S 社は服飾販売会社で，数十の店舗をチェーン展開している。近年，競合他社と比べると売上額の伸びが鈍化しているので，売上向上プロジェクトを立ち上げた。販売企画課の入社 2 年目の A さんは，先輩社員の B さんとともに，このメンバに選ばれた。 売上向上プロジェクトでは，各店舗に任せている販売促進活動（以下，販促活動という）の効果を高める必要があると考え，各店舗の現状を調査し，課題や要望を抽出することにした。調査にはアンケート調査とインタビュー調査があるが，今回の調査ではインタビュー調査を行うことにした。A さんは，B さんからインタビュー調査の注意点の説明を受けて，各店舗の店長にインタビュー調査を行い，複数の店舗に共通している課題と要望をまとめた。 〔インタビュー調査の注意点〕 (1) 販促活動の実態や問題点を，短い時間で効率よく調査をするために，あらかじめ主要な質問項目を準備しておくこと (2) 質問の順序として，一般的な質問から具体的な質問に展開したり，対象とする活動の時間的な流れに沿って質問を展開したりするなど，論理的な流れで行うこと (3) 調査を実施する側と調査を受ける側で，認識のずれが生じないようにすること 〔店舗の課題と要望〕 (1) アルバイト社員や新入社員は商品知識が乏しい。このことから，それらの社員を雇用している店舗では，商品知識や流行のファッション情報の習得を目的とした教育を実施したいという要望がある。 (2) 顧客の満足度を向上させることで売上を増やし，店舗ごとに定められている売上目標を達成したいと考えている。 (3) 顧客から受けた商品情報に関する質問に店員が適切に回答したり，顧客の好みに沿った商品を推薦したりする必要があると考えている。 A さんは B さんの指導の下で，店舗の課題と要望に対する施策を考え，実現性を考慮した上で，売上向上プロジェクトの計画書（以下，プロジェクト計画書という）を作成することにした。また，複数の施策が考えられるときには，それぞれの予測効果を数値化して比較し，施策実行の可否の判断を行うことにした。 〔インタビュー調査の注意点〕に従ったインタビュー調査の進め方として，適切なものはどれか。
平成23年度 秋期 ITパスポート試験 問98
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
問 98
※ Our check while writing this explanation could not fully confirm the published answer; scoring follows IPA's official key.
Incorrectア
Making every operation carried out at the store — purchasing and returning merchandise, display, sales promotion, sales totaling, and so on — the subject of the questions runs directly counter to point (1), “prepare the main question items in advance so that the survey can be carried out efficiently in a short time.” The purpose of this survey is to raise the effectiveness of the sales promotion activities that are left to each store, so what needs to be drawn out is the actual state and the problems of those promotion activities. Asking indiscriminately about operations that are unnecessary for that purpose only eats up the limited interview time, leaves the crucial promotion activities explored only superficially, and places a heavier burden on the store manager. The way to conduct an interview survey is not to chase exhaustive coverage but to narrow the questions down to the main items that serve the purpose.
Incorrectイ
It is wrong to let the interview run on just as it is, in the name of respecting the store manager's autonomy, while the manager keeps giving answers that stray from the purpose of the interview survey. Point (1) requires the survey to be carried out efficiently in a short time, and point (2) requires the questions to be developed in a logical order. A state in which off-purpose talk keeps going is a state in which the flow along the main question items prepared in advance has broken down; if it is left alone, the time will run out without the necessary information being obtained. The surveying side bears the responsibility of acting as facilitator: it should restate the purpose of the survey and the points it wants to hear about, rephrase the questions, and bring the conversation back to the main track. Respecting what the other person says and letting the talk stay off the purpose are two different things.
- ウ
正解 The correct answer is ウ. This question asks you to judge whether each way of proceeding is appropriate in light of the [Points to note for interview surveys] (1) to (3) given in the lead-in text of question set C. There are three points: (1) prepare the main question items in advance so that the actual state and the problems of the sales promotion activities can be surveyed efficiently in a short time; (2) develop the questions in a logical order, for example from general questions to specific ones, or following the chronological flow of the activities being studied; and (3) make sure that no gap in understanding arises between the side conducting the survey and the side being surveyed. Option ウ describes taking notes of the answers obtained from the store manager and, after the interview survey ends, confirming with the store manager themselves whether there is any misunderstanding in the content of those notes. This is exactly a concrete procedure that puts point (3) into practice. Because an interview survey is a spoken exchange, the surveying side easily mishears words or takes them the wrong way, and conversely the respondent may answer while misunderstanding the intent of the question. If such a gap is left unaddressed, the issues and requests will be summarized on a mistaken premise, and the project plan and the measures drawn up afterwards will all be wrong as well. Therefore, by having the respondent read back what was recorded and check whether there is any factual error or difference in interpretation, this cross-checking step secures the accuracy of the survey results and keeps the understanding of the surveying side and the surveyed side aligned. This confirmation work is generally called a review, or content confirmation, and it is widely practiced as a basic step of an interview survey. For these reasons, the appropriate way to proceed in accordance with the points to note is ウ.
Incorrectエ
Asking, store by store, only about items related to the best-selling products means narrowing the questions down along an axis that is out of line with the purpose of the survey. The narrowing that point (1) refers to is always a narrowing to the main question items as judged against the purpose of the survey — the actual state and the problems of the sales promotion activities — not a restriction to the best-selling products. On the contrary, the problems of promotion activities tend to show up on the side of products whose sales are not growing and of measures that did not go well, so asking only about the top sellers gathers information biased toward success stories. Since the aim of this survey is to compile the issues and requests that are common to several stores, having a different set of target products for each store would also make comparison between stores and extraction of common points impossible.
- Basics of how to conduct an interview survey — prepare in advance the main question items that match the purpose of the survey and ask them efficiently in a short time; develop them in a logical order, such as from general questions to specific ones or following the chronological flow of the work; and bring the talk back to the main track once it strays from the purpose. Asking about everything exhaustively, or narrowing the questions along an axis that is out of line with the purpose, is not an appropriate way to proceed.
- The confirmation step that prevents gaps in understanding — spoken exchanges easily produce mishearing and differing interpretations, so record the answers in notes and have the respondent themselves check that content after the survey ends. This cross-check (content confirmation, or review) aligns the understanding of the surveying side and the surveyed side, and prevents wrong information from being carried into the planning and the design of measures at later steps.