Data Collection - Sources and Focus Groups

             After conducting sufficient number of such unstructured interviews with individuals at several levels and studying the collected data, the researcher would know the variables that need greater focus to find out social and economic indicators of a society.
             III. Structured Interviews - Planned interviews with predetermined questions and the information needed, structured Interview would be conducted as under: Predetermined questions may be asked personally, through phone, PC or any other medium. The questions will focus the points, which surfaced during unstructured interviews. Views would be written down and the same questions would be asked from all respondents. Visual aids may be shown for the guidance/help/assistance/information of the respondents.
             When many interviews would be conducted at the same time, team-trained interviewers would be needed with the clear understanding, when, where and how the interviews would be conducted.
             IV. Face to Face and Telephonic Interview - The main advantage of direct interviews is that the researcher can clarify, repeat, and rephrase and ensure that the right questions have been properly understood and responded. The disadvantages are physical/geographical limitation if the interviews are conducted nationally or internationally and involve a lot of cost.
             V. Telephone Interviews - In TI, respondents can be accessed easily, in relatively short time, reduce the discomfort of face-to-face discussion if any. The disadvantages are that the respondents can terminate the interview unilaterally. The respondents may avoid attending the phone calls, if they know caller ID. To avoid such problem, the respondent would be told in advance about the interview.
             vi. Computer Assisted Interviews - Interviews could also be conducted through computers. In computer assisted telephonic interviews (CATI), the PC monitor prompts/shows the question with the help of software/email, select the phone number of the respondent and record the responses in a file, which are later on analyzed for research purpose.