Quick Read: Planning effective surveys and interviews for research or evaluation

Surveys and interviews are powerful tools for collecting data (usually qualitative) from participants.

To understand your learners’ perceptions, attitudes, and feelings, you should use direct questioning so that they can describe their own experience or ‘self-report’. Self-report measures include face-to-face interviews and written or electronic surveys. Whilst each approach is different, they both require careful planning to ensure that they are effective, reliable, and valid.

In this 2 page read we compare these similar approaches and highlight when each might be more appropriate.