On psychological data collection methods

Face-to-face Surveys



Gaining information from respondents via face-to-face mediums is much more effective than the other mediums because respondents usually tend to trust the surveyors and provide honest and clear feedback about the subject in-hand. 
Researchers can easily identify whether their respondents are uncomfortable with the asked questions and can be extremely productive in case there are sensitive topics involved in the discussion. This online data collection method demands more cost-investment than in comparison to the other methods. According to the geographic or psychographic segmentation, researchers must be trained to gain accurate information.
For example, a job evaluation survey is conducted in person between an HR or a manager with the employee.

This method works best face-to-face as the data collection can collect as accurate information as possible.

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  Telephone Surveys 
  

Telephone surveys require much lesser investment than face-to-face surveys. Depending on the required reach, telephone surveys cost as much or a little more than online surveys. Contacting respondents via the telephonic medium requires less effort and manpower than the face-to-face survey medium. 
If interviewers are located at the same place, they can cross-check their questions to ensure error-free questions are asked to the target audience. The main drawback of conducting telephone surveys is that establishing a friendly equation with the respondent becomes challenging due to the bridge of the medium. Respondents are also highly likely to choose to remain anonymous in their feedback over the phone as the reliability associated with the researcher can be questioned.
For example, if a retail giant would like to understand purchasing decisions, they can conduct a telephonic, motivation, and buying experience survey to collect data about the entire purchasing experience. 

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  Paper Surveys 
  

The other commonly used survey method is paper surveys. These surveys can be used where laptops, computers, and tablets cannot go, and hence they use the age-old method of data collection; pen and paper. This method helps collect survey data in field research and helps strengthen the number of responses collected and the validity of these responses. 
A popular example or use case of a paper survey is a fast food restaurant survey where the fast-food chain would like to collect feedback on the dining experience of its patrons.