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A Comparison of Two Data Collecting Methods: Interviews and Questionnaires

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A Comparison of Two Data Collecting Methods: Interviews and Questionnaires Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi 18 : 1 - 10 [2000} A COMPARISON OF TWO DATA COLLECTING METHODS: INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES Burcu AKBA YRAK* ÖZET: Bu makalede veri toplama aracı olarak sosyal bi- actors talk to a specific and conscious purpose." limler ve egitimde yapılan araştırmalarda sıkça kullanılan Channel and Kahn (1968) defined interview as görüşme ve anket teknikleri incelenmiştir. Önce her iki tek- nigin tanımlan ve türleri üzerinde durulmuştur. Daha sonra "a two-person conversation initiated by the görüşmeler ve anketler çeşitli yönlerden karşılaştırılmıştır. interviewer for the specific purpose of obtaining Bu karşılaştırma maliyet, süre, planlama, örneklem büyüklü- research-relevant information, and focused by ğü ve örnekleme, istenilen bilgiye ulaşma, yanlılık, gizlilik, him on content specified by research objectives yanıtlama oranı, geçerlik, güvenirlik ve verilerin analizi öl- of systematic description, prediction, or expla- çütlerine göre yapılmıştır. Son olarak, her iki teknigin avan- nation" [cited in (2): p.271]. tajlan ve dezavantajları bir tabloda özetlenmiştir. ANAHTAR SÖZCÜKLER: Görüşmeler. Anketler, At its simplest form, a questionnaire is no Araştırma Yöntemleri. more than a list of questions to which answers are being sought. However, to assure that mis- understandings or ambiguities in the questioning ABSTRACT: In this artide, as data collecting tools inter- are reduced to aminimum, and to enable data to views and questionnairesused in social science and educa- tional researches were examined. Firstly, the definitions be compared across the members of a sample, a and types of both techniques were discussed. Then intre- number of different ways of presenting ques- views and questionnaires were compared in terms of vari- tions have been developed (3). ous aspects. These comparasions were made regarding cost, time, schedule, sample size and sampling, access to When constructing questions for interviews information, bias, anonimity and confidentiaIty, response and questionnaires, Foddy (4) emphasizes that rate, validity, reliability and data anaIysis. FinaIly, the the researcher must elearly define the topic of advantages and disadvantages of both techniques were each question, determine the applicability of the summarised in a table. question to each respondent, and specify the per- KEY WORDS : lnterviews, Questionnaires. Research spective for responding to the question. Methods. 1.2. Types of Interviews 1. INTRODUCTION When we look at the structured interviews, they can be the structured or unstructured. There are different types of interviews and questionnaires, In this artiele, interviews will be The structured interviews are that a list of investigated in terms of being structured or questions is asked the answers recorded on a unstructured. AIso questionnaires will be inves- standardized schedule. The content and proce- tigated regarding its types which are 'self- dures are organized in advance for questioning. administered' and 'mailed' questionnaires, The sequence and wording of the questions are determined by means of a schedule and the 1.1. Definitions of Interviews and interviewer is not allowed to make any changes. Questionnaires Fontana and Frey (5) emphasize that "There is generally little room for variation in response Interview is a kind of conversation and as except where an infrequent open-ended question Hull (l) tells us ".. .but of Particularkind, where mav be used". Also thev add "There is verv * Research Assistant. Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Primary Teaching.-Beytepe 06532 ANKARA 2 Burcu Akbayrak [ J. of Ed LS little flexibility in the way questions are asked or "Without doubt, themail questionnaire is gener- answered" . ally cheaper than other methods" and they con- The unstructured interviews, contrary the tinue by quoting from Selltiz et.al structured interview is an open situation and so "Questionnaires can be sent through the mail; having greater flexibilityand freedom. Although interviewers cannoL" There are traveling and research questions determine the questions to be existence expenses to be occurred, as well as asked, their content, sequence and wording are payments to the interviews and interviewers. entirely left to the interviewer. However, this Interviewers have to be organized and trained does not mean that the unstructured interview is which requires a field-work organization when a more casual thing, and for in its own way it interviewers are distributed all over the country . must be carefully planned (2). Granström (11: p.353) has found this factor as a difficulty in his research and he indicates that 1.3. Types of Questionnaires "About twice as many teacher applied, for There are two different types of question- which reason selection was based on practical factors, such as timetables and travelIina naires, namely the mail, and self administered to questionnaires. expenses." As a result, he had