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-limler ve egitimde yapılan araştırmalarda sıkça kullanılangörüşme ve anket teknikleri incelenmiştir. Önce her iki tek-nigin tanımlan ve türleri üzerinde durulmuştur. Daha sonragörüşmeler ve anketler çeşitli yönlerden karşılaştırılmıştır.Bu karşılaştırma maliyet, süre, planlama, örneklem büyüklü-

ğü ve örnekleme, istenilen bilgiye ulaşma, yanlılık, gizlilik,yanıtlama oranı, geçerlik, güvenirlik ve verilerin analizi öl-

çütlerine göre yapılmıştır. Son olarak, her iki teknigin avan-tajlan ve dezavantajları bir tabloda özetlenmiştir.

ANAHTAR SÖZCÜKLER: Görüşmeler. Anketler,Araştırma Yöntemleri.

ABSTRACT: In this artide, as data collecting tools inter-views and questionnaires used in social science and educa-tional researches were examined. Firstly, the definitionsand types of both techniques were discussed. Then intre-views and questionnaires were compared in terms of vari-ous aspects. These comparasions were made regardingcost, time, schedule, sample size and sampling, access toinformation, bias, anonimity and confidentiaIty, responserate, validity, reliability and data anaIysis. FinaIly, theadvantages and disadvantages of both techniques weresummarised in a table.

KEY WORDS : lnterviews, Questionnaires. ResearchMethods.

1. INTRODUCTION

There are different types of interviews andquestionnaires, In this artiele, interviews will beinvestigated in terms of being structured orunstructured. AIso questionnaires will be inves-tigated regarding its types which are 'self-administered' and 'mailed' questionnaires,

1.1. Definitions of Interviews andQuestionnaires

Interview is a kind of conversation and asHull (l) tells us ".. .but of Particularkind, where

actors talk to a specific and conscious purpose."Channel and Kahn (1968) defined interview as"a two-person conversation initiated by theinterviewer for the specific purpose of obtainingresearch-relevant information, and focused byhim on content specified by research objectivesof systematic description, prediction, or expla-nation" [cited in (2): p.271].

At its simplest form, a questionnaire is nomore than a list of questions to which answersare being sought. However, to assure that mis-understandings or ambiguities in the questioningare reduced to aminimum, and to enable data tobe compared across the members of a sample, anumber of different ways of presenting ques-tions have been developed (3).

When constructing questions for interviewsand questionnaires, Foddy (4) emphasizes thatthe researcher must elearly define the topic ofeach question, determine the applicability of thequestion to each respondent, and specify the per-spective for responding to the question.

1.2. Types of Interviews

When we look at the structured interviews,they can be the structured or unstructured.

The structured interviews are that a list ofquestions is asked the answers recorded on astandardized schedule. The content and proce-dures are organized in advance for questioning.The sequence and wording of the questions aredetermined by means of a schedule and theinterviewer is not allowed to make any changes.Fontana and Frey (5) emphasize that "There isgenerally little room for variation in responseexcept where an infrequent open-ended question

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. ofEd LS

little flexibility in the way questions are asked oranswered" .

The unstructured interviews, contrary thestructured interview is an open situation and sohaving greater flexibilityand freedom. Althoughresearch questions determine the questions to beasked, the ir content, sequence and wording areentirely left to the interviewer. However, thisdoes not mean that the unstructured interview isa more casual thing, and for in its own way itmust be carefully planned (2).

1.3. Types of Questionnaires

There are two different types of question-naires, namely the mail, and self administeredquestionnaires.

As its name implies that mail questionnairesprepared questionnaire which are mail ed to therespondents whose names and addressesobtained regarding sample with co ver letterexplaining the purpose of the survey emphasis-ing how valuable the respondenfs completion ofthe questionnaire. A self addressed and stampedenvelope for retums can also be included.

