Research Tools 2: Interview

Data collection or research tools are any tool used to measure a variable, or to collect the information needed to answer a research question. Three different data collection techniques are observation, questionnaire and interview.

In the previous article, you read about the observation method and its advantages and disadvantages in the field of research.

In this article, and the next one to be published in the coming day, we are evaluating the suitability of research tools under different circumstances.

Interviews are primarily done in qualitative research and occur when researchers ask one or more participants general, open-ended questions and record their answers.

Interviews are particularly useful for uncovering the story behind a participant’s experiences and pursuing in-depth information around a topic.

Use of observation method for data collection process is useful when the researcher can observe all the phenomena, so observation cannot always be relied upon. Therefore, in most cases the researcher will have to use interview.

Research Tools

Data collection or research tools are any tool used to measure a variable, or to collect the information needed to answer a research question. Careful selection of data collection tools can help the researcher achieve goals and save time.

Any research is only as good as the data that drives it, so choosing the right technique of data collection can make all the difference. In this article, and the next two articles to be published in the coming days, we will look at three different data collection techniques – observation, questionnaire and interview, and evaluate their suitability under different circumstances.

Interview

Interviews are designed to collect a richer source of information from a small number of people about their attributes, behavior, preferences, feelings, attitudes, opinions, and knowledge.

Interviews help you explain, better understand, and explore research subjects’ opinions, behavior, experiences, phenomenon, etc. Interview questions are usually open-ended questions so that in-depth information will be collected.

Structured

Also known as standardized interview, structured interviews are defined as research tools that are extremely rigid in their operations are allows very little or no scope of prompting the participants to obtain and analyze results.

Following are some characteristics of structured interview:

• Quantitative in its approach
• Used in survey research
• Questions are pre-decided according to required detail of information
• Maintain uniformity throughout all interview sessions
• Can be closed-ended as well as open-ended, according to the type of target population
• Focus on the accuracy of different responses

Semi-Structured

Semi-structured interviews offer a considerable amount of leeway to the researcher to probe the respondents along with maintaining basic interview structure.

Following are some characteristics of semi-structured interview:

• Helps the analysis team to remain focused on the objectives of the analysis
• Use the interview time efficiently, while allowing interviewees the opportunity to address unforeseen issues
• Offers appreciable flexibility to the researchers
• Offers creative advantage of the entire interview to the researchers
• Best used when the researcher doesn’t have time to conduct research and requires detailed information about the topic
• Interview questions are expressed in the format preferred by researchers, unlike the structured interview
• Reliable qualitative data can be collected via these interviews

Unstructured 

Also called as in-depth interviews, unstructured interviews are usually described as conversations held with a purpose in mind – to gather data about the research study.

Following are some characteristics of unstructured interview:

• Have the least number of questions, more like normal conversation but with an underlying subject
• Helps researchers build a bond with the respondents to increase the respondents’ truthfulness
• No guidelines for researchers to follow
• No ethical manner to follow to approach participants to gain as much information
• Has an informal nature; easy for researchers to try and develop a friendly rapport with the participants
• Helps researchers gain  insights in extreme detail without much conscious effort
• Participants can clarify all their doubts about the questions
• Researcher can take each opportunity to explain his/her intention for better answers

Design interview questions

• Think about who you will interview
• Think about what kind of information you want to obtain from interviews
• Think about why you want to pursue in-depth information around your research topic

Develop an interview guide

• Introduce yourself and explain the aim of the interview
• Devise your questions so interviewees can help answer your research question
• Have a sequence to your questions / topics by grouping them in themes
• Make sure you can easily move back and forth between questions / topics
• Make sure your questions are clear and easy to understand
• Do not ask leading questions

Plan and manage logistics

• • • • Do you want to bring a second interviewer with you?
      • Do you want to bring a notetaker?
      • Do you want to record interviews? If so, do you have time to transcribe interview recordings?
      • Where will you interview people? Where is the setting with the least distraction?
      • How long will each interview take?
      • Do you need to address terms of confidentiality?

Interview Advantages

• Excellent for in-depth testing of research hypotheses and insights into the psyche of buyers
• Access to qualitative data
• Ability to explore and probe responses

Interview Disadvantages

• Expensive and time consuming
• Respondents may be reluctant to share personal beliefs and information
• Possibility of interviewer bias
• Rarely yields useful quantitative data