One client for this class is interested in how people feel about various businesses and aspects of the Texarkana area.  A few years ago, we had looked at issues of how tourists might feel about Texarkana as a place to visit, but we haven't yet looked at how local residents feel about this area as a place to live.  The client's website is open to anyone who wants to rate local businesses and such, but the sampling consists of self-selection.  That is, the client has no way to control who participates in online surveys and such.  Additionally, the client's website doesn't yet address the general issue of what it is that people like about living in Texarkana.

One possible way to explore this issue is to interview Texarkana and surrounding area residents.  These Texarkana and surrounding area residents could be asked what they like about Texarkana, what they dislike about Texarkana, the reasons for going outside of this area to get whatever it is that they want, and such.  We would especially like to know what people do for recreation and entertainment in Texarkana, and what is not offered by Texarkana that residents would like to do.

One way to interview people is through telephone depth interviews.  Below is a letter that could be sent to this client to propose a TDI study.  On the assumption that our client agrees that a telephone survey should be conducted in the manner proposed in this letter, write the script for the TDI. 

Your survey must include a combination of quantitative measures as well as exploratory qualitative probes.  For the sake of a classroom assignment, your quantitative questions must include at least one each of a Likert scale, a semantic differential scale, and a nominal or ordinal scale of styles that were discussed in this course.  Do not invent your own kinds of scales. 

Refer to our Resident Focus Group Recruiting Screener assignment: your telephone survey must be based on the same general research objectives of that study as well as follow the same general issues of quota sampling.  In these telephone surveys, however, we would like to interview a total of 100 respondents with 75% being within the immediate area of Texarkana, and 25% from the outlying areas.

For a survey of this type, it is appropriate to offer a participation incentive via an honorarium.  For this study, indicate to the respondent that the survey is expected to take fifteen minutes and that an honorarium of $25 will be sent if the respondent qualifies to take the survey and completes the survey. 

Perceptions regarding confidentiality are crucial.  Therefore, you must include the following confidentiality statement in your initial offer to conduct the survey: "Your identity will not be shared with anyone.  Any lists or other information with your name will be shredded after this project is completed."

Note that it is likely that you would not be administering the survey yourself.  Therefore, anything is not meant to be read on the phone should be put in bold and capital letters.  Be sure to clearly identify branches and skips when needed.  Don't forget to identify your survey form with the study number and study title.

Dear Mr. Raetit,

As a followup to our telephone conversation, here is a proposal to help find answers to the kinds of questions that you had.  Although a past study found some general criteria that travelers might use in evaluating a city, we don't know what residents of Texarkana do for recreation and entertainment and we don't know how much they spend on these things.  Importantly, we don't know what people would like to see that we do not have.

Objectives

The present study would be an initial exploration into questions associated with what residents of Texarkana and the surrounding areas do for entertainment and recreation and what isn't offered that they would like to see.

Methodology

Our proposal is to randomly call Texarkana area residents, limiting respondents to a quota sample of heads of households that includes people within the confines of Texarkana and some people who live in areas that are in outlying areas (e.g., Ashdown, AR).  The respondent's location would be determined by asking the zip code as an initial screening question after the introduction.  Once past initial screening questions, we would continue to interview the respondent if s/he is willing.  The total number of respondents in the study would be 100, including 25 from outlying areas and 75 in the immediate vicinity.

Question Areas

Recommended survey flow is as follows:

1. Initial screening questions regarding the appropriateness of the person on the phone to participate in the survey would include whether or not they are a head of household, where they live (in the immediate vicinity or an outlying area), and if they have lived in the area for at least five years.

2. Question(s) regarding household composition.

3. Question(s) regarding household income.

4. Question(s) regarding entertainment and recreational activities that household members currently enjoy in the Texarkana area.

5. Question(s) regarding entertainment and recreational activities desired but not available within the Texarkana area.

6. Question(s) regarding how much household members spend on these activities.

7. Question(s) regarding how much household members would be willing to spend if the ideal mix of entertainment and recreation activities were available within the Texarkana area.

Analysis

Some of the questions will be quantitative (e.g., attitude scales) and some questions will be qualitative (open ended).  We will provide you with a summary of the numerical averages of responses to quantitative questions, and will provide a written summary of the qualitative responses.  Where appropriate, these will be broken out by respondent demographics.

Timeline

Our estimated timeline is as follows:

Week 1: Write and edit a telephone questionnaire (in consultation with and approved by you).

Weeks 2 and 3: Conduct the telephone surveys.

Week 4: Compile and analyze data, write reports.

Week 5: Present results to you orally and in written report form.

Budget

Since the materials that we would consume are part of the normal, reasonable costs for a student, there will be no cost to you for materials.  Since this is a student learning project, there also would be no cost to you for time.  However, since students cannot be asked to incur the costs of long distance phone calls to outlying areas, you would have to allow these calls to be made from your shop.

Mr. Raetit, please let me know if you need any additional information.  Thanks for the opportunity for my students to work with you.

Sincerely,