 |
|
|
|
|
|
Locating respondents As part of the design phase of your project, you will have designed and selected a sample. Before beginning to interview members of this sample, you will need to decide on the order in which you will contact them and to physically locate of at least the first ten or so persons you will interview. How this is done will depend on the nature of the sample. If the sample consists of households, you will need to locate where the families live. In many developing countries, this is not a simple task. Maps or other aids generally are not available. Another complication is that many persons have similar names. Unless you know the area and the people well, it is often advisable to use local persons as guides. This is another reason for getting local leaders or a person you trust involved in a survey. You may need their help in locating respondents and in getting the respondents to agree to be interviewed. When maps are available, locations of sample households can be marked on the map. When maps are not available, you may need to drive or walk around the area and develop your own map. With the help of local persons, you can then locate the households you plan to visit, mark them on your map, and decide on the order in which you will contact them. Different procedures would have to be used for other kinds of samples. In some cases, permission may have to be obtained before beginning a survey. Approval is almost always required when conducting a survey in a school, business establishment, government office, health center, or other formal organization. Getting permission from local leaders is also essential for surveys in villages and rural areas. If not properly approached and involved, village leaders or elders can easily stop a survey. Contacting respondents Even when the respondent's location is known, contacting the person may not be easy. In most developing countries, it is difficult to schedule a time for an interview. One has to go to the location and hope the respondent is there. If this is the case, the interview might be completed; if it is not a convenient time, another time will have to be arranged. When the respondent is not present, one has to make a call back or return visit. In scheduling a callback, it is a good idea to return at a different time of the day or to find out from a neighbor when the respondent is likely to be home. Generally two callbacks are made before one gives up in getting an interview. When contact cannot be made, you can either drop the respondent or you can select a substitute to replace the lost respondent. There are two main ways of selecting substitutes. One way is to attempt to get an interview at the house or other sampling element nearest to the one where it was not possible to get an interview. The other way is to draw a larger sample than you intend to use and then use these extra sample elements as substitutes for those who cannot be contacted. Generally a 10% over sample is usually sufficient for this purpose. Introducing yourself When you first approach a person to obtain an interview, you are a stranger to that person. Under these circumstances, many respondents may be suspicious of you. Even greater suspicion can be aroused when this stranger tells the respondent that he or she wants to ask the respondent a lot of questions, some of which the respondent may think is none of the interviewer's right to know. Your first task, therefore, is to overcome these natural suspicions and to gain the trust and confidence of the respondent. This begins with how you introduce yourself and what you tell the respondent about why you want to talk with the respondent. The introduction you prepared for your questionnaire should cover all these points. In your first interviews, you may have to read the introduction as it appears on your questionnaire. After a few interviews, you will be able to provide the introduction easily from memory. It is very important to assure the respondent that all information will be protected from others. This assurance generally helps respondents relax and encourages them to respond more freely. Following the introduction, you should try to find a place where the interview can proceed with as much privacy as possible. Most of the time, the respondent will offer you a place to sit and, by their manner, show that he or she is ready to talk with you. If the respondent indicates that the time you arrived is not a good time for the interview, schedule another time. |