ABSTRACT
Data collection in surveys can be carried out using several methods. In Chapters 11-15, five different choices for survey mode-face-to-face, telephone, mail, Interactive Voice Response and web-were described as possibilities for implementing a survey. With all these possibilities, the choice for a specific mode is difficult and involves trade-offs between the strong and weak points of each mode (de Leeuw, Chapter 7). Sometimes a survey sponsor is better advised to use more than one data collection mode for implementing a proposed study and to conduct a multi-mode or mixed-mode survey. Mixed-mode surveys are appealing because one can attempt to combine the strong points of each individual mode; however, such a decision should not be made without careful thought and planning. Introducing a second, or even a third or fourth survey mode into the data collection plan, implies a more complicated, more expensive, longer, and more challenging survey implementation. It also means that the strong and weak points of each mode may need to be reconsidered to take advantage of each mode’s relative strengths, compensating for each mode’s weaknesses.
