SOC 232 Lecture Notes - Social Desirability Bias
Document Summary
Structured interviews have to deal with interviewer effects: The characteristics of the interviewer may influence the responses given. Sex, social class, and race of interviewer are key reactive issues. Face-to-face interviewing is the preferred method in academic research. Data gathered through face-to-face interviews is argued to be a superior quality to that of telephone interviews. Cheaper and quicker to administer, especially where the respondents are geographically spread out. Easier to supervise to reduce interviewer errors up front. Reduced issue with confidentiality that exists with taped interviews. Find out whats going on in the english speaking world: weaknesses. May exclude people without telephones (poor), unlisted numbers", cell phones, and the hearing impaired unless a computer random-digit-dialling program is used. (this is prohibited by law in some areas. ) Hard to sustain for long periods of time (20 25 minutes). Personal interviews tend to be more effective with sensitive issues. Less peripheral information available to work with to assess for understanding.