to reduce the sam- ple size. As its name implies that mail questionnaires prepared questionnaire which are mail ed to the In some cases, interviewers leave or quit the respondents whose names and addresses survey. In this case the replacement of them pre- obtained regarding sample with co ver letter sents some difficulties and cost some extra explaining the purpose of the survey emphasis- money. The interviewing of particular sample, ing how valuable the respondenfs completion of such as following of the graduates of a school the questionnaire. A self addressed and stamped after five or ten years of graduation may be very envelope for retums can also be included. expensive. The self-administered questionnaire is pre- The main advantage of the mailed question- sented to the respondents by the researcher or by naire is its cheapness. Since it does not require a someone in an official position such as schools' trained staff or the field workers, the payments headteachers. Holroyd and Harlen (9: p. 326) to them and their travel expenses do not exisL say that "Headteachers distributed the question- Furthermore, all it requires the cost of planning naires to teachers of pupils. ." The purpose of and piloting, printing expenses, sampling, and the questionnaire is explained, and then the mailing, providing stamped, self-addressed respondents is left alone to complete the ques- envelops for the retums. However, there is a tionnaire, which may be sent or collected later. danger of low response rate in mail question- This method assures a high response rate, accu- naire that it can make the survey expensive. rate sampling, and minimum of bias, providing "...the response to a mail survey may be so low necessary explanations and giying the benefit of that the cost per completed questionnaire is personal contact (6). higher than with an interview sample." (10: p.257). Another advantage of the questionnaires is that their data processing and analysis is 2. THE COMPARISON OF INTER- cheaper than that of interviews. VIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES 2.2. Time 2.1. Cost The main disadvantage of interview is that it Interviews cost more money than question- requires a great amount of time to collect infor- naires. Moser and Kalton (10: p.256) tell us mation. Because it takes several interviews with A Comparison ofTwo Data Collecting Methods: lnterviews and Questionnaires 3 different people before asimilar, a set of ques- requires less than 30 minutes to complete and, tions has been asked to individual respondent in preferably, less than 15 or 20 minutes. the survey. The actual interview session changes "Questionnaires were completed in about 20 in length and time. Any interview under half an minutes and no pupils refused to take part." (15: hour is unlikely to valuable; and an interview p. 309). A long and time-consuming question- taking more than an hour may be making unrea- naıre, as pointed out by Huse'n and sonable demands on busy interviews. So it can Postlethwaite (14: pA883) "... may cause a effect of reducing the number of persons to par- respondent to cease to cooperate after a period ticipate, which may in turn lead biases in the of answering questions. At best, one will receive sample. an incomplete questionnaire and, at worst, the Sharp (12: p.IO) admits that "Staff feel it is questionnaire will not be returned ." Therefore, important to allow time for students to feel at these factors influence the response rate, relia- ease during the interview, so interviews are bility and validity of the research. timed to last at least 30 minutes." AIso she quot- AIso, self-completed questionnaires, which ed from Howard Jones "Students who have been respondents fill in for themselves, are very effi- for interview at other colleges are often sur- cient in terms of researchers time and effort. prised at being gi yen this amount of time, but we Copies of the questionnaire could be distributed feel that it is important to give staff and students to all pupils in a school, or to the hundreds of time to find out about each other", Additionally, employees in firm, can be completed by them Mouton et.al (13) say that "Interviews took 45 and returned to the researcher about the same minutes to i hour and were completely volun- amount of time that it takes to complete a single tary ," it seems that choosing the voluntary sam- interview. ples is good solution for time-consuming in interview. 2.3. Schedule All interviews require careful preparation Interviews and questionnaires involve ques- that means time and effort. "Arrangements to tions to ask to the respondents. There are main- visit; securing necessary permission; confirming ly two types of questions, which are close-ended arrangements; rescheduIing appointments to and open-ended. The close-ended type where cover absences and crises; these need more time. the respondents choose from two or more alter- Notes to be writing up; tapes if used require native. The most frequently used is the dichoto- whole or partial transcription (one hour of tape mous question, which offers to a respondent time requires ten hours to transcribe fully)" (7: only two alternatives: 'yes-no' or 'agree-dis- p.
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