The self-administered questionnaire is pre-sented to the respondents by the researcher or bysomeone in an official position such as schools'headteachers. Holroyd and Harlen (9: p. 326)say that "Headteachers distributed the question-naires to teachers of pupils. . ." The purpose ofthe questionnaire is explained, and then therespondents is left alone to complete the ques-tionnaire, which may be sent or collected later.This method assures a high response rate, accu-rate sampling, and minimum of bias, providingnecessary explanations and giying the benefit ofpersonal contact (6).

2. THE COMPARISON OF INTER-VIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES

2.1. Cost

Interviews cost more money than question-naires. Moser and Kalton (10: p.256) tell us

"Without doubt, themail questionnaire is gener-ally cheaper than other methods" and they con-tinue by quoting from Selltiz et.al"Questionnaires can be sent through the mail;interviewers cannoL" There are traveling andexistence expenses to be occurred, as well aspayments to the interviews and interviewers.Interviewers have to be organized and trainedwhich requires a field-work organization wheninterviewers are distributed all over the country .Granström (11: p.353) has found this factor as adifficulty in his research and he indicates that"About twice as many teacher applied, forwhich reason selection was based on practicalfactors, such as timetables and travelIina

toexpenses." As a result, he had to reduce the sam-ple size.

In some cases, interviewers leave or quit thesurvey. In this case the replacement of them pre-sents some difficulties and cost some extramoney. The interviewing of particular sample,such as following of the graduates of a schoolafter five or ten years of graduation may be veryexpensive.

The main advantage of the mailed question-naire is its cheapness. Since it does not require atrained staff or the field workers, the paymentsto them and their travel expenses do not exisLFurthermore, all it requires the cost of planningand piloting, printing expenses, sampling, andmailing, providing stamped, self-addressedenvelops for the retums. However, there is adanger of low response rate in mail question-naire that it can make the survey expensive."...the response to a mail survey may be so lowthat the cost per completed questionnaire ishigher than with an interview sample." (10:p.257). Another advantage of the questionnairesis that their data processing and analysis ischeaper than that of interviews.

2.2. Time

The main disadvantage of interview is that itrequires a great amount of time to collect infor-

mation. Because it takes several interviews with

A Comparison ofTwo Data Collecting Methods: lnterviews and Questionnaires

different people before asimilar, a set of ques-tions has been asked to individual respondent inthe survey. The actual interview session changesin length and time. Any interview under half anhour is unlikely to valuable; and an interviewtaking more than an hour may be making unrea-sonable demands on busy interviews. So it caneffect of reducing the number of persons to par-ticipate, which may in turn lead biases in thesample.

Sharp (12: p.IO) admits that "Staff feel it isimportant to allow time for students to feel atease during the interview, so interviews aretimed to last at least 30 minutes." AIso she quot-ed from Howard Jones "Students who have beenfor interview at other colleges are often sur-prised at being gi yen this amount of time, but wefeel that it is important to give staff and studentstime to find out about each other", Additionally,Mouton et.al (13) say that "Interviews took 45minutes to i hour and were completely volun-tary ," it seems that choosing the voluntary sam-ples is good solution for time-consuming ininterview.

All interviews require careful preparationthat means time and effort. "Arrangements tovisit; securing necessary permission; confirmingarrangements; rescheduIing appointments tocover absences and crises; these need more time.Notes to be writing up; tapes if used requirewhole or partial transcription (one hour of tapetime requires ten hours to transcribe fully)" (7:p. 230). AIso, the analyzing and transcribingrequires time.

Regarding the time for the completion aquestionnaire, Huse'n and Postlethwaite (14)suggest that for adults 30 minutes is about theupper limit that can be expected in the way ofanswering time when questionnaires are admin-istered in group setting. " When questionnairesare mail ed to respondents, about 15 minutesappears to be the limit to the respondent time.Questionnaires administered to students mayneed to be shorter and require less time." (14:pA883). Therefore, the full questionnaire should

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requires less than 30 minutes to complete and,preferably, less than 15 or 20 minutes."Questionnaires were completed in about 20minutes and no pupils refused to take part." (15:p. 309). A long and time-consuming question-naıre, as pointed out by Huse'n andPostlethwaite (14: pA883) "... may cause arespondent to cease to cooperate after a periodof answering questions. At best, one will receivean incomplete questionnaire and, at worst, thequestionnaire will not be returned ." Therefore,these factors influence the response rate, relia-bility and validity of the research.

