The Effect of Standardization in Personal and Telephone Interviews

Marina Vyrskaya (), Anna Ipatova () and Vladimir Kartavtsev ()
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Marina Vyrskaya: Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)
Anna Ipatova: Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)
Vladimir Kartavtsev: Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

Working Papers from Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

Abstract: In the course of telephone interviews, interviewers often have to break existing standards. One of the reasons for this is that the respondent does not understand the question or is in a situation of complex correspondence, when he or she can not give an unambiguous answer. This violation of the standards is manifested in various forms. However, from the point of view of further methodological work, the most interesting example is the explanation or description by the respondent of the circumstances in which he is or was earlier, instead of a direct answer. These detailed, non-standardized answers can be called paradigms in the sense that they provide us with information about how the respondent answers the question of which arguments he uses, what difficulties he encounters. Since we are talking about complex correspondences, in which, basically, violation of interview standards arise, this new additional information can be useful for changing the operationalization of concepts and further working with the toolkit. There are two ways to work with the breakdown of the survey, depending on what task the interviewer poses. In the framework of a standardized paradigm, it should in principle avoid departing from standardization and, correspondingly, the appearance of paradata, because at the time of a complex communicative situation, the probability of its influence on respondents' responses increases. Therefore, it is necessary to minimize the interviewer's participation in the search for the answer and maximize the interpretation of the question by the respondent. A more flexible survey sees the main task in bringing to the respondent the meaning of the question that was laid during the design of the survey and to receive a relevant answer. Therefore, it allows interlocutors to exchange clarifying questions and explanations. In the process of such interaction, there arise waste from standardization, which entail an array of additional information. If we adhere to the second approach, then the search for an answer to a question in an interview is a complex process involving both participants in the conversation. Their interaction is aimed at clarifying the meaning, without which the answers received can not be of any value.

Pages: 69 pages
Date: 2017-04
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