FORUM PART 3 1
Forum 3: Part 1 Question 9.6
School of Business, Liberty University
FORUM PART 3 2
Forum 3: Part 1 Question 9.6 (Group 2)
In the following situations, decide whether you would use a personal interview, telephone
survey, or self-administered survey. Give your reasons.
Surveys are a fundamental part of research because gathering information to reach an
objective. The main way of gathering information is by asking people questions; their answers
constitute the data to be analyzed (Fowler, 2014). “For we cannot but speak the things which we
have seen and heard” (King James Bible, 1769/2020, Act 4:20). Surveys produce statistics
quantitative or numerical descriptions about some aspects of the study population (Fowler,
2014). Generally, information is collected about only a fraction of the population sample rather
than from every member of the population (Fowler, 2014).
The three primary categories of surveys as follows: self-administered, personal
interview, and via phone call. “Self-administered survey is a structured interview experience
designed to be completed without an interviewer” (Schindler, 2019, p.203). It can include mail
surveys, web surveys, and interactive voice response surveys conducted via telephone (Jong,
2016). This method is the least expensive survey because it gets costly to administer using
interviews either by telephone or face-to-face. The next is a personal interview where an
interviewer calls on or meet with the respondent and interviews by reading questions and
recording the answer (Schröder, 2016). This interview can be recorded by paper and pencil or
computer-assisted personal interview where the interviewer reads from the screen and enter the
information on the computer (Schröder, 2016). Last but not least, a telephone survey which is
considered face-to-face, but with only the voice. This can be conducted by either cellular phone
or landline. Researchers must choose which method is best based on the type of research, area,
time constraints, and other factors with the possibility of hindering the study. “So that thou
FORUM PART 3 3
incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding” (King James Bible,
1769/2020, Proverbs 2:2).
a. A survey of the residents of a new subdivision on why they happened to select that area in
which to live. You also wish to secure some information about what they like and do not
like about life in the subdivision.
A subdivision is a small portion of a neighborhood, making it a fraction of the population
to conduct the research. The interviewer will screen the participants to make sure the participants
are only residents of the subdivision. The personal interview is the best to get face-to-face
because the interviewer will have a better chance of receiving an honest response to the
questions of why select the area and likes and dislikes. It will minimize response errors and
collect valuable information, even though it can very time consuming and costly, it will be worth
it.
b. A poll of students at Metro University on their preferences among three candidates who
are running for president of the student government.
For this particular survey, a self-administered survey would be recommended. The self-
administered questionnaire would be most beneficial because the preference among the students
should be unbiased and should be done anonymously since they are running for a position within
the school. A self-administered questionnaire would be an efficient way to collect a lot of
information from a large population. It will also be less time consuming and a quicker way to get
college students to participate in the survey.
c. A survey of 58 wholesale grocery companies, scattered over the eastern United States, on
their personnel management policies for warehouse personnel.
FORUM PART 3 4
Since the companies are scattered, a telephone interview would be the most cost-efficient
way to cover a large geographical area. This will also allow different stores to share how to
conduct business and policies. Face-to-face personal interviews will not cost-efficient because
the companies are spread apart. Telephone interviews would be the best face-to-face via voice for
the researcher to receive more information and able to tailor their questions to the initial
responses.
d. A survey of financial officers of the Fortune 500 corporations to learn their predictions
for the economic outlook in their industries in the next year.
A recommendation to utilize personal interviews to conduct this study. Since this has to
do with money, participants’ opinions should not be addressed in a telephone interview or a self-
administered questionnaire. Securing a time to sit down with the participants for an individual
depth interview for at least 20 minutes can decrease chances of distractions and more opportunity
to honest answers and a chance to observe reactions to tailor questions for other participants.
e. A survey of applicant requirements, job tasks, and performance expectations as part of a
job analysis of student work-study jobs on a college campus of 2,000 students, where 1,500
are involved in the work-study program.
It would be recommended to conduct a self-administered questionnaire because there are
over 1000 students to be interviewed. That is a lot of students to seat with for twenty minutes to
an hour, making it very time consuming. A self-administered questionnaire consists of some pre-
determined questions which may not be sufficient to collect in a personal interview. A personal
interview would not be a good option because removing over one thousand students from class
to conduct a survey would be difficult to schedule because of the fluctuations of different
FORUM PART 3 5
schedules. It will be a daunting task to get them to show up. Providing the students with a
questionnaire as part of the work-study would enhance the response rate, and this would allow
some flexibility to the participants.
FORUM PART 3 6
References
Fowler, F. J. (2014). Survey Research Methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage
Publications
Jong, J. (2016). Data Collection: Self-Administered Surveys. Guidelines for Best Practice in
Cross-Cultural Surveys. http://www.ccsg.isr.umich.edu/.
King James Bible. (2020). King James Bible Online.
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original work published 1769)
Schindler, P. S. (2019). Business research methods (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Schröder, J. (2016). GESIS Survey Guidelines: Face-to-Face Surveys. Leibniz Institute for the
Social Sciences. https://doi: 10.15465/gesis-sg_en_005
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
