INTERVIEW METHOD

Structure
○ Objectives
○ Introduction
○ Interviewing
○ Types of Interviews
■ Structured Interview
■ Unstructured Interview
■ Focussed Interview
■ Non-directive Interview
■ Clinical Interview
■ Telephonic Interview
■ Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) System

○ Interview Process
○ Advantages and Limitations of Interview Method
○ Summary

INTRODUCTION
Data collection is a difficult and yet very important part in survey research. Each data collection method
has its own complexities as well as advantages and limitations. We cannot say which method is the best
out of them. Each method should be seen in relation to the type of research to be conducted and more
particularly the research problem to be investigated. The basic instruments of data collection in survey
research are questionnaire and interview methods.

In research the question arises how one can gain access to data required. One can access it through
documents, or visiting places, like institutions, organizations, work places, or through questionnaires and
interviews. Before selecting the method the researcher must know and finalize the target population, the
questions to be asked, the schedule to be drafted. Because these tools help us to generate empirical data
which will yield qualitative as well as quantifiable results.
INTERVIEWING
You must have witnessