When you think about intercept surveys or exit surveys at an event, you might immediately think of interviewers asking respondents questions about their experience. In many types of projects including mall intercepts, fair intercepts, and airport intercepts, you're likely to see a market research interviewer interviewing a respondent.
In this post we explore some benefits of self-administered intercept surveys.
What is a self-administered intercept survey?
A self-administered survey is when a market research respondent answers the survey themselves on a tablet or clipboard without an interviewer reading the questions to them and recording responses. The respondent reads the questions on their own and selects the appropriate answer category or types in a response.
Letting respondents self-administer a survey to themselves using a tablet creates several benefits from a market research perspective.
Reason 1: Speed to Complete
In most cases it is quicker for a respondent to read a question than it is for an interviewer to read it out loud. This adds time to surveys that are administered to respondents. Oftentimes when reading a survey question, respondents can skim the question or speed read to understand what it is asking. Then they can type in a response or select from those given. All of these small items add up to a shorter length of interview (LOI) and faster survey.
Reason 2: Eliminate Interviewer Bias
Interviewer bias or interviewer error is bias that occurs in market research when the interviewer is extremely likable or unlikable. This is a concern and a bias that needs to be mitigated as much as possible in market research to keep results realistic and accurate.
By having the survey self-administered where the team member simply hands a tablet or clipboard to a respondent to complete, it eliminates this concern entirely. The respondent moves along question by question on the tablet without having to interact with the interviewer at all. So even if the interviewing team is the most or least likable person in the world, it will have no effect on the market research results.
Reason 3: No Distractions
The self-administered survey is a bit more immersive than a person-to-person interview. When answering on a tablet or clipboard it's easier to stay 100% focused and move through a survey. When administering a survey through an interviewer and interviewee, there is some downtime for the mind to wander. This is particularly true when the interviewer is recording answers or open-ended comments from a respondent (either writing or typing). This creates several delays and distractions that do not take place with self-administered surveys.
Contact Our Intercept Survey Firm Serving Buffalo NY
Drive Research manages a number of intercept survey projects across New York State and across the country. Questions about an upcoming intercept survey project or need a quote from our intercept survey firm? Contact us at [email protected] or call us at 315-303-2040.