Conducting Personal Interviews

1. Conducting Personal Interviews MKT 3865 Dr. Don Roy

2. What We’ll Cover • What is a personal interview? • What is the role of interviews in marketing research? • What is the process for conducting an interview?

3. “It takes two people to speak the truth – one to speak, and another to listen.” - Henry David Thoreau

4. A Personal Interview • “A purposeful conversation in which one person asks prepared questions (the interviewer) and another answers them (the respondent).” Key Points: • Directed conversation • Used to administer same set of questions consistently Source: James H. Frey and Sabine M. Oishi (1995), How to Conduct Interviews by Telephone and In Person, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

5. Role of Interviews in Marketing Research • Are interviews a quantitative or qualitative method? • What are advantages of conducting a survey versus an interview? • What are advantages of conducting an interview versus a survey?

6. Quantitative Variables or concepts that can be measured numerically. Methods used: Experiments Scales (e.g., strongly agree-strongly disagree, bi-polar adjectives) Qualitative Variables or concepts that are hard to quantify. Methods used: Observation Focus groups Personal interviews Marketing Research Methods

7. Characteristics of Interviews • Quantity and quality of information from each respondent are greater. • Interviewer plays major role in success of data collection. • Labor intensity of interviews means fewer responses can be collected compared to surveys.

8. How Interviews Yield Insight • Words are the data in qualitative research! • Responses are analyzed to look for themes that are repeated by multiple respondents. • Themes are the findings of the research.

9. Interview Stages • Introduction – State purpose • Ask questions from interview instrument • Use probes and prompts to draw out additional information • Conclusion – Thank participant, end interview

10. Introduction • Engaging in “small talk” OK and useful for gaining trust of respondent. • Script will be provided that explains purpose of interview

11. Asking Questions - Considerations • Make sure questions are worded in plain language • Do not bias response by way question is asked (consider wording and voice inflection) • Ask only one question at a time • Use probes and prompts to help respondent give more detailed answers to questions

12. What’s Wrong with these Questions? • What is your preferred mode of transportation when it is raining or snowing? • How do you feel about the planned changes to the lottery scholarship? • Should athletes who cheat by taking performance enhancing substances be banned from competition?

13. Probes • Probes are used to draw out additional info when a response is unclear. Examples: • Showing interest (“Yes,” “I see,” “uh-huh”) • Pause – Silence suggests you’re waiting to hear more • Ask a follow-up question to clarify a response (“Could you please explain that?”) or to elicitmore specific info (“Tell me more about…?”) Source: James H. Frey and Sabine M. Oishi (1995), How to Conduct Interviews by Telephone and In Person, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

14. Prompts • Prompts are used to clarify meaning of question when respondent does not understand it properly. Examples: • Re-read question • Provide information to help understanding of question (“MTSU is in Conference USA”)

15. Closing Thoughts • YOU are critical to effective data collection… well written questions are not enough! • YOU can maximize your performance by being prepared- be familiar with questions before you interview respondent.