ABSTRACT
On the basis of their external characteristics, two types of interviews can be distinguished: those conducted over the telephone and those conducted face-to-face. Researchers faced with the choice of either type may prefer the telephone interview on simple financial grounds. In addition to the telephone, the computer is another piece of equipment that is frequently used in interviewing. One may be inclined to think that answers elicited in an interview by telephone are less valuable than those obtained in a face-to-face interview. The contact between interviewers and interviewees is more restricted in telephone situations than when they meet face-to-face. A number of possibilities and limitations are inherent in the situation of both the telephone and the face-to-face interview. In interviews by telephone, the interviewer and the interviewee are in two physically different places. In the early years of automation, computerised interviewing was associated with interviewing by telephone.
