TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter reviews the main methods of data collection for primary research. Interview methods are the most widely used, and there are several ways in which interviews can be conducted. These methods involve personal, face-to-face contact between the interviewer and the respondent, and can therefore be both expensive and time-consuming. The non-personal contact research methods attempt to overcome these problems, but in doing so, other problems arise. The major non-personal contact methods are postal research, diary panels, telephone research and observation research. Data is now often gathered using electronic media including laptop or palmtop computers. The Internet is becoming a major data collection method. There is still some uncertainty about the reliability of the Internet as a data collection method.
Interviews are the most flexible of data collection methods. They are of general application for differing information requirements and differing situations and as a result are very widely used. They can be divided into two categories: those that require direct personal contact between the interviewer and respondents, and those where the contact is through nonpersonal and indirect means, such as postal questionnaires or the telephone.
The advantage of the personal contact methods is that they normally produce a high response rate, and this means that error, which might be introduced by many people refusing to co-operate in the survey, is minimized. The main disadvantage of the personal contact interview is that it is expensive. Survey costs are influenced by the complexity of...
