Post on 25-Jun-2020
Hello?
Hey, Hello! Here I am… up here… on the screenGood morning – or ‘Good very early morning’, if you’re watching this in Piscataway, NJ
….Or Barbados
For those who don’t know me, hi…
My session topic is about whether there is a future in face-to-face interviewing…?
But “virtual presentations” like this are a lot of fun, huh?
(Incidentally, isn’t ‘Piscataway’ a strange name?)
So… do you need face-to-face contact to feel engaged, huh?
If you were being interviewed like this, might you get a teensy bit bored?
Or even really, REALLY bored!
Maybe I should engage with you and the topic differently? You can spot the difference? (Yep! Reading the slides now!)I know, let’s try something really fun: …have a careful look at this phrase:
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI-FIC STUDY COMBINED WITHTHE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS
How many Fs can you see in the bold phrase above? (This is about eye-brain coordination; so if you’ve bad eyes or you’re basically dim-witted, you won’t do this very well)
Did you find all six? Well done! (And the guy in the row behind you who’s trying to look pleased really only spotted 4 of them)
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI-FIC STUDY COMBINED WITHTHE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS
Or maybe …
“Yes, of course, I will sort out your water tablets prescription, Mrs Brown, just let me finish texting, emailing, completing the survey and skyping and I will be right with you…”
Why do face-to-face research?
Dumb it down at your peril; giving up face to face interviewing is like ‘marketing by numbers’
Face-to-face Interviewing? Why not?
Drawbacks SlowExpensiveSome ‘targets’ inaccessible Less efficient use of people-time
Criteria for studies →face-to-face interviewing ill-advised• There is a tight budget• There is a restrictive time-schedule• There is little need for depth, interaction or creativity• Questions tend to the numerous, structured, repetitive• Respondents are dispersed
BUT…
Two study examples: • Laser eye surgery study in Europe• Diabetes study in India
Extraordinary organisation/set up of check-in, execution, recovery and check-out process
Subtly differing perspectives, experts v ‘jobbing’ surgeons, on tools, patients & outcomes (also in their support staff)
Different language (‘metrics’)
Very different ‘feel’ of premises of top laser eye surgeons from those in field for ‘predominantly’ economic reasons
Laser eye surgery study in Europe
Much younger age of onset in India cf. west
Doctors may treat entire families – because they often attend clinics en masse
Culture tends to make married Indian men fatter
Indians carry 29% higher fat content for a given weight
Dr Ashok DasDr Subhankar ChowdhuryDr Anil KapurDr Viswanathan MohanDr C MunichoodappaDr Mayur PatelDr Ambady RamachandranDr Shaukut SadikotDr Chander ShekarDr C SridharDr Vijay ViswanathanDr Chittaranjan Yajnik
Diabetes study in India
Much younger age of onset in India cf. west
Doctors may treat entire families – because they often attend clinics en masse
Culture tends to make married Indian men fatter
Indians carry 29% higher fat content for a given weight
Taboo exists related to marriage eligibility; type 1 & mixed type 1-2 diabetic girls are often untreated – die young
Dr Ashok DasDr Subhankar ChowdhuryDr Anil KapurDr Viswanathan MohanDr C MunichoodappaDr Mayur PatelDr Ambady RamachandranDr Shaukut SadikotDr Chander ShekarDr C SridharDr Vijay ViswanathanDr Chittaranjan Yajnik
Diabetes study in India
DrawbacksSlowExpensiveSome targets inaccessible Less efficient use of people time
BenefitsRapport → enhanced contact
‘Control’Valuable context= Extra impact
Face-to-face Interviewing
Time
Cost
QualityQuality
SummarisingFace-to-face interviewing has several important drawbacksFace-to-face interviewing is not appropriate for many/most types of projectBut, in a project where there is a real need for the best possible understanding of outputs, and where there are the skills, the money and especially the time to employ the approach, face-to-face interviewing is a very powerful technique indeed
It will not die out!It will not die out!It will not die out!