This document discusses various modes of administering survey questionnaires and their advantages and disadvantages. It lists face-to-face interviews, self-completion of paper questionnaires, self-completion on a PDA, self-completion computer-assisted interviews, postal questionnaires, internet questionnaires, and telephone interviews. For each mode, it provides some example advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost, ensuring understanding and completeness, safety, representativeness, and respondent comfort. Face-to-face interviews allow the most support but are the most resource-intensive, while self-administered options are less costly but provide less oversight. Telephone interviews are cheaper than face-to-face but present privacy and sampling challenges.

1. Modes of administration of
questionnaire

2. Exercise
• Mention various possible modes (methods)
of administering a survey questionnaire
• List of each some advantages and
disadvantages in a survey on VAW
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3. Do the exercise before you continue with this
presentation!!
The following slides give some example
answers to the exercise, without claiming to
be complete. You may have come up with
other advantages and disadvantages…

4. Examples of main possible
modes of data collection
• Face to face interview
• Self completion of paper questionnaire
delivered by surveyor
• Self completion on PDA with surveyor present
• Self completion computer assisted interview at
home
• Self completion postal questionnaire
• Self completion via internet
• Telephone interview

5. Self-completion
+ -
• Cheap (no lengthy • Questionnaire should be simple (no complex
recruitment, traini skip patterns)
ng of interviewers) • No interviewer to explain and answer
• Confidential, no questions, build up rapport
need to disclose to • Cannot take away distress, no therapeutic
a person value, support
• Cannot check completion, errors
• Disadvantages in terms of sampling – under
representing illiterate, visually impaired
• Possible concern of respondent about putting
something in writing, making it official.
• Risk if questionnaire is seen by others
• Special issues around internet questionnaires
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6. Face to face
+ -
• Interviewer can explain and answer questions, • Costly, needs long
take away misunderstandings, check errors and training, long period
inconsistencies on the spot, ensure questions are in field
not skipped
• may have
• take away distress, build up rapport, therapeutic interviewer bias,
listening, offer support
• interviewer fatigue,
• Can use strategies to reduce non-response,
revisits, … • (re-) traumatization
• Possible to have complicated questionnaire of respondents,
• Possible to make corrections in questionnaire
interviewers
early on due to quick feedback
• Easier to get access to hard to reach, illiterate…
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7. CATI (telephone interview)
+ -
• Cheap, simpler logistics • Harder to ensure privacy,
• Can explain and answer questions, safety
take away distress, build up • Disadvantages in terms of
rapport, therapeutic listening, take sampling frame (only those
away misunderstandings, offer with telephone) – not
support, check inconsistencies, representative
ensure questions are not skipped, • High risk of refusals
enables to administer complicated
questionnaire
• ?Respondent may feel at ease not
facing a person directly
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