Microsoft Word research method fm doc

 
Interviews and self-administered questionnaires
Interviews may be less or more structured. A public health worker conducting interviews 
may be armed with a checklist of topics, but may not decide in advance precisely what 
questions he will ask. If his approach is flexible; the content, wording and order of his 
questions vary from interview to interview. Hence, his interviews are relatively unstructured. 
On the other hand, if a more standardized technique where the wording and order of the 
questions being decided in advance is used, it may take the form of a highly structured 
interview. 
Self-administered questionnaire:
the respondent reads the questions and fills in the 
answers by himself (sometimes in the presence of an interviewer who “stands by” to give 
assistance if necessary. 
The use of self-administered questionnaires is simpler and cheaper, such questionnaires can 
be administered to many persons simultaneously. 

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Research methodology 
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Example: 
• to students of a school
• they can also be sent by post unlike interviews. 
However, they demand a certain level of education on the part of the respondent. 
 
On the other hand, interviews have many advantages: 
• A good interviewer can stimulate and maintain the respondents interest
the frank answering of questions. 
• If anxiety is aroused (e.g., why am I being asked these questions?), the interviewer 
can allay it. 
• An interviewer can repeat questions which are not understood, and give standardized 
explanations where necessary. 
• An interviewer can ask “follow-up” or “probing” questions to clarify a response. 
• An interviewer can make observations during the interview; i.e.,, note is taken not only 
of what the subject says but also how he says it. 
In general, apart from their expense, interviews are preferable to self-administered 
questionnaires provided that they are conducted by skilled interviewers.