There are various classifications of surveys on different basis, but the up-to-date practice of marketing research defines the importance of “visual appearance” of the survey.
The prescribed arrangement basis helps us to divide all surveys into two categories:
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face-to-face surveys
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remote surveys
Face-to-face surveys are those which imply direct communication between the researcher and the respondent. Remote surveys propose usage of different communication medium.
Thereby, at present the most widespread kinds of survey methods are the following:
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telephone surveys
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face-to-face-surveys:
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with visiting the respondent’s place of work
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after the previous respondent recruiting
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in the places where lots of people are
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in special premises (hall-tests)
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online-surveys
Telephone survey is a quantitative method of data collection, when the respondents are being asked questions from a questionnaire over the phone. The telephone survey implies phone calls to pre-defined or random sampled phone numbers by qualified interviewers. The telephone surveys are applied when there is a need for fast and cheap research of behavior of consumers, etc. Mostly phone surveys are conducted using the CAPI method.
Face-to-face personal interviews is a prevailing method of study of anything, it implies direct communication of the interviewer with respondent. Personal communication lets the researcher ask more compound and difficult questions, use visual aids, etc.
