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Assignment
Subject Code-MB0034

Q-1. What do you mean by research? Explain its significance in social and business
sciences.
Research simply means a search for facts – answers to questions and solutions to
problems. It is a purposive investigation. It is an organized inquiry. It seeks to find
explanations to unexplained phenomenon to clarify the doubtful facts and to correct
the misconceived facts.

The search for facts may be made through either:

• Arbitrary (or unscientific) Method: It’s a method of seeking answers to

question consists of imagination, opinion, blind belief or impression. E.g. it
was believed that the shape of the earth was flat; a big snake swallows sun
or moon causing solar or lunar eclipse. It is subjective; the finding will vary
from person to person depending on his impression or imagination. It is
vague and inaccurate. Or
• Scientific Method: this is a systematic rational approach to seeking facts. It
eliminates the drawbacks of the arbitrary method. It is objective, precise and
arrives at conclusions on the basis of verifiable evidences.

Therefore, search of facts should be made by scientific method rather than by

arbitrary method. Then only we may get verifiable and accurate facts. Hence
research is a systematic and logical study of an issue or problem or phenomenon
through scientific method.

Young defines Research as “a scientific undertaking which, by means of logical and

systematic techniques, aims to:

a) Discover of new facts or verify and test old facts,

b) Analyze their sequences, interrelationships and causal explanations,

c) Develop new scientific tools, concepts and theories which would facilitate
reliable and valid study of human behaviour.

d) Kerlinger defines research as a “systematic, controlled, empirical and critical

investigation of hypothetical propositions about the presumed relations among
natural phenomena.

Significance of Research in Social and Business Sciences

According to a famous Hudson Maxim, “All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is

often better than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to
invention”. It brings out the significance of research, increased amounts of which
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makes progress possible. Research encourages scientific and inductive thinking,

besides promoting the development of logical habits of thinking and organization.

The role of research in applied economics in the context of an economy or business

is greatly increasing in modern times. The increasingly complex nature of
government and business has raised the use of research in solving operational
problems. Research assumes significant role in formulation of economic policy, for
both the government and business. It provides the basis for almost all government
policies of an economic system. Government budget formulation, for example,
depends particularly on the analysis of needs and desires of the people, and the
availability of revenues, which requires research. Research helps to formulate
alternative policies, in addition to examining the consequences of these
alternatives. Thus, research also facilitates the decision making of policy-makers,
although in itself it is not a part of research. In the process, research also helps in
the proper allocation of a country’s scare resources. Research is also necessary for
collecting information on the social and economic structure of an economy to
understand the process of change occurring in the country. Collection of statistical
information though not a routine task, involves various research problems.
Therefore, large staff of research technicians or experts is engaged by the
government these days to undertake this work. Thus, research as a tool of
government economic policy formulation involves three distinct stages of operation
which are as follows:

• Investigation of economic structure through continual compilation of facts

• Diagnoses of events that are taking place and the analysis of the forces
underlying them; and
• The prognosis, i.e., the prediction of future developments

Research also assumes a significant role in solving various operational and planning
problems associated with business and industry. In several ways, operations
research, market research, and motivational research are vital and their results
assist in taking business decisions. Market research is refers to the investigation of
the structure and development of a market for the formulation of efficient policies
relating to purchases, production and sales. Operational research relates to the
application of logical, mathematical, and analytical techniques to find solution to
business problems such as cost minimization or profit maximization, or the
optimization problems. Motivational research helps to determine why people behave
in the manner they do with respect to market characteristics. More specifically, it is
concerned with the analyzing the motivations underlying consumer behaviour. All
these researches are very useful for business and industry, which are responsible
for business decision making.

Research is equally important to social scientist for analyzing social relationships

and seeking explanations to various social problems. It gives intellectual
satisfaction of knowing things for the sake of knowledge. It also possesses practical
utility for the social scientist to gain knowledge so as to be able to do something
better or in a more efficient manner. This, research in social sciences is concerned
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with both knowledge for its own sake, and knowledge for what it can contribute to
solve practical problems.

Q-2 What is meant by research problem? And what are the characteristics of a good
research problem?
.Research really begins when the researcher experiences some difficulty, i.e., a
problem demanding a solution within the subject-are of his discipline. This general
area of interest, however, defines only the range of subject-matter within which the
researcher would see and pose a specific problem for research. Personal values play
an important role in the selection of a topic for research. Social conditions do often
shape the preference of investigators in a subtle and imperceptible way.