AIso, self-completed questionnaires, whichrespondents fill in for themselves, are very effi-cient in terms of researchers time and effort.Copies of the questionnaire could be distributedto all pupils in a school, or to the hundreds ofemployees in firm, can be completed by themand returned to the researcher about the sameamount of time that it takes to complete a singleinterview.

2.3. Schedule

Interviews and questionnaires involve ques-tions to ask to the respondents. There are main-ly two types of questions, which are close-endedand open-ended. The close-ended type wherethe respondents choose from two or more alter-native. The most frequently used is the dichoto-mous question, which offers to a respondentonly two alternatives: 'yes-no' or 'agree-dis-agree'. According to Kerlinger the chief advan-tage of this type question is that it has greateruniformity of measurement and so has higherreliability; making respondents answer in a man-ner fitting the response category; and beingmore easily coded. Their superficiality, the pos-sibility of irritating respondents who find noneof the alternatives suitable, and the possibility offoreing responses that are inappropriate can befound their disadvantages [cited in (2)],

The open-ended type which supply a frameof referenee for the respondents' answers but puta minimum control on the answers and their

4 Burcu Akbayrak [ 1. ofEd ]8

expression. In an interview, the open-endedquestions obtain several advantages: theyareflexible; they allow the interviewer to probe sothat he/she may go into more depth if he/shedecides, or to elear up any misunderstandings;they also enable the interviewer to test the limitsof the respondents knowledge; they encourageco-operation and help to establish rapport; andfinally they allow the interviewer to make a truerassessment of the what the respondent believesor thinks.

Sometimes researchers use mixed questionstype in their questionnaires or interviews (16),(9), (13). Clement explains the reason of this as

"The last section of each questionnaire was leftopen so that Headteachers and assistant teacherscould add their personal comments in responseto the Statutory Orders for art." (16: p.5).

2.4. Sample Size and Sampling

Sampling is very strict regarding the numberof observations (interviewees and respondentsof questionnaires) needed from a given popula-tion to make reliable estimates on given charac-teristics of this population. Determining thesample size is very important problem and itdepends on many factorso In order to determinethe sample size the researcher must know thevariance of the characteristics to be examined inthe population. Psacharopoulos (19) recom-mends that 5 to 10% sample sizes are to be ade-quate for most surveys. Here, the importantthing is that it is not the size of the sample butmore important is that it should be representa-tive and random.

Another advantages of mailed question-naires is that a much larger sample can be co v-ered at modest increase in cost and that the sam-pling can be more accurate and representative ofits population. Since a questionnaire can beaddressed to a particular respondent, whereasthe interviewer has to find the right individual athome in a particular household or in a workplace (20).

In an interview, regarding its type the sam-

ple sıze must be reduced. As an example,Schenk (21) has reduced her sample group to getdepth information. "Structured interviews with50 experienced designers were conducted andsupplemented by shorter, focused interviewswith 20 junior designers." (21: p. 74). Depthinformation means time and effort. Anotherexample, Tizard and Hughes had to reduce theirsample size because of the process of recordingand transcribing of children conversations wasmuch more time-consuming than they had antic-ipated [cited in 22].

2.5. Access to Iiıformation

Whatever data collecting technique is usedwhether questionnaire or interview technique, itneeds some information supplied by respon-dents. Types of information required depends onthe purposes of the interviews and question-naires. The problem which faces the researcheris to find the right respondent. One e theresearcher finds the right respondent/s, he/sh ecan ask the questions orally or written and thengets the answers. The respondent should havethe information or data that the researcher isseeking. In this case, af ter reaching the intervie-wee, it seems easy to access to informationinterviews. However, this requires asking theright questions.

