Abstract:

Computer-interactive (electronic) interviewing shows promise of producing higher levels of respondent interest fewer errors, and data with breadth and richness unattainable through conventional means, all at comparable cost. The Xerox Corporation undertook a methodological study to test the feasibility of electronic procedures in Germany and the UK during the Summer of 1979. The questionnaire dealt with office equipment and made use of Trade-Off Analysis. All interviewing took place in the respondents' own places of work. In each country equivalent samples received either paper-and-pencil or computer-administered interviews. The results favour the electronic approach. The electronic method produced superior prediction of respondents' subsequent choices among new product concepts. Those respondents receiving the computer-interactive interview also rated the task as both easier and more interesting than those receiving the paper-and-pencil interview.