The formulation of the topic into a research problem is, really speaking the first
step in a scientific enquiry. A problem in simple words is some difficulty experienced
by the researcher in a theoretical or practical situation. Solving this difficulty is the
task of research.

R.L. Ackoffs analysis affords considerable guidance in identifying problem for

research. He visualizes five components of a problem.

1. Research-consumer: There must be an individual or a group which

experiences some difficulty.
2. Research-consumer’s Objectives: The research-consumer must have
available, alternative means for achieving the objectives he desires.
3. Alternative Means to Meet the Objectives: The research-consumer must have
available, alternative means for achieving the objectives he desires.
4. Doubt in Regard to Selection of Alternatives: The existence of alternative
courses of action in not enough; in order to experience a problem, the
research consumer must have some doubt as to which alternative to select.
5. There must be One or More Environments to which the Difficulty or Problem
Pertains: A change in environment may produce or remove a problem. A
research-consumer may have doubts as to which will be the most efficient
means in one environment but would have no such doubt in another

Criteria of Good research Problem

Horton and Hunt have given following characteristics of scientific research:

1. Verifiable evidence: That is factual observations which other observers can

see and check.
2. Accuracy: That is describing what really exists. It means truth or
correctness of a statement or describing things exactly as they are and
avoiding jumping to unwarranted conclusions either by exaggeration or
fantasizing.
3. Precision: That is making it as exact as necessary, or giving exact number
or measurement. This avoids colourful literature and vague meanings.
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4. Systematization: That is attempting to find all the relevant data, or

collecting data in a systematic and organized way so that the conclusions
drawn are reliable. Data based on casual recollections are generally
incomplete and give unreliable judgments and conclusions.
5. Objectivity: That is free being from all biases and vested interests. It means
observation is unaffected by the observer’s values, beliefs and preferences to
the extent possible and he is able to see and accept facts as they are, not as
he might wish them to be.
6. Recording: That is jotting down complete details as quickly as possible.
Since human memory is fallible, all data collected are recorded.
7. Controlling conditions: That is controlling all variables except one and then
attempting to examine what happens when that variable is varied. This is the
basic technique in all scientific experimentation – allowing one variable to
vary while holding all other variables constant.
8. Training investigators: That is imparting necessary knowledge to
investigators to make them understand what to look for, how to interpret in
and avoid inaccurate data collection.

Q-3. What is hypothesis? Examine the procedures for testing hypothesis

A hypothesis is an assumption about relations between variables. It is a tentative

explanation of the research problem or a guess about the research outcome. Before
starting the research, the researcher has a rather general, diffused, even confused
notion of the problem. It may take long time for the researcher to say what
questions he had been seeking answers to. Hence, an adequate statement about
the research problem is very important. What is a good problem statement? It is an
interrogative statement that asks: what relationship exists between two or more
variables? It then further asks questions like: Is A related to B or not? How are A
and B related to C? Is A related to B under conditions X and Y? Proposing a
statement pertaining to relationship between A and B is called a hypothesis.

Procedure for Testing Hypothesis

To test a hypothesis means to tell (on the basis of the data researcher has
collected) whether or not the hypothesis seems to be valid. In hypothesis testing
the main question is: whether the null hypothesis or not to accept the null
hypothesis? Procedure for hypothesis testing refers to all those steps that we
undertake for making a choice between the two actions i.e., rejection and
acceptance of a null hypothesis. The various steps involved in hypothesis testing
are stated below:

Making a Formal Statement

The step consists in making a formal statement of the null hypothesis (Ho) and also
of the alternative hypothesis (Ha). This means that hypothesis should clearly state,
considering the nature of the research problem. For instance, Mr. Mohan of the Civil
Engineering Department wants to test the load bearing capacity of an old bridge
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which must be more than 10 tons, in that case he can state his hypothesis as
under:

Null hypothesis HO: µ =10 tons

Alternative hypothesis Ha: µ >10 tons

Take another example. The average score in an aptitude test administered at the
national level is 80. To evaluate a state’s education system, the average score of
100 of the state’s students selected on the random basis was 75. The state wants
to know if there is a significance difference between the local scores and the
national scores. In such a situation the hypothesis may be state as under:

Null hypothesis HO: µ =80

Alternative hypothesis Ha: µ ≠ 80

The formulation of hypothesis is an important step which must be accomplished

with due care in accordance with the object and nature of the problem under
consideration. It also indicates whether we should use a tailed test or a two tailed
test. If Ha is of the type greater than, we use alone tailed test, but when Ha is of the
type “whether greater or smaller” then we use a two-tailed test.

