Data Collection

Interview & Questionnaire

 Interview
• A-Unstructured Interview: loosely structured self-report
methods provide narrative data for qualitative analysis.

• Start with some general questions or topics & allow

respondents to tell their stories in a narrative fashion.

• Unstructured interviews encourage respondents to define

the important dimensions of a phenomenon & to elaborate
on what is relevant to them, rather than being guided by
investigators’ a priori notions of relevance.
 Interview
• B-Semi-structured Interviews:
• Researchers sometimes want to be sure that a specific set
of topics is covered in their qualitative interviews.

• They know what they want to ask, but cannot predict

what the answers will be. Their role in the process is
somewhat structured, whereas the participants’ is not.

• Topic guide, which is a list of areas or questions to be

covered with each respondent.
 Focus Group Interviews
• In a focus group interview, a group of four or more people
is assembled for a discussion.

• The interviewer (often called a moderator) guides the

discussion according to a written set of questions or topics
to be covered, as in a semi-structured interview.

• Focus group sessions are carefully planned discussions

that take advantage of group dynamics for accessing rich
information in an efficient manner.
 Interview
• C- Structured Interview:
• They know what they want to ask & predict what the
answers will be.
• Their role in the process is structured, & the participants’
same.

• Collecting data by asking questions included in

questionnaire.

• The questions are asked orally in either face-to-face or

telephone interviews.
 Quantitative self-report instruments
 Questionnaire or an SAQ (self administered
questionnaire) when respondents complete the instrument
themselves. The researcher used paper-&-pencil format but
occasionally directly onto a computer.

 Structured instruments consist of a set of questions (also

known as items) in which the wording of both the
questions & in most cases, response alternatives is
predetermined.
 When structured interviews or questionnaires are used,
subjects are asked to respond to same questions, in same
order, and with same set of response options
 Open & Closed Questions
 Open-ended questions allow respondents to respond in
their own words, in narrative fashion.

 The question, “What was the biggest problem you faced

after your surgery?”

 This would be used in qualitative studies.

 In questionnaires, respondents are asked to give a written

reply to open-ended items & therefore, adequate space
must be provided to permit a full response.
 Open & Closed Questions
 Closed-ended (or fixed-alternative) questions offer respondents
alternative replies, from which subjects must choose the one that
most closely matches the appropriate answer.

 1- What is Coronary Heart Disease? ( Check one)

 Chest pain
 A valve problem
 Reduced blood flow to the heart
 Malfunction of the heart
 Don’t know
 Other (specify) _________________

 Heredity is a risk factor of heart disease that you cannot change.

 A-Yes B-No C-I don not know
 Advantages of Questionnaires
• 1-Cost. Questionnaires, relative to interviews, are in general
much less costly & require less time & energy to administer.

• 2-Anonymity. Unlike interviews, questionnaires offer the

possibility of complete anonymity.

• 3-Interviewer bias. The absence of an interviewer ensures

that there will be no interviewer bias.
 Advantages of Interviews
• 1-Response rates. Response rates tend to be high in face-
to-face interviews.

• 2-Audience. Many people simply cannot fill out a

questionnaire. Examples include young children & blind,
elderly, illiterate, or uneducated individuals.

• 3-Clarity. Interviews offer some protection against

ambiguous or confusing questions. Interviewers can
determine whether questions have been misunderstood
and can clarify matters.
 Advantages of Interviews
 4-Depth of questioning. The information obtained from
questionnaires tends to be more superficial than interview
data, largely because questionnaires typically contain
mostly closed-ended items.

 5-Missing information. Respondents are less likely to

give “don’t know” responses or to leave a question
unanswered in an interview than on questionnaires.

 6-Order of questions. In an interview, researchers have

control over question ordering. Questionnaire respondents
are at liberty to skip around from one section of the
instrument to another.
 Advantages of Interviews
• 7-Sample control. Interviews permit greater control over
sample. Interviewers know whether the people being
interviewed are the intended respondents. People who
receive questionnaires, by contrast, can pass the instrument
on to a friend, relative, & so forth, and this can change the
sample composition.

