Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

268 Chapter 10
from the humanities . . . were reluctant to accept the ‘rigidities’ of survey
interviewing.’’ Those students felt that ‘‘As educated individuals, they should
be allowed to administer the questionnaire as they saw fit in each situation’’
(Warwick and Lininger 1975:222).
I would not use anyone who had that kind of attitude as an interviewer. But
undergraduate social science students in the developing world may have real
research experience since most of them aren’t going on for graduate training.
Students who are experienced interviewers have a lot to contribute to the
design and content of questionnaires. Remember, you are dealing with colleagues
who will be justly resentful if you treat them merely as employees of
your study. By the same token, college students in developing nations—
particularly those in public universities—are likely to be members of the elite
who may find it tough to establish rapport with peasant farmers or the urban
poor (Hursh-César and Roy 1976:308).
Make It Easy for Interviewers to Do Their Job
If you use interviewers, be sure to make the questionnaire booklet easy to
use. Leave enough space for interviewers to write in the answers to openended
questions—but not too much space. Big spaces are an invitation to
some interviewers to develop needlessly long answers (Warwick and Lininger
1975:152).
Also, use two different type faces for questions and answers; put instructions
to interviewers in capital letters and questions for respondents in normal
type. Figure 10.2 is an example:
5. INTERVIEWER: CHECK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING
R HAS LIVED IN CHICAGO MORE THAN FIVE YEARS.
SKIP TO QUESTION 7.
R HAS LIVED IN CHICAGO LESS THAN FIVE YEARS.
ASK QUESTION 6 AND CONTINUE WITH QUESTION 7.
6. Could you tell me where you were living five years ago?
7. Where were you born?
Figure 10.2. Using two different type faces in a survey instrument.
SOURCE: Adapted from D. P. Warwick and C. A. Lininger, The Sample Survey: Theory and Practice, p. 153.
1975, McGraw-Hill; rights reverted to authors.
Closed Vs. Open-Ended Questions
The most often-asked question about survey research is whether fixedchoice
(also called closed-ended)oropen-ended items are better. The answer