Selecting a Significant Level

The hypothesis is tested on a pre-determined level of significance and such the

same should have specified. Generally, in practice, either 5% level or 1% level is
adopted for the purpose. The factors that affect the level of significance are:

• The magnitude of the difference between sample ;

• The size of the sample;

• The variability of measurements within samples;
• Whether the hypothesis is directional or non – directional (A directional
hypothesis is one which predicts the direction of the difference between, say,
means). In brief, the level of significance must be adequate in the context of
the purpose and nature of enquiry.

Testing of Hypothesis

The hypothesis testing determines the validity of the assumption (technically

described as null hypothesis) with a view to choose between the conflicting
hypotheses about the value of the population hypothesis about the value of the
population of a population parameter. Hypothesis testing helps to secede on the
basis of a sample data, whether a hypothesis about the population is likely to be
true or false. Statisticians have developed several tests of hypothesis (also known
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as tests of significance) for the purpose of testing of hypothesis which can be

classified as:

• Parametric tests or standard tests of hypothesis ;

• Non Parametric test or distribution – free test of the hypothesis.

Parametric tests usually assume certain properties of the parent population from
which we draw samples. Assumption like observations come from a normal
population, sample size is large, assumptions about the population parameters like
mean, variants etc must hold good before parametric test can be used. But there
are situation when the researcher cannot or does not want to make assumptions. In
such situations we use statistical methods for testing hypothesis which are called
non parametric tests because such tests do not depend on any assumption about
the parameters of parent population. Besides, most non-parametric test assumes
only nominal or original data, where as parametric test require measurement
equivalent to at least an interval scale. As a result non-parametric test needs more
observation than a parametric test to achieve the same size of Type I & Type II
error.

Important Parametric Tests

The important parametric tests are:

• z-test • t-test

• x2-test • f-test

All these tests are based on the assumption of normality i.e., the source of data is
considered to be normally distributed. In some cases the population may not be
normally distributed, yet the test will be applicable on account of the fact that we
mostly deal with samples and the sampling distributions closely approach normal
distributions.

Z-test is based on the normal probability distribution and is used for judging the
significance of several statistical measures, particularly the mean. The relevant test
statistic is worked out and compared with its probable value (to be read from the
table showing area under normal curve) at a specified level of significance for
judging the significance of the measure concerned. This is a most frequently used
test in research studies. This test is used even when binomial distribution or t-
distribution is applicable on the presumption that such a distribution tends to
approximate normal distribution as ‘n’ becomes larger. Z-test is generally used for
comparing the mean of a sample to some hypothesis mean for the population in
case of large sample, or when population variance is known as z-test is also used
for judging the significance of difference between means to of two independent
samples in case of large samples or when population variance is known z-test is
generally used for comparing the sample proportion to a theoretical value of
population proportion or for judging the difference in proportions of two
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independent samples when happens to be large. Besides, this test may be used for
judging the significance of median, mode, co-efficient of correlation and several
other measures

T-test is based on t-distribution and is considered an appropriate test for judging

the significance of sample mean or for judging significance of difference between
the two means of the two samples in case of samples when population variance is
not known (in which case we use variance of the sample as an estimate the
population variance). In case two samples are related, we use paired t-test
(difference test) for judging the significance of their mean of difference between the
two related samples. It can also be used for judging the significance of co-efficient
of simple and partial correlations. The relevant test statistic, t, is calculated from
the sample data and then compared with its probable value based on t-distribution
at a specified level of significance for concerning degrees of freedom for accepting
or rejecting the null hypothesis it may be noted that t-test applies only in case of
small sample when population variance is unknown.

X2-test is based on chi-square distribution and as a parametric test is used for

comparing a sample variance to a theoretical population variance is unknown.

F-test is based on f-distribution and is used to compare the variance of the two-
independent samples. This test is also used in the context of variance (ANOVA) for
judging the significance of more than two sample means at one and the same time.
It is also used for judging the significance of multiple correlation coefficients. Test
statistic, f, is calculated and compared with its probable value for accepting or
rejecting the H0.

Q-4. Write an essay on the need for research design and explain the principles of experimental
designs.

