Disadvantages/Limitations Of Personal Interview

Disadvantages/Limitations Of Personal Interview:

(1) Costly: Personal interview is a costly method of survey as the interviewer is required to be paid travelling and daily allowances. In addition, limited number of interviews are possible within one day by an interviewer. Supervisors are required to be appointed on the interviewers for effective control. Thus, it is a costly method.

(2) Time consuming: Personal interview method of data collection is time-consuming. The interview time may be of 15 to 30 minutes but the interviewer has to spend time on travelling, etc. Naturally the survey work takes a longer duration.

(3) Information supplied may not be accurate: The information supplied by the respondentsmay not necessarily be accurate as they have to supply information on the spot. The answers given by the respondents may not be fully supported by facts. The respondent may give inadequate information due to personal reasons. This is likely to affect the final outcome of the survey.

(4) Long-term planning required: Personal interview needslong term planning and fixing ofprior appointments with the respondents. The complicated scheduling must be followed strictly.

(5) Effective supervision on interviewers required: Effectivesupervision on large number of interviewers appointed may not be possible due to large geographical area covered by the survey work. The investigators may not work sincerely if supervision on them is inadequate/ineffective. Insincere interviewers can produce high level of spoiled work.

(6) Danger of personal bias: There is a danger of personal bias when the interview is conducted personally. This may be due to wrong selection of samples. It may also arise if the investigators are dishonest and try to suggest possible answers to the respondents. In brief, there is a possibility of interviewer bias or respondent bias in the personal interview method.

(7) Possibility of rush interviews: There is a possibility ofrush interviews by the interviewers. This is possible when they are given heavy interview target per day. This is also possible if the interviewers are paid in proportion to the interviews completed per day. Finally, rush interviews are possible if the questionnaire is too lengthy. However, this affects the quality of survey work.

(8) Respondents from cross section of the society may not be available: For personal interview/peoplefrom all sections may not be available. Busy executives, industrialists and professionals are not easily available as samples for the survey work.

(9) Information supplied may not be recorded properly: Sometimes, information supplied by the respondents is not recorded properly. The interviewers may record the information after completing the interview. Mistakes in recording actual replies is possible. This leads to wrong conclusions in the final research report.