There are different types of questions usedin interviews. One type of question is known as'filter' questions. (20: p.38) explains that "itstarts off with a broad question and then pro-gressively narrows down the scope off the ques-tions until it comes to some very specific point."He continues that, a filter question is used toexclude a respondent from a particular questionsequence if those questions are irrelevant to him.On the other hand,many open-ended questionswill produce a good deal of information that is~ot relevant to the purpose of survey.

Interviewing requires that all information ina respondent's answer is expIicit. As Dyer (3:p .57) points out that "the aim of an interview is

to draw from an interviewee a range of informa-

A Comparison ofTwo Data Collecting Methods: lnterviews and Questionnaires

tion which includes impIicit knowledge. One ofthe aims of interview may be to bring as much aspossible of this implicit knowledge out into theopen, and to make it explicit."

Apart from that, interviewer is able toanswer questions conceming the purpose of theinterview, and the interviewee may be put at ina way that is possible with questionnaire. Thismay result accessing to more reliable informa-tion. On the other hand, in a questionnaire thereis no way of determining how the respondentfilled the questionnaire. It is also possible thatthe questionnaire may be have been filled byindividual other than the real respondent.

2.6. Bias

Questionnaires and interviews are prone todistortion of data because of the presence ofbias. One of the disadvantages of close-endedquestionnaire is the source of bias. Since theresearcher force respondents to choose one orsome predetermined altematives and to makethem consider on alternatives that mayberespondents never think about them.

it seems that interviews are prone more biasthan questionnaires because of the interviewerfactor. As Selltiz et .al (1962) point out, "inter-viewers are human beings and not machines"[cited in (18): p.95)]. Bias can be present inwording questions and in the manner that theyare expressed. As Oppenheim (20: p.31-32)points out that the interview has several sourcesof biases.

"The interviewer may give an inklingof her opinion or expectations by her toneof voice, the way she reads questions, orsimply by her appearance, dress and accent.She may unwittingly influence the respon-dent by pausing expectantly at certainpoints, by probing with leading questions,and by agreeing with the respondent in aneffort to maintain rapport. Her own expec-tations and her selective understandingsand recording of the answers may producebias. An interviewer may misunderstand of

5

faH to obey instructions; she may show sur-prise or boredom in tone or emphasis or inother ways unconsciously communicate herown attitudes and her expectations of theresponden!' s attitudes. Questions con-cerned with 'delicate' issues raise specialproblems."

The main sources of bias are the characteris-tics of the interviewer and the characteristics ofthe respondents, and the content of the ques-tions. Studies have also show n that race, reli-gion, age and social class can be potentialsources of bias. There are some ways of reduc-ing bias, which are the careful formulation ofquestions so that the meaning is very clear; thor-ough training procedures so that an intervieweris more aware of possible problems; probabiIitysampIing of respondents; and sometimes bymatching interviewer characteristics with thoseof the sample being interviewed (2).

Some of the problems mentioned above canbe extended by suitable selection and training ofinterviewers, by careful preparation of the inter-view schedule control, and by supervision of theinterview process. However, some other biasesmay exist and they can influence the results ofthe interview to an unknown degree.

2.7. Anonymity

Anonymity is one of the features sought inquestionnaires. As Psacharopoulos (19: p.162)indicates that "it is more often that question-naires start by asking the name of the respon-dents and his address. On the contrary, anony-mous questionnaires generate a higher and bet-ter quality response, especially on the incomeand second job question.". This is very impor-tant in case of asking questions about one's pri-vate life.

Data obtained from the interviews and ques-tionnaires should always be regarded as confi-dential as possible, in the sense that no respons-es or results should ever be published whichcould identify certain respondents. To get this

6 Burcu Akbayrak [ J. ofEd 18

result respondents should be given assurance tothis effect and a guarantee of anonymity. Forexample, Boulton (23: p.440) to facilitate honestanswers and to comply with ethical standardsfrom a sample of 8-10 year-olds, informed thechildren that ".. .their responses would not becommunicated to anybody from their schooL."and he continues by "At the outset of the inter-view, it was pointed out that it was not a test, asthere were no right or wrong answers, and that itwas acceptable for the children to say whateverthey wanted in response to the questions."

