Field Interviewing

Field surveys are typically carried out in a lobby or outside a store in a Shopping Centre or in any space where there is a good population of target consumers. Again typically, these are carried out by trained interviewers who deliver a short (5 to 20 minute) questionnaire concerning the consumer's behaviour, habits, preference, or perceptions.

Field surveys can incorporate limited product testing, as in the case of taste tests of a new food product. They can also focus on a comparative analysis of several competing products known to the consumer, or provide good estimates of brand recall and recognition. Surveys can also sample the opinions of consumers immediately after sampling a service (airline consumer surveys where passengers in certain seats are asked to complete a questionnaire on customer service is one example).

• Consumer intercepts are usually held to gain a fast and quick overview,
• As they are low sample size in a short timeframe they are low cost, (typically a dozen or more interviewers stationed at several locations for 2 to 3 days.

Field research interviewers are provided with interview blanks with detailed instructions regarding stemming and question flow, and are trained through role playing each survey before conducting interviews. Field surveys remain a powerful technique, and in many cases can approach the reliability of much more expensive and objective samples.