ABSTRACT
Despite its costs and expected complications, the field survey generally yields far more accurate data than either mail or telephone surveys. Samples of a field survey, if properly drawn, are more representative than both mail and telephone surveys, which suffer from limitation of the list (or directory) from which samples are drawn. A field survey usually provides every person in a household with an equal chance of being chosen, if the dwelling units are selected as the basic sampling units from which the respondent is drawn. Its sampling is less biased as contrasted to that of the mail or telephone survey. Generally, it produces much higher and better quality returns than the mail survey because few respondents would refuse cooperation in a face-to-face situation. In the meantime, the interviewer could assess the situation objectively if required. All these can be attributed to the use of interviewers.
