978-1111826925 Chapter 18 Solution Manual

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QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND CRITICAL THINKING/ANSWERS

1. What qualities should field workers possess?

Field interviewers should be personable, healthy, and well groomed. Being personable is

2. [Ethics Question] An interviewer has a rather long telephone interview. The estimate

suggests that fully completing the survey will take 30 minutes. However, what do you think

the response rate will be if people are told ahead of time that it will take 30 minutes to finish

participating in the survey? Should the interviewer fudge a little and state that the survey will

take only 15 minutes? Explain.

The respondent must be given an accurate estimate of the amount of time participating in the

interview will take. If someone is told that fifteen minutes will be required, and the questioning

3. What should the interviewer do if a question is misunderstood? If a respondent answers a

question before it is encountered in the questionnaire?

Frequently, when a question is misunderstood, the interviewer is instructed to repeat the question.

4. When should interviewers probe? Give some examples of how it should be done.

Interviewers should probe when respondents give no answer, incomplete answers, or answers that

5. How should respondents’ answers to open-ended questions be recorded?

Verbatim. Although it is difficult to write a respondent’s answer down word for word, this should

Record responses during the interview.

Use the respondent’s own words.

6. How should the fieldworker terminate the interview?

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Fieldworkers should wait to close the interview until they have secured all pertinent information.

The interviewer who departs hastily will be unable to record the spontaneous comments

respondents sometimes offer after all formal questions have been asked. Merely recording one of

7. Why is it important to ensure fieldworkers adhere to the sampling procedure specified for a

project?

As the introduction of the chapter illustrates, the best laid plans of mice and men may go astray.

Business research is no exception. A great plan, if not properly executed, may fail to achieve its

8. [Ethics Questions] What forms does interviewer cheating take? How can it be prevented or

detected?

Interviewer cheating most often occurs on a portion of the questionnaire rather than the entire

questionnaire. Interviewers who find some questions troublesome because the questionnaire is

too long or because the questions are embarrassing may skip the questions. For example, if they

9. [Ethics Question] Two interviewers are accused of curb-stoning. What have they done?

10. Comment on the following field situations.

a. After conducting a survey with about 10 people, an interviewer noticed that many of

the respondents were saying, “Was I right?” after a particular question.

This indicates that the respondents are viewing the interview as a quiz rather than a situation

b. A questionnaire asking about a new easy-opening can has the following instructions to

interviewers: (Hand respondent can and matching instruction card.) “Would you

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please read the instructions on this card and then open this can for me?” ( Interviewer:

Note any comments respondent makes. Do not under any circumstances help him or

her to open the can or offer any explanation as to how to open it. If respondent asks

for help, tell him that the instructions are on the card. Do not discuss the can or its

contents.)

c. A researcher gives balloons to children of respondents to keep the children occupied

during the interview.

The purpose of this technique is to stop children who are constantly disturbing their parent(s).

d. An interviewer tells the supervisor, “With the price of gas, this job isn’t paying as well

as before!”

When research houses hire interviewers as independent contractors, they are often paid on a

e. When a respondent asks how much time the survey will take, the interviewer responds

“15 to 20 minutes.” Then, the respondent says “I’m sorry, I have to refuse. I can’t give

you that much time right now.”

This is an ideal situation for asking the respondent if another time would be appropriate. The

11. Write some interviewer instructions for a telephone survey.

12. A fieldworker conducting a political poll is instructed to interview registered voters. The

fieldworker interviews all willing participants eligible to vote (those who may register in

the future) because allowing their opinions to be recorded is part of her patriotic duty. Is

she doing the right thing?

13. An interviewer finds when potential respondents ask how much time the survey will take

most refuse if they are told 15 minutes. The interviewer now says 10 minutes and finds that

most respondents enjoy answering the questions. Is this the right thing to do?

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14. A fieldworker asks respondents whether they will answer a few questions. However, the

interviewer also observes the respondent’s race and approximate age. Is the ethical?

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

1. [Internet Question] Go to http://www.quirks.com/directory/telephone/index.aspx. Using

the search window, investigate the following. Suppose you were interested in conducting

telephone interviews in a number of places. List telephone facilities in Denmark, Mexico,

South Korea and in Alabama (United States). Is CATI available in every county of

Alabama?

It’s very easy to search by country and by state. There are several companies available with CATI

CASE 18.1 Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Library

Objectives: To encourage students to think about challenges when using inexperienced

fieldworkers.

Summary: This library is located at the University of Southern California. The staff wanted to

know more about who its patrons are, what library resources they find helpful, and whether they

are satisfied with the library’s services. The goal was to conduct exploratory research for less

than $250. A one-page questionnaire was developed, and student workers and library staff would

staff a table offering the survey.

Questions

1. Imagine that you were asked to help prepare for this survey. What fieldwork challenges

would you expect to arise in a survey such as this, to be carried out by inexperienced

fieldworkers?

The fieldworkers should ideally meet certain job requirements: they should be healthy, outgoing,

2. What training would you recommend for the students and other library staffers conducting

this survey? Suggest topics to cover and advice to give these fieldworkers.

All trainees should receive a briefing session on the particular project. The objective of training

How to make initial contact with the respondent and secure the interview.

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CASE 18.2 Margaret Murphy O’Hara

Objectives: The objective of this case is to portray some typical problems interviewers face and

to discuss the role of the supervisor in fieldwork.

Summary: Ms. O’Hara encounters a number of problems during her first day on the job. The

problems encountered are interviewing the wrong person, a high refusal rate, failure to set an

appointment for reinterviews with a busy subject, and the like.

Questions

1. Is Margaret going to be a good professional interviewer?

The short description of Margaret appears to indicate that she is personable and diligent. She has

2. What should Mary Zagorski tell Margaret?

Mary should first tell Margaret that she is doing a good job and then attempt to help her with the

various problems. The first thing that Mary might discuss with Margaret is the length of the

Margaret should also be informed about the value of a simple random sample. She should be

given a statement concerning the sampling procedures so that she may answer questions about

Margaret has also indicated she was having some problems with the income and age questions.

Margaret should also be given a statement about the Zagorski interviewing service to explain that

it is a “professional research company” and interviewing service, etc.

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