How to Conduct In-Person Interviews for Surveys

When should you use an in-person interview for a survey? How do you train the interviewers as well as the programmers for computer-assisted interviews (CAPI)? How do you deal with refusals to be interviewed? Aimed at answering these questions and more, this carefully written, friendly book will help you prepare and administer effective in-person survey interviews.

Beginning with the administrative considerations involved in setting up in-person interviews, Oishi explains how to: write interview questions from a flowing interview script with appropriated placed transition statements through to the preparation of useful visual aids; design an eligibility screen; write pre-letters and scripts for a pre-call; develop job descriptions for interviewers as well as design interviewer training sessions; record and correct response errors in paper and CAPI interviews; and, clean the data.

Completely revised, the book also includes coverage of:

• Cultural considerations for in-person interviews
• Translation of interviews into other languages
• Differences in quantitative and qualitative interview styles
• How to train CAPI interviews as well as the program instructions
• Expanded coverage of the role of the supervisor, including a sample of a full training manual
• Methods for creating an appropriate environment for in-person interviews, including how to dress and talk to people
• Updated coverage of informed consent, including a sample of a consent form