In a short essay, list and discuss how interviewing methods would likely vary across countries and explain why

What will be an ideal response?

The popularity of the different interviewing methods varies widely across countries. In the United States and Canada, nearly all households have telephones. As a result, telephone interviewing is the dominant mode of administering questionnaires. This is also true in some European countries, such as Sweden. However, in many other European countries, not all households have telephones. In some developing countries only a few households have them.

In-home personal interviews are the dominant mode of collecting survey data in many European countries, such as Switzerland, and in newly industrialized countries (NICs) or developing countries. While mall intercepts are being conducted in some European countries, such as Sweden, they are not popular in other European countries or in developing countries. In contrast, central location/street interviews constitute the dominant method of collecting survey data in France and the Netherlands.

Due to their low cost, mail interviews continue to be used in most developed countries where literacy is high and the postal system is well developed: the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, for example. In Africa, Asia, and South America, however, the use of mail surveys and mail panels is low because of illiteracy and the large proportion of the population living in rural areas. Mail panels are used extensively only in a few countries outside the United States, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. However, the use of panels may increase with the advent of new technology. Likewise, although a Web site can be accessed from anywhere in the world, access to the Web or e-mail is limited in many countries, particularly developing countries. Hence, the use of electronic surveys is not feasible, especially for interviewing households.

Various methods may be reliable in some countries but not others. When collecting data from different countries, it is desirable to use survey methods with equivalent levels of reliability, rather than necessarily using the identical method.