The research designer understandably cannot hold all his decisions in his head.
Even if he could, he would have difficulty in understanding how these are inter-
related. Therefore, he records his decisions on paper or record disc by using
relevant symbols or concepts. Such a symbolic construction may be called the
research design or model. A research design is a logical and systematic plan

prepared for directing a research study. It specifies the objectives of the study, the
methodology and techniques to be adopted for achieving the objectives. It
constitutes the blue print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. It is
the plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain answers
to research questions. The plan is the overall scheme or program of research. A
research design is the program that guides the investigator in the process of
collecting, analyzing and interpreting observations. It provides a systematic plan of
procedure for the researcher to follow elltiz, Jahoda and Destsch and Cook describe,
“A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of
data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with
economy in procedure.”
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Needs of Research Design

The need for the methodologically designed research:

a- In many a research inquiry, the researcher has no idea as to how accurate

the results of his study ought to be in order to be useful. Where such is the
case, the researcher has to determine how much inaccuracy may be tolerated.
In a quite few cases he may be in a position to know how much inaccuracy his
method of research will produce. In either case he should design his research if
he wants to assure himself of useful results.

b- In many research projects, the time consumed in trying to ascertain what the
data mean after they have been collected is much greater than the time taken
to design a research which yields data whose meaning is known as they are
collected.

c- The idealized design is concerned with specifying the optimum research

procedure that could be followed were there no practical restrictions.

Principles of Experimental Designs

Professor Fisher has enumerated three principles of experimental designs:

1.The principle of replication: The experiment should be reaped more than once.
Thus, each treatment is applied in many experimental units instead of one. By
doing so, the statistical accuracy of the experiments is increased. For example,
suppose we are to examine the effect of two varieties of rice. For this purpose we
may divide the field into two parts and grow one variety in one part and the other
variety in the other part. We can compare the yield of the two parts and draw
conclusion on that basis. But if we are to apply the principle of replication to this
experiment, then we first divide the field into several parts, grow one variety in half
of these parts and the other variety in the remaining parts. We can collect the data
yield of the two varieties and draw conclusion by comparing the same. The result so
obtained will be more reliable in comparison to the conclusion we draw without
applying the principle of replication. The entire experiment can even be repeated
several times for better results. Consequently replication does not present any
difficulty, but computationally it

does. However, it should be remembered that replication is introduced in order to

increase the precision of a study; that is to say, to increase the accuracy with which
the main effects and interactions can be estimated.

2. The principle of randomization: It provides protection, when we conduct

an experiment, against the effect of extraneous factors by randomization. In
other words, this principle indicates that we should design or plan the
‘experiment in such a way that the variations caused by extraneous factors can
all be combined under the general heading of “chance”. For instance if we grow
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one variety of rice say in the first half of the parts of a field and the other
variety is grown in the other half, then it is just possible that the soil fertility
may be different in the first half in comparison to the other half. If this is so, our
results would not be realistic. In such a situation, we may assign the variety of
rice to be grown in different parts of the field on the basis of some random
sampling technique i.e., we may apply randomization principle and protect
ourselves against the effects of extraneous factors. As such, through the
application of the principle of randomization, we can have a better estimate of
the experimental error.

3. Principle of local control: It is another important principle of experimental

designs. Under it the extraneous factors, the known source of variability, is
made to vary deliberately over as wide a range as necessary and this needs to
be done in such a way that the variability it causes can be measured and hence
eliminated from the experimental error. This means that we should plan the
experiment in a manner that we can perform a two-way analysis of variance, in
which the total variability of the data is divided into three components attributed
to treatments, the extraneous factor and experimental error. In other words,
according to the principle of local control, we first divide the field into several
homogeneous parts, known as blocks, and then each such block is divided into
parts equal to the number of treatments. Then the treatments are randomly
assigned to these parts of a block. In general, blocks are the levels at which we
hold an extraneous factors fixed, so that we can measure its contribution to the
variability of the data by means of a two-way analysis of variance. In brief,
through the principle of local control we can eliminate the variability due to
extraneous factors from the experimental error.

Important Experimental Designs

Experimental design refers to the framework or structure of an experiment and as

such there are several experimental designs. We can classify experimental designs
into two broad categories, viz., informal experimental designs and formal
experimental designs. Informal experimental designs are those designs that
normally use a less sophisticated form of analysis based on differences in
magnitudes, where as formal experimental designs offer relatively more control and
use precise statistical procedures for analysis.