• 8-Supplementary data. Finally, face-to-face interviews can

result in additional data through observation.
 Specific Types of Closed-Ended Questions

• 1-Dichotomous questions require respondents to make a

choice between two response alternatives, such as yes/no or
male/female.
 .
• 2-Multiple-choice questions offer more than two response
alternatives.
• A multiple choice close ended questions are easy & flexible
and helps the researcher obtain data that is clean & easy to
analyze.
• It typically consists of stem - the question, correct answer,
closest alternative and distractors.
 .
• 3-Cafeteria questions are a special type of multiple choice
question that asks respondents to select a response that
most closely corresponds to their view.
 Specific Types of Closed-Ended Questions
 People have different opinions about the use of estrogen
replacement therapy for women at menopause. Which of the
following statements best represents your point of view?

 1. Estrogen replacement is dangerous and should be banned.

 2. Estrogen replacement has undesirable side effects that
suggest the need for caution in its use.
 3. I am undecided about my views on estrogen replacement.
 4. Estrogen replacement has many beneficial effects that merits
its use.
 5. Estrogen replacement is a wonder treatment that should be
administered routinely to most menopausal women.
 Specific Types of Closed-Ended Questions
 4-Rank-order questions ask respondents to rank target
concepts along a continuum, such as most to least important.

 People value different things in life. Below is a list of things

that many people value. Please indicate their order of
importance to you by placing a “1”
 beside the most important, “2” beside the second-most
important, and so on.
 ____ Career achievement/work
 ____ Family relationships
 ____ Friendships, social interactions
 ____ Health
 ____ Money
 ____ Religion
 .

• These closed ended questions come with multiple options

from which the respondent can choose based on their
preference. From most preferred to least preferred (usually
in bullet points).
 Specific Types of Closed-Ended Questions

• 5-Forced-choice questions require respondents to

choose between two statements that represent polar
positions or characteristics.

• Which statement most closely represents your point of

view?
• 1. What happens to me is my own doing.
• 2. Sometimes I feel I don’t have enough control over my
life.
 Specific Types of Closed-Ended Questions
 6-Rating questions ask respondents to evaluate
something along an ordered dimension. Rating questions
are typically bipolar, with the end points specifying
opposite extremes on a continuum.

 On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means ”extremely

dissatisfied” and 10 means “extremely satisfied,” how
satisfied were you with the nursing care you received
during your hospitalization?
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10
 Extremely dissatisfied Extremely satisfied
 Specific Types of Closed-Ended Questions
 Checklists encompass several questions that have same
response format.

 A checklist is a two dimensional arrangement in which a

series of questions is listed along one dimension (usually
vertically) & response alternatives are listed along the other.

 Checklists are relatively efficient & easy for respondents to

understand, but because they are difficult to read orally,
they are used more frequently in SAQs than in interviews.
 Specific Types of Closed-Ended Questions

• 8- Calendar questions are used to obtain retrospective

information about the chronology of different events &
activities in people’s lives.

• Questions about start dates & stop dates of events are

asked and recorded on a calendar grid.
 Specific Types of Closed-Ended Questions
 Visual analogue scales (VAS) are used to measure
subjective experiences, such as pain, fatigue, nausea &
dyspnea.

 The VAS is a straight line, the end anchors of which are

labeled as the extreme limits of the sensation or feeling
being measured.

 Subjects are asked to mark a point on line corresponding

to the amount of sensation experienced. Traditionally, the
VAS line is 100 mm in length.
.
 Composite Scales
• A scale provides a numeric score to place respondents on
a continuum with respect to an attribute being measured, like
a scale for measuring people’s weight.

• Many studies that collect data through self-report use a

psychosocial scale, which is used to discriminate
quantitatively among people with different attitudes, fears,
motives, perceptions, personality traits, and needs.
• Scales are usually created by combining several closed-
ended items.
 Likert Scales
 The most widely used scaling technique is the Likert scale,
named after the psychologist Rens is Likert.

 A Likert scale consists of several declarative items that

express a viewpoint on a topic.