This is very important aspect of the inter-views and questionnaires. The anonymous mailquestionnaires give a greater portion of sociallyunacceptable responses than face-to-face inter-views. If possible the names of the respondentsshould not be asked to write or requested to signthe questionnaires.

2.8. Confidentiality

Confidentiality is also sensitiye factor bothin an interview and questionnaires. Few peoplecan be openhearted in front of the audience. Toget confidentiality quite and suitable places, forexample not child's own classroom, should beobtained for interviewing (23).

The qualitative data obtained in the inter-views is highly accessible. Since it consists ofverbal descriptions, which can be read by any-one. Therefore, it is very essential to take greatcare to maintain the confidentiality of the writ-ten records. This requires that all records shouldbe such that there is no possibility that source ofthe information can ever be identified. This canbe achieved by removing the names of therespondents from all documents. if it should benecessary to have a record of a respondent's per-sonal knowledge, these should be kept entire1yseparate from the data, and there should be noway that a casual or curious reader could con-nect them. This role should be regarded asabsolute even when respondents give permis-

sion for their names to be used. As Dyer (3:p.63) points out that "Beyond this minimum,

every researcher should satisfy himself that allpersonal information, such as place ofresidence,occupation, and the like, which could lead to anidentification, and which is not absolutely essen-tial to the topic of inquiry, has either beenremoved or effectively disguised." For example,Holroyd and Harlen (9: p.326) have assured theconfidentiality of the questionnaires to the sam-ple group. "Teachers were fully informed of theaims of the research and the procedure that wasadopted for the return of completed question-naires ensured confidentiality."

During the interview respondents tells theinterviewer things that they never intended totell. Interviews can become confessions, partic-ularly under the promise of confidentiality.Therefore, the power of interviewing can put theinterviewees at risk. As Patton (8: p.355)emphasizes that "The interviewer needs to havean ethical framework for dealing with suchissues ."

2.9. Response Rate

One of the other disadvantages of mail edquestionnaires is the fact that, they usually pro-duce lower response rate (19). "Depending onthe subject of the questionnaire, for the uninter-ested group s , figures of 40 per cent to 60 percent are typical; even in surveys of interestedgroups, 80 per cent is seldom" (20: p.34).

A study was carried out by Krysan and et aL.(24) to ascertain the response rates and responsecontent in mail versus face-to-face surveys.They concluded that, thernail surveyobtained aconsiderably lower response rate than the face-to-face interview.

Dillman and et. al (25) have conducted anexperimental study to determine the relativeeffects of questionnaire length, respondent-friendly questionnaire design, and a difficultquestion on response rates. They have found that"the shortening questionnaire and respondent-friendly questionnaire design improve responserate, whereas asking a potentially questionsand/or objectionable questions,..., lowers

A Comparison ofTwo Data Collecting Methods: lnterviews and Questionnaires

response." (25: p.289). Interestingly, Scott (26)has found no significant evidence to this view.Also he supported his findings with two otherexperiments (Brown,1960 and Sletto,1940).Sletto sent questionnaires to three differentgroup of 100 graduate students. Questionnaireswere 10 pages, 25 pages and 35 pages.Surprisingly, the response rates were respective-ly 68 per cent, 60 per cent, and 63 per cent.Hence, there was no clear evidence of a cleardecline in response regarding the questionnairelength (cited in (26): p. 168)]. Unfortunately,there was not recent research mentioning thisissue available.

Scott (26) has found in his research that theofficial sponsorship is one of the main factorsaffecting the high response rate. The similar evi-dence has found in Holroyd and Harlen' sresearch in 1996 (9). They explain that "Withthe valuable cooperation of the directors of AAPscience project, questionnaires were mailed tothe 119 schools...Replies were received 99schools, that is, 83 per cent of the AAP sample.lt is not possible to give a precise .figure for thereturn from the teacher population targeted sincethe exact number of possible respondents ineach school is not known. Thanks to the strate-gy of cooperation with AAP these r'esponse

rates are unusually high for a questionnaire sur-vey." (9: p.326).

