| The interview method is a conversation with a purpose. |
 The
interview method of research is a
conversation with a purpose and is non-experimental in
design.
The interviewer in one-to-one conversation collects detailed personal information from
individuals using oral questions. The interview is used widely to supplement and extend
our knowledge about individual(s) thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Or how they think
they feel and behave. Interviews can give us both quantitative
and qualitative data
about participants' thoughts, feelings and behaviours. This is due to the standardisation
and/or free ranging nature of questions asked. The more structured or standardised
interview questions are, the more able you are to get quantitative data. Quantitative
data is reliable and easy to analyse. The less structured and freer ranging the interview
questions the more qualitative your data becomes. Qualitative data is difficult to analyse
and is not as reliable. There are two categories of interview, the structured interview
and unstructured interview. The key feature of the structured interview is in the pre-planning
of all the questions asked. Structured interviews also allow for replication of the
interview with others. You can then generalise what you find out to the population from
which your interview sample came. Structured interviews are conducted in various
modes:
face-to-face, by telephone, videophone and the Internet. There are three types of
structured interview. The structured interview itself, the
semi-structured interview
and the clinical interview. A major feature, and difference, is the degree to which
each use standardised and unplanned questions. Standardisation helps the reliability
of your results and conclusions. The more use of unplanned questions, the less
structured the interview becomes. Unplanned spontaneous questions are a key feature
of the unstructured interview. Spontaneous questioning is more responsive to the
paricipant. However spontaneous questioning does not allow for generalisation. Spontaneous
questions can also be accused of generating invalid results and conclusions.
Thus standardisation v. the free ranging nature of questions is both the
main advantage and disadvantage of the interview method of research, in
general and in particular.
sampling bias. |
| Compare the types of interview, at a glance | ||
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