What is the interview method?
The interview method is a way of collecting data in which an interviewer asks respondents questions and records their answers. In quantitative research an interviewer reads out a standardised questionnaire; in qualitative research the interviewer listens in depth to respondents' experiences and meanings. It is also a basic data collection method in social welfare research.
Types by degree of structure
- Structured (standardised) interview: the content, order and wording of questions are fixed in advance and asked identically of every respondent. Comparison and statistical analysis are easy and reliability is high, but flexibility is low.
- Semi-structured interview: key questions are set, but the order can change and follow-up questions (probes) are asked depending on the answers.
- Unstructured (in-depth) interview: only the topic is set, and a free conversation explores the respondent's perspective in depth. Rubin and Rubin (2012) describe it as a conversation with a 'conversational partner'.
Group interviews
Merton and Kendall (1946) proposed the focused interview, which questions people who have had a particular experience (for example, listening to a radio programme) with the focus on that experience. It developed into today's focus group, in which about six to ten participants discuss a topic with a moderator, widely used in marketing and policy research.
Strengths and weaknesses
Compared with self-administered questionnaires, interviews have higher response rates, allow people who have difficulty reading to take part, let the interviewer clarify questions and probe further, and capture non-verbal information such as facial expressions. On the other hand they cost more money and time, offer weaker anonymity so that respondents more easily give socially desirable answers to sensitive questions, and can suffer from interviewer effects, in which the interviewer's manner or characteristics influence the answers (Groves et al., 2009).
Interviewing skills and ethics
Good interviews depend on building rapport, wording questions neutrally, avoiding leading questions, probing appropriately and recording accurately. Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) see the interview as a process in which knowledge is constructed together, and stress ethical considerations such as informed consent, confidentiality and the consequences for respondents.
References
- Merton, R. K., & Kendall, P. L. (1946). The focused interview. American Journal of Sociology, 51(6), 541-557.
- Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2009). InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing (2nd ed.). Sage.
- Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data (3rd ed.). Sage.
- Groves, R. M., Fowler, F. J., Couper, M. P., Lepkowski, J. M., Singer, E., & Tourangeau, R. (2009). Survey Methodology (2nd ed.). Wiley.
- Babbie, E. (2016). The Practice of Social Research (14th ed.). Cengage Learning.