The refusal rate for personal interviews istypically very much smailer than non-responserate for postal questionnaires. Although a goodplanning of the questionnaires can increase theresponse rate for the questionnaires, this remainsa major problem. The basic point is that theresearcher has little or no knowledge about theviews and characteristics of those who do notresponse, which can seriously reduce any claimsto generalizability (7: p.237).

Another aspect of the response rate is therelationship between respondent age andresponse. Arecent study was carried out byKaldenberg, Koenig, and Becker (27) to exam-ine the relationship between age and response

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rates to mail surveys (mail questionnaires). Theyworked on a random sample of 1, 000 retiredpublic employees in a large western city. A four-page questionnaire booklet of Dillman (1978)design was mailed to the sample. They conclud-ed that"... age, within elderly population, doeshave a significant impact on response rate to amail questionnaire Mail surveys can beadministered successfully to elderly populationsand a reasonable overall response ratemay beobtained-but only if appropriate precautions aretaken." (27: p.75-76).

2.10. Validity

"High validity dem ands high reliability, butthe reverse is not true. In practice, high reliabil-ity is found to give comfort to research workerseven where validity is clearly the crucialissue..." (26: p.179).

Although there are different type of validity,inferences about the validity of interviews aremade on the basis of face validity, that is,whether the questions asked look as if theyaremeasuring what they claim to measure. One wayof validating interview measures is to comparethe interview measure with another measure thathas already been shown to be valid. If two mea-sures agree, it can be concluded that the validityof the interview is comparable with the reliablevalidity of the other measure.

Ross bases an interview's validity on theoral proficiency of an interviewee. "The validityof the interview as a legitimate interactionalprocess depends crucially on the interfacebetween the way language is used for the pur-pose of communication in the interview and howthis use represents the extent and quality of lin-guistic accommodation in native-non-native dis-course." (28: p.175).

Perhaps the most practical way of increasingthe validity of the interviews is to minimize theamount of bias as much as possible.

1 The Scottish Office Education Department funds theAssesment of Achievement Program (AAP)

8 Burcu Akbayrak

The validity of a questionnaire concems theextent to which it is actually capable of provid-ing information, which it claims to provideo Inanather words, data obtained by a questionnairesurveyare valid if they measure what theyaresupposed to measure. Typical examples of non-validity refer to high sampling error, the age andproductivity questions (19).

The important point is that, general ques-tion s about the validity of a questionnaire are notreally meaningful when theyare consideredwithout purpose of the questionnaire. Theresearcher needs to know which types of validi-ty is being applied as a criterion, and what pur-pose the data obtained from the questionnaireare intended to serve.

2.11. Reliability

One of the characteristics sought in anymeasuring device is the reliability. The reliabili-ty of a questionnaire is concemed with theextent to which procedure is capable of return-ing an accurate result despite the presence ofsame factors, which may influence the outcomein one directian or anather. A reliable question-naire would be one, which is capable of giyingthe same result when given to the same individ-uals on different time. In anather words, a reli-able questionnaire or even any measuring toolshould be free from the measurement errors.

Reliability of a questionnaire can be accom-plished in two ways. One approach is to ask thesame question that was presented early in thequestionnaire in the same or slightly differentform in the questionnaire. This approach gives amodest consistency check but does not take intoaccount variations in time. The second approachis to re-administer a questionnaire to the samegroup of respondents several days later andcompare the results that were obtained. Munck(1991) made a study of 9-year aıds in Sweden.Munck's results present a striking example ofthe amount of unreliability inherent in question-naires. For the three items used in the question-naire, she found the "kappa carrelation"0.98,0.77, and0041. [citedin (14) p. 4886)]. Huse'n

[ J. ofEd 18

and Postlethwaite concluded that "Correlationsof other socioeconomic variables were equallylaw, suggesting that there is a considerableamount of error in response to questionnaireitems. it is important that research workers orplan to use questionnaires investigate for mea-surement error so that the results obtained fromquestionnaires can be used with confidence orcorrection for unreliability made in analysis."