 Respondents are asked to indicate the degree to which they

agree or disagree with the opinion expressed by statement.

 A person’s total score is determined by adding together

individual item scores. Such scales are often called
summated rating scales because of this feature.
 Likert Scales
• High level of noise is a source of stress
• Less ventilation is a source of stress
• High level of income is a source of stress
• SA A N D SD
•5 4 3 2 1
 Semantic Differential Scales
• Respondents are asked to rate a concept (e.g.,
primary nursing, team nursing) on a series of
bipolar adjectives, such as effective/ineffective,
good/bad, important/unimportant, or strong/weak.

• Respondents place a check at the appropriate point

on seven-point rating scales extending from one
extreme of dimension to the other.
Semantic Differential Scales
nurse practitioners
• Competent 7654321 Incompetent
• Worthless 7654321 Valuable
• Important 7654321 Unimportant
• Bad 76543 21 --------------
• Successful 7654321 Unsuccessful
•
.
.

Response Biases
 Response Biases
• This term refers to the various conditions & biases
that can influence survey responses.

• The bias can be intentional or accidental, but with

biased responses, survey data becomes less useful as
it is inaccurate.

• Response biases--that is, tendency of respondents

to distort (misrepresent) their responses.
 Response Biases
• Social desirability response bias refers to the
tendency of some individuals to misrepresent their
responses consistently by giving answers that are
congruent with prevailing/usual social values.

• Subtle (Intelligent), indirect & delicately (carefully)

worded questioning sometimes can help to alleviate
this response bias.
 Response Biases
• This type of response bias results from participants
answering sensitive questions with socially desirable,
rather than truthful answers.
• Example:
 .
• This type of response bias results from participants
answering sensitive questions with socially
desirable, rather than truthful answers.

• A question like this cannot get a truthful response.

• People know the appropriate answer & will give it

regardless of their real view.
 Response Biases

• Some response biases are most commonly observed in

composite scales. These biases are sometimes referred to
as response sets.

• Extreme responses are an example of a response set that

introduces biases when some individuals consistently
select extreme alternatives (e.g., “strongly agree”).
• It refers to the survey bias that is characterized by
respondents providing extreme answers to
questions.
• This can manifest as extreme positive or negative
responses, & both render the data ineffective.
.

• This type of bias occurs most commonly in surveys

that offer a scale for responses in order to rate
individual components, whether that is numbers
(such as 1 to 5, star ratings) or even a selection of
statements (such as satisfied, mostly satisfied,
somewhat dissatisfied, & dissatisfied).
• What happens is that the answers tend to be
either 1 or 5, 1 star or 5 stars, satisfied or
dissatisfied.
• Through various response bias studies, it has been
shown that there are cultural influences on this kind
of behavior.
• Studies show that education level also matters. The
lower education level, the more likely participant
display extreme response traits.
• Lastly, wording bias can also be a cause. Sensitive
questions that offer blame to someone or something
for a difficult situation will result in extreme
responses too.
.
• ThisNeutral
type ofResponding
response bias is the exact opposite of
extreme responding, as here the participant chooses
the neutral answer every time.

• This is usually a result of the participant not being

interested in the survey at all and is simply looking
to answer questions as quickly as possible.
Neutral Responding
 Response Biases
• Some people have been found to agree with statements
regardless of content.
• Such people are called yea-sayers, & the bias is known as
the acquiescence (acceptance) response set.

• A less common problem is the opposite tendency for other

individuals, called nay-sayers, to disagree with
statements independently of question content.
 Acquiescence Bias
• Acquiescence bias is a form of response bias where
participants respond in agreement with all questions
within the survey.
• In most cases, if your survey is well designed, that
results in the participant agreeing with at least two
contradictory statements.
• The answers provided this way are then no longer
accurate or truthful.
.
 Dissent Bias
• Finally, this is the exact opposite of acquiescence
bias where participant seeks to disagree with every
statement or question the researcher makes.

• With the same causes, dissent bias can be just as

problematic for researchers as acquiescence bias, &
it must be remedied in the same way.