Interview skills

What is an Interview?

Interviews are a set of questions used to obtain first-hand data on people’s views and information about themselves. The purpose of conducting the interviews is to gather information on their profile (e.g. their country of origin) and to enquire their reasons for coming to a tourist destination. From the interviews conducted, you can even find out if these tourists think that Chinatown is a tourist destination (after visiting it)! 

You will learn that designing a good interview questionnaire entails the following:

·         Purpose: What are you supposed to investigate?

·         Choice of questions:

o   How do the questions relate to your investigation?

o   What kinds of questions (e.g. open-ended, closed, ranking and scale) are useful to your investigation?

o   How many questions should you include in your interview?

How do you initiate an Interview in the field?

Steps to take:

• Identify the potential respondent according to the sampling method you have decided on.

• Approach the potential respondent politely.

• Introduce yourself and explain the purpose of your interview (tip: it is also useful to inform them of the estimated duration of the interview).

• If the tourist declines, thank him/her anyway.

• Request for their permission to carry out the interview with them.

• During the interview, note the responses on your interview questionnaire. Stay objective and avoid passing comments about the response.

• When unsure of the response, ask questions to clarify or repeat.

• Thank the respondent for his/her time after the interview is completed.

• Smile all the time! You are an ambassador for Singapore! J

What are the advantages and disadvantages of conducting surveys?

 Advantages:

Data will be up-to-date and often cannot be available from other secondary sources.

Surveys can be conducted quickly and easily using electronic means.

Disadvantages:

Survey results may not be accurate as respondents may not give truthful answers.

Surveys may be insufficient in gathering certain kinds of information e.g. feelings

Carrying out face-to-face questionnaires can be time consuming

Questionnaires fatigue- people are fed up with being stopped in the street.

People may not be completely honest in their responses- they may be tempted to say what they think sounds good or what they think they want to hear.

How to construct a questionnaire?

•  Write a title for your survey. Include an introduction and the purpose of your survey.

•  Begin with straightforward questions to put respondents at ease and leave the more difficult questions later.

•  Include different types of questions:

• Closed response – yes/no, ranking, multiple choice or Likert scale

•  Open response – respondents to answer to their own words