Informal experimental designs:

• Before and after without control design: In such a design, single test group
or area is selected and the dependent variable is measured before the
introduction of the treatment. The treatment is then introduced and the
dependent variable is measured again after the treatment has been
introduced. The effect of the treatment would be equal to the level of the
phenomenon after the treatment minus the level of the phenomenon before
the treatment.
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• After only with control design: In this design, two groups or areas (test and
control area) are selected and the treatment is introduced into the test area
only. The dependent variable is then measured in both the areas at the same
time. Treatment impact is assessed by subtracting the value of the
dependent variable in the control area from its value in the test area.
• Before and after with control design: In this design two areas are selected
and the dependent variable is measured in both the areas for an identical
time-period before the treatment. The treatment is then introduced into the
test area only, and the dependent variable is measured in both for an
identical time-period after the introduction of the treatment. The treatment
effect is determined by subtracting the change in the dependent variable in
the control area from the change in the dependent variable in test area.

Formal Experimental Designs

1. Completely randomized design (CR design): It involves only two

principle viz., the principle of replication and randomization. It is generally
used when experimental areas happen to be homogenous. Technically, when
all the variations due to uncontrolled extraneous factors are included under
the heading of chance variation, we refer to the design of experiment as C R
Design.
2. Randomized block design (RB design): It is an improvement over the C
Research design. In the RB design the principle of local control can be applied
along with the other two principles.
3. Latin square design (LS design): It is used in agricultural research. The
treatments in a LS design are so allocated among the plots that no treatment
occurs more than once in any row or column.
4. Factorial design: It is used in experiments where the effects of varying
more than one factor are to be determined. They are especially important in
several economic and social phenomena where usually a large number of
factors affect a particular problem.

Q-5. Distinguish between primary and secondary of data collection. Explain

the features, uses, advantages and limitations of secondary data. Which is
the best way of collecting the data for research”Primary or secondary”.
Support your answer.

The search for answers to research questions is called collection of data. Data are
facts, and other relevant materials, past and present, serving as bases for study
and analyses. The data needed for a social science research may be broadly
classified into (a) Data pertaining to human beings, (b) Data relating to
organization and (c) Data pertaining to territorial areas.

Primary Sources of Data

1. Primary sources are original sources from which the researcher directly
collects data that have not been previously collected e.g.., collection of data
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directly by the researcher on brand awareness, brand preference, brand

loyalty and other aspects of consumer behaviour from a sample of
consumers by interviewing them,. Primary data are first hand information
collected through various These are sources containing data which have been
collected and compiled for another purpose. The secondary sources consists
of readily compendia and already compiled statistical statements and reports
whose data may be used by researchers for their studies e.g., census reports
, annual reports and financial statements of companies, Statistical statement,
Reports of Government Departments, Annual reports of currency and finance
published by the Reserve Bank of India, Statistical statements relating to Co-
operatives and Regional Banks, published by the NABARD, Reports of the
National sample survey Organization, Reports of trade associations,
publications of international organizations such as UNO, IMF, World Bank,
ILO, WHO, etc., Trade and Financial journals newspapers etc.

Secondary sources consist of not only published records and reports, but also
unpublished records. The latter category includes various records and
registers maintained by the firms and organizations, e.g., accounting and
financial records, personnel records, register of members, minutes of
meetings, inventory records etcmethods such as observation, interviewing,
mailing etc

1. Features of Secondary Sources

Though secondary sources are diverse and consist of all sorts of materials,
they have certain common characteristics.

First, they are readymade and readily available, and do not require the
trouble of constructing tools and administering them.

Second, they consist of data which a researcher has no original control over
collection and classification. Both the form and the content of secondary
sources are shaped by others. Clearly, this is a feature which can limit the
research value of secondary sources.

Finally, secondary sources are not limited in time and space. That is, the
researcher using them need not have been present when and where they
were gathered.

Use of Secondary Data

The second data may be used in three ways by a researcher. First, some
specific information from secondary sources may be used for reference
purpose. For example, the general statistical information in the number of
co-operative credit societies in the country, their coverage of villages, their
capital structure, volume of business etc., may be taken from published
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reports and quoted as background information in a study on the evaluation of

performance of cooperative credit societies in a selected district/state.

Second, secondary data may be used as bench marks against which the
findings of research may be tested, e.g., the findings of a local or regional
survey may be compared with the national averages; the performance
indicators of a particular bank may be tested against the corresponding
indicators of the banking industry as a whole; and so on.

Finally, secondary data may be used as the sole source of information for a
research project. Such studies as securities Market Behaviour, Financial
Analysis of companies, Trade in credit allocation in commercial banks,
sociological studies on crimes, historical studies, and the like, depend
primarily on secondary data. Year books, statistical reports of government
departments, report of public organizations of Bureau of Public Enterprises,
Censes Reports etc, serve as major data sources for such research studies.

