Generally, our survey research reports employ a variety of techniques in the collection and analysis of survey data. People are contacted and surveyed using several different modes: by an interviewer in-person or on the telephone, via internet or by disseminating questionnaires (delivered in person or in mail).

The choice of mode affects who theoretically will be interviewed in the survey, the availability of an effective way to sample people in the population, how people can be contacted and selected to be respondents and who responds to the survey. In addition, factors related to the mode-such as the presence of an interviewer and whether information is communicated orally or visually-can influence how people respond.

RTI Pakistan Research Center conducts face to face interview surveys through random sampling, focus groups, web surveys and mixed-mode surveys (where people can be surveyed by more than one method). Furthermore, some of our surveys involve re-interviewing people who were previously surveyed to see if their attitudes or behaviors have changed over a certain period of time. For example, poll members and members from our focus groups are contacted regularly to gauge a rise or fall in rankings of a particular party or its members in popularity, integrity, leadership, performance etc., in order to understand how their opinions may have changed over a certain period of time from when they were interviewed previously.