These are very good ways to collect data, but there are a few things to consider if you are going to collect data this way, make sure that your questions aren’t “leading” - the questions must be ‘fair’ and ‘unbiased’


eg: “Do you agree that fast food advertisements should be banned from TV”

This is a guiding or leading question because the interviewee might be ‘led’ to answer in a way that they expect you want, and not how they really feel. It is a potentially ‘biased’ question.

Example:

“Should fast food adverts be banned from TV?”


1= Absolutely not, 5 = no opinion either way 10 = Definitely

1        2        3        4        5        6        7        8        9        10


This is a more ‘open’ question and there is no thing leading the interviewee to any        specific response. 


Sensitive questions - make sure that you aren’t accidentally intruding on privacy:

eg: “How much money do you take home every month in your salary?”
eg: “How old are you?

More suitable alternatives could be:


“What is your approximate take home pay monthly?”
£0 <= £1000    £1001<=£2000    £2001<=£3000    Over £3000

“Which age group would you place yourself in?”
0<=a<=15    16<=a<=30    31<=a<=45    46<=a<= 60    61<=a<=75    Over 75


In your experiment, consider whether you need ‘exact’ answers, can this be avoided? 


Make sure your ranges don’t overlap:

eg: “How often do you order from ‘Just Eat’ every week?”

0-2        2-4        4-6        6-8        8 or more

Each category has an overlap which could confuse your data analysis, for example where would an answer of ‘6’ go?

More suitable alternatives could be:


“How often do you order from ‘Just Eat’ every week?”
0-2        3-4         5-6        7-8         More than 8