Advantages of Secondary Data

Secondary sources have some advantages:

1. Secondary data, if available can be secured quickly and cheaply. Once

their source of documents and reports are located, collection of data is
just matter of desk work. Even the tediousness of copying the data
from the source can now be avoided, thanks to Xeroxing facilities.
2. Wider geographical area and longer reference period may be covered
without much cost. Thus, the use of secondary data extends the
researcher’s space and time reach.
3. The use of secondary data broadens the data base from which
scientific generalizations can be made.
4. Environmental and cultural settings are required for the study.
5. The use of secondary data enables a researcher to verify the findings
bases on primary data. It readily meets the need for additional
empirical support. The researcher need not wait the time when
additional primary data can be collected.

Disadvantages of Secondary Data

The use of a secondary data has its own limitations.

6. The most important limitation is the available data may not meet our
specific needs. The definitions adopted by those who collected those
data may be different; units of measure may not match; and time
periods may also be different.
7. The available data may not be as accurate as desired. To assess their
accuracy we need to know how the data were collected.
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8. The secondary data are not up-to-date and become obsolete when
they appear in print, because of time lag in producing them. For
example, population census data are published tow or three years later
after compilation, and no new figures will be available for another ten
years.
9. Finally, information about the whereabouts of sources may not be
available to all social scientists. Even if the location of the source is
known, the accessibility depends primarily on proximity. For example,
most of the unpublished official records and compilations are located in
the capital city, and they are not within the easy reach of researchers
based in far off places. On the basis of above consideration, the
pertinence of the secondary data to the research on hand should be
determined, as a researcher who is imaginative and flexible may be
able to redefine his research problem so as to make use of otherwise
unusable available data.
2. Data Quality If the researcher is convinced about the available secondary
data for his needs, the next step is to examine the quality of the data. The
quality of data refers to their accuracy, reliability and completeness. The
assurance and reliability of the available secondary data depends on the
organization which collected them and the purpose for which they were
collected. What is the authority and prestige of the organization? Is it well
recognized? Is it noted for reliability? It is capable of collecting reliable data?
Does it use trained and well qualified investigators? The answers to these
questions determine the degree of confidence we can have in the data and
their accuracy. It is important to go to the original source of the secondary
data rather than to use an immediate source which has quoted from the
original. Then only, the researcher can review the cautionary ands other
comments that were made in the original source.

3. Data Completeness

The completeness refers to the actual coverage of the published data. This
depends on the methodology and sampling design adopted by the original
organization. Is the methodology sound? Is the sample size small or large? Is
the sampling method appropriate? Answers to these questions may indicate
the appropriateness and adequacy of the data for the problem under study.
the question of possible bias should also be examined. Whether the purpose
for which the original organization collected the data had a particular
orientation? Has the study been made to promote the organization’s own
interest? How the study was conducted? These are important clues. The
researcher must be on guard when the source does not report the
methodology and sampling design. Then it is not possible to determine the
adequacy of the secondary data for the researcher’s study
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Q-6 Describe interview method of collecting data. State the conditions under which it is
considered most suitable. You have been assigned to conduct a survey on the reading
habits of the house wives in the middle class family. Design a suitable questionnaire
consisting of 20 questions you propose to use in the survey.

Interviewing is one of the prominent methods of data collection. It may be defined

as a two way systematic conversation between an investigator and an informant,
initiated for obtaining information relevant to a specific study. It involves not only
conversation, but also learning from the respondent’s gesture, facial expressions
and pauses, and his environment. Interviewing requires face to face contact or
contact over telephone and calls for interviewing skills. It is done by using a
structured schedule or an unstructured guide.

Interviewing may be used either as a main method or as a supplementary one in

studies of persons. Interviewing is the only suitable method for gathering
information from illiterate or less educated respondents. It is useful for collecting a
wide range of data from factual demographic data to highly personal and intimate
information relating to a person’s opinions, attitudes, values, beliefs past
experience and future intentions. When qualitative information is required or
probing is necessary to draw out fully, and then interviewing is required. Where the
area covered for the survey is a compact, or when a sufficient number of qualified
interviewers are available, personal interview is feasible.

Interview is often superior to other data-gathering methods. People are usually

more willing to talk than to write. Once report is established, even confidential
information may be obtained. It permits probing into the context and reasons for
answers to questions.

Interview can add flesh to statistical information. It enables the investigator to

grasp the behavioral context of the data furnished by the respondents.