In order to assess the reliability, a smailnumber of children were re-interviewed byBoulton (23: pA41) between 3 and 5 days afterthe initial interview. "For each individual child,a high Kappa value was obtained, and the meanacross all 15 children was 0.89. These resultssupport the view that children's nominations..."

Mareaver, oral proficiency is powerful fac-tar for reliability and validity of an interview.Because oral proficiency has be en on the relia-bility of the ratings, perhaps at the expense ofthe validity of the interview format (28).

2.12. Data Analysis

When data are collected through either inter-views or questionnaires, the task of the analysisbegins. The analysis of quantitative data is rela-tively easy and can be accomplished through theuse of descriptive and inferential statistics.Qualitative data, obtained from open-endedquestions is rather more difficult to code andanalyze, since it is difficult to categorize theresponses.

One of the main problem s of interpretingqualitative data is that it rapidly seems tobecome very large. Researchers indicate the dif-ficulty of transcribing of an interview. These areexamples, "Half a dozen interviews can producehours of transcriptian work and document col-lection rapidly fill several files" (29: p.251)."One hour tape recording means seven or tenhour transcribing" (30).

Data obtained from interviews are difficultto bring them together and analyze. if the inter-views are systematized and standardized such asstmctured interviews, this facilitates coding data

Criteria Interviews QuestionnairesAdvantages Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages

Access to information t/ XAnonymity X t/Application Skill X t/Bias X t/Confidentiality X t/Cost X t/Data Analysis X t/Flexibility t/ XReliability t/ XResDonse Rate t/ XSample size and Sampling X t/Time X t/Validity t/ X

A Comparison ofTwo Data Collecting Methods: lnterviews and Questionnaires

and analysis of data through computers.However, this provides less flexibilityand lesssensitiye to individual differences.

if the questionnaire has been well designedand constructed, the time needed to code andanalyze responses can be short, partieularly ifthe computer cmıing or analysis is available.The data are necessarily superficial. There littleor no check on the honesty or seriousness ofresponses. In the questionnaires consist of

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elosed end questions, responses have to limited

into predetermined boxes which may or may not

be appropriate.

The relative advantages and disadvantages

of interviews and questionnaires are summa-

rized in Table 1. It seems that one advantage of

one techniques is the disadvantage of the other

technique. it cannot be elaimed that one tech-

nique is better than the other.

Table ı. A Summary of Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviews and Questionnaires

Meaning of symbols: tl' Advantage )( Disadvantage

3. CONCLUSION

This artiele has attempted to describe whatinterviews and questionnaires are; how andwhere theyare used; what their types and majorcharacteristics are; and finally what advantagesand disadvantages they have.

Interview is a controlled conversation thatthe interviewer obtains data required for the sur-vey from the respondent by means of askingserious questions verbally. During the course ofinterview nonverbal messages are also presentand need to be interpreted. Complex cognİtive,affectiye and social feelings are involved ininterviews.

A questionnaire is a self-report instrumentused for collecting information needed for the

survey. It consists of a number of questions oritems on paper that respondents reads and givesanswers in written form.

Both techniques have certain advantages anddisadvantages. It seems that an advantage ofquestionnaire is the disadvantage of interview.Furthermore, a disadvantage of questionnaire isthe advantage of interview . it cannot be said thatone technique is superior to other. Which tech-nique should be used depends on the purposes ofthe research and the variables involved. In somecases combination of both two techniques mightbe the best way to provide a powerful researchstrategy instead of trusting on onlyone tech-nique. if researcher wants to know not only the

respondents' think but also how they feel andthink, he/she should use interview method.

LO Burcu Akbayrak[

J. ofEd 18

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