Okay. Let's move on to in-person surveys.
In-person surveys are used for quantitative research if you
want to capture a larger group of people that meet a certain criteria.
Like parents of students in a school district.
Usually, the respondents have living conditions and
personal or private information that may
impact an important change that needs to be made.
The in-person surveys are much more
in-depth in nature than a mail survey or online survey,
and a perfect way to address sensitive information.
These surveys are generally shorter in length since questions can be more complex and
the number of people in your target group will be smaller
than if done by phone, mail or online.
The respondents are often a highly specialized group of respondents.
Also, anyone can approach another person and ask
questions if they are highly skilled at what they do and are cordial.
On the other hand, one bad interviewer can cause people to be
hesitant to answer the questions and skew the results.
The main drawback is that this kind of survey can be
very time consuming both for scheduling them and completing them.
Most in-person interviews are done with
high-end clientele like doctors, lawyers and CEOs.
These people usually require a hefty incentive for participating in the interview.
The norm payment for a high-end respondent is a minimum of $250.
To conduct an in-person survey,
you would want to determine your optimal respondent.
Call them to determine, if, when,
and where they can do the interview.
Get highly-trained interviewers.
Have incentives to pay the respondent of usually $100 or more per interview.
Bill all the specific aspects
into the cost of the interview and get approval from your client.
Determine who would be analyzing the data.
As for the costs involved in the face-to-face surveys,
or the in-person interviews,
you should consider the types of people you are
interviewing and the cost to provide the incentives,
how much time you have to do the interviews and the quality of the interviewers,
the budget you have for doing the interviews and who will be doing the analysis.
As with all surveying methods,
in-person surveys have strengths and weaknesses.
The strengths are that you get high-end personal information that can lead
the interviewee to purchasing your product
even though you are not selling anything to them.
The respondents sometimes ask you about buying
the product and it feels great when you say,
I can pass on your request,
but I'm just the interviewer.
This is just for research.
When I am solidifying a project,
sometimes I inform my client that they will get a soft sell in
person interview because my style makes the respondent feel very comfortable.
And I can get clear objective feedback.
In-person interviews are my expertise.
I actually love to hear people tell
their unique stories and get to know what makes them tick.
In-person interviews are really meant for those who like
a good challenge and for those who like interacting with people.
The key is making everyone who you interview feel important.
The weaknesses are these interviews can take a lot of
time and require highly-skilled interviewers.
The criteria for choosing to deliver your quantitative survey
face-to-face or in-person would be your budget,
your staff, your time allotment,
the type of respondent you want.
In general, the response rate for in-person interviews is the highest in this mode.
It is much more personal than other modes and
there is opportunity to develop a rapport with the respondent.
In-person interviews serve a unique purpose
that the other survey modes don't aim to fill.
It is a unique opportunity to get in-depth information that can be quantifiable.
It can be exhausting to conduct but very rewarding at the same time.