
8. Analyzing the Questionnaire 9. Analyzing Interview Data
data

6. Steps in Constructing and Administering
a Research Questionnaire
Step 1: Define objectives.
Consider the following questions:
• What is the time frame of your interests?
• What is the geographical location of your interests?
• Are you interested in a broad descriptive study or do
you want specify and compare different subgroups?
• What aspect of the topic do you want to study?
• How abstract is your interest?

7. Steps in Constructing and Administering
a Research Questionnaire
Step 2: Selecting a Sample
Consideration:
• Conduct background analysis on the
desired group to ensure they have the
desired knowledge of the situation being
studied.

8. Steps in Constructing and Administering
a Research Questionnaire
Step 3: Designing the Questionnaire
Considerations:
• Anonymity of respondents- will respondents be anonymous?
Advantage of this type of questionnaire is that you usually get
more honest responses.
• Item Form- using language that is understood by your
respondents. Some words have several meanings, be cautious.
• Also, consider whether you will have open or closed form
responses.
• Use of Questionnaire in the Measurement of Attitudes- the most
common approach to measurement of attitudes with
questionnaires is to use a Likert scale.
• Web Questionnaires- often used to offset costs and can be
interactive which respondents often respond well to.

9. Steps in Constructing and Administering
a Research Questionnaire
Step 4: Pilot-Testing the Questionnaire
Considerations:
• Pilot- testing can allow the respondents to let you know what
they liked and did not like about the questionnaire.
• In addition, the pilot testing can let you measure the data
collected to ensure the questions are measuring your proposed
hypotheses.

10. Steps in Constructing and Administering
a Research Questionnaire
Step 5: Pre-contacting the Sample
Considerations:
• Always pre-contact the sample to introduce yourself,
the purpose of the study, and ask for participation
and cooperation.
• Do not send the questionnaire with this letter or
postcard.

11. Steps in Constructing and Administering
a Research Questionnaire
Step 6: Writing a Cover Letter
Considerations:
• The cover letter must emphasis the importance of the research.
• If you can link the research with a professional organization
which the respondents can identify with is recommended.
• The cover letter should explain the date the questionnaire is
due on or before.
• The cover letter should insure confidentiality and discuss any
informed consent the study will maintain or disclose.
• The cover letter should again thank the participant for their
time.

12. Steps in Constructing and Administering
a Research Questionnaire
Step 7: Following Up with Non-respondents
Considerations:
• Contact those who did not respond
• Use a follow-up letter with another questionnaire
• Different approach:
• Personal letter, postcard, questionnaire--keep importance of study & value
of individual’s contribution
• Ask yourself:
• How would the results differ if all respondents had returned the
questionnaire?
• More than 20% missing?
• Sample may not represent the population to which the findings will be
generalized

13. Steps in Constructing and Administering
a Research Questionnaire
Step 8: Analyzing Questionnaire Data
Considerations:
• Qualitative research- forced-choice answers can be coded &
entered into the Ecstatic analysis program for quantitative data.
• Comments & open-ended answers can be entered into a
program to help code and sort respondents’ words to find
patterns
• Quantitative data can be analyzed by using statistical methods.

14. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
3 Major Types of Research Interviews
• Key informant interview- Collecting data from individuals who have special
knowledge or perceptions
• Survey Interviews- supplementing data that have been collected by other
methods.
• Confirmation survey interview-structured; confirms earlier findings
• Participant construct interview- shows how informants structure their
physical & social world
• Projective techniques- present ambiguous stimuli to elicit subconscious
perceptions
• Focus Group Interviews -interviewing a group of individuals

15. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 1: Define the Purpose
Considerations:
• Level of structure
• Types of questions
• Interviewer qualifications

16. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 2: Select the Sample
Quantitative Qualitative
• Probability Sampling • Purposeful Sampling
• Simple Random • Typical Case Sampling
• Systematic Random • Maximum Variation
• Stratified Random • Stratified Purposeful
• Cluster Sampling • Homogeneous Sampling
• Convenience Sampling

17. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 3: Design an Interview Format
Quantitative Qualitative
Considerations: Considerations:
• Unstructured Interview • Informal conversational interview
• General interview guide approach
• Semi-structured Interview
• Standardized open-ended
• Structured interview interview
• Telephone Interviews
• Computer-assisted telephone
interviews
• Web Interviews

18. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 4: Develop Questions
Considerations:
• Unstructured interview in Quantitative & Informal conversational
interview in qualitative research involve on-the-spot formulation of
questions.
• In unstructured interviews, the formulation of good questions
depend on the interviewer’s ability.
• In structured interviews, guides are best.

19. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 5: Selecting and Training
Interviewers
Considerations: • Distinctive respondents
• You will need to decide —researchers need to
address and be
how many interviewers to sensitive to differences
employ and whether they as it relates to gender,
must include special class, race, etc. of
qualities. participants
• Respondents as
• The most important interviewers—some
selection criterion is the researchers recommend
selecting interviewers from
interviewer’s ability to the respondent target
relate to respondents population
positively.

20. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 6: Pilot-Testing the Interview
Considerations:
• The interview guide should be pilot-tested to ensure
that they will yield unbiased data.
• The pilot test can be used to identify threatening
questions.
• Interviewers should consider selecting a subgroup
from the pilot sample to check the wording of
interview questions.
• Validity can be threatened when one question is
interpreted differently by different respondents.

21. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 7: Conducting the Interview
Accessing the How they phrase their requests for
setting participation and respond to potential
interviewees’ questions
Understanding Interviewer must decide which aspects of
respondents’ the respondent’s behavior to focus on
during the interview (nonverbal
language and
communication)
culture
Deciding how Interviewer needs to decide what type of
to present personal image to present to respondents
oneself

22. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 7: Conducting the Interview
Locating an Find an insider to translate the cultural mores
informant and language of the group from whom the
interviewees are selected
Gaining trust If sensitive topics are the focus of the research
study, the interviewer will need to establish a
deep level of trust in order to obtain the desired
data
Establishing The interviewer needs to decide how much
rapport rapport to establish with each respondent.
Stronger rapport is necessary if interviewer
wishes the respondent to reveal deeply personal
or sensitive information.

23. Steps in Preparing & Conducting
Research Interviews
Step 8: Analyzing Interview Data
• The analysis of responses to open-form questions requires the
development of a category system.
• George Kuh’s study involved a five-step procedure that used a
semi-structured interview guide. Each mention of an outcome
in an interview was coded as an instance of a particular
category.
• In using the grounded theory approach, a researcher would use
constant comparison to compare entries within and across
categories. The researcher would be likely to generate
constructs, themes, and patterns from the categorical data.

24. Collecting Research Data with Questionnaires
and Interviews
Summary
• Questionnaires and interviews can be used to collect data about
phenomena that is not directly observable (e.g. inner
experiences, opinions, values, interests, etc.)
• They are more convenient to use than direct observation when
used for collecting data on observable behavior.
• Both have advantages and disadvantages that the researcher
must consider.
• Both require similar steps of design in terms of data collection,
analysis, and interpretation.
• Planning is key for both in terms of training and equipment
need to successfully conduct the study.

25. References
Gall, Meredith D., Gall, Joyce P., & Borg, Walter R.
(2007). Educational research (8th Edition), A B
Longman Publishing, ISBN: 0-321-08189-7