McCormick+Schmitz Handbook for value chain research on - PACA

Box A.2: General rules <strong>for</strong> interviewing
Appearance
As a general rule, the interviewer should dress in a fashion similar to that of the people he
or she will be interviewing. Whatever the style of dressing, interviewers should be neat
and well groomed.
Demeanour
Interviewers should be pleasant. They should introduce themselves, state the purpose of
the <strong>research</strong>, and request an interview. If an interview takes place in the respondent’s
place of business, the interviewer should make it very clear that the demands of the
business take priority and that he/she is willing to wait and/or come back later. If a
potential respondent is reluctant to be interviewed, the interviewer should try gentle
persuasion, but should never be demanding.
Familiarity with questionnaire
The interviewer must study the questionnaire very carefully, question by question, in
order to become thoroughly familiar with it. Ultimately, the interviewer must be able to
read the questionnaire items to respondents without error, without stumbling over words
and phrases, and in as natural a manner as possible.
Language
If a questionnaire is to be administered in a language other than the one it is written in, the
<strong>research</strong>er and interviewers should discuss and agree on the translation. It is especially
important when there are multiple interviewers that all use the same wording in all
versions.
Following question wording
Interviewers must resist the temptation to rephrase questions in their own words. If the
respondent clearly misunderstands the intent of a question or indicates that he/she does
not understand, the interviewer may attempt to clarify. After the clarification, however,
the interviewer should repeat the question as written.
Recording responses exactly
Whenever the questionnaire contains open-ended questions, it is important that the
interviewer record that answer exactly as given. No attempt should be made to
summarise, paraphrase, or correct bad grammar.
Probing <strong>for</strong> responses
Sometimes respondents will respond to a question with an inappropriate answer, or they
will give a very short answer to an open-ended question that was seeking their opinion.
When the reply is inappropriate, the interviewer may probe by repeating the original
question. When the answer seems too short, the interviewer may ask questions like “How
is that?” or “Can you add anything to that?”
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