The future of face-to-face interviewing
| Date | 03 April 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-06-2017-0033 |
| Published date | 03 April 2018 |
| Pages | 290-302 |
| Author | Michael F. Schober |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
The future of face-to-face
interviewing
Michael F. Schober
Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, New York,
New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to explorethe likelihood that face-to-face (FTF) interviewingwill continue to be
the “gold standard”survey interviewing method, to which all other modes are compared,in an era in which
daily communicativehabits for many now involve selectingamong many alternative modes.
Design/methodology/approach –After outlining what is known about the purported benefits and
drawbacks of FTF interviewing, thepaper reviews recent findings that raise questions about whether FTF
interviewing still produces the highest rates of participation, best data quality and greatest respondent
satisfaction.
Findings –Results of several studies suggest that at least for some respondents, asynchronous
interviewing modes that reduce the interviewer’ssocial presence and allow respondents to participate while
they are mobile or multitasking (in particular, text messaging) may well lead to higher quality data and
greater respondentsatisfaction.
Practical implications –To the extent that these findings generalize, the implication is that FTF
interviewing will continueto be needed for at least some respondents, but multiple trends suggestthat it is
likely to be one mode amongmany, and that the assumption that it is always needed or that it always leadsto
the highestquality data no longer holds.
Originality/value –Exploring when and how FTFinterviewing will continue to be needed is particularly
important given FTF’sfinancial and social costs, in an era of budgetary challenges and new questioning
about which datasources are essential and lead to trustworthy information.
Keywords Text messaging, Survey, Interviewing, Smartphone, Asynchronous communication,
Face-to-face
Paper type Conceptual paper
Face-to-face (FTF) interviewing has been the mainstay of socialand economic measurement
–used for building portraits of people’s life circumstances and opinions that can inform
public policy –for quite some time. In any given month, hundreds of thousands of people
worldwide agree to meet with a trainedinterviewer, most often in their homes, volunteering
to answer standardized questions about everything from their employment status, health,
crime victimization and expenditures to their opinions on hot-button social issues and
political candidates to assessments of their literacy and educational attainment. The US
Current Population Survey, for example, starts with an FTF interview in its sample of
60,000 households peryear as it generates employment and unemployment data; thisis only
one of many surveys in the USA and worldwide that generate official statistics based on
rigorous probability-based sampling of the population. The number of people involved in
one way or another in FTF interviews –not only respondents and interviewers but also
other employees of survey organizationswho work behind the scenes in devising questions
and protocols and in analyzingdata –is enormous[1].
Modern FTF interviewing has evolved far beyond its prototypical early twentieth-
century forms. No longer is it the norm that interviewers stand on a respondent’s doorstep
QAE
26,2
290
Received30 June 2017
Revised6 November 2017
Accepted18 December 2017
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.26 No. 2, 2018
pp. 290-302
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-06-2017-0033
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