Incidencias de la entrevista personal en la investigación mediante encuesta

Abstract

We all know the difficulties encountered by interviewers when they try to do face to face
interviews for surveys. We often forget that, to a large extent, the success of a survey rests on how
good the interviewer is at doing the job. Not only must he or she be trained in interview techniques,
but it is also a matter of carefully locating and selecting the person to be interviewed. All this
changes the success of a face to face interview into a task that resembles a piece of research.
In standard studies undertaken by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS), the average number of
attempts necessary for gaining an interview moved from 10.17 in 1996 to 14.47 in the February 2004
barometer. This article makes an approach towards knowledge of the problems encounted in
fieldwork. A descriptive analysis is made of the variables that affect the process of information
gathering from personal interviews and which are usually called «interview incidents»: difficulty in
accessing the possible interviewee, rejection of the interview, failed contacts because the quota is not
filled or because there are insufficient homes to approach. The study is longitudinal and provides
information which covers a period of eight years (1996 to 2003). It refers to the CIS monthly
«barometers»: monthly surveys performed using always the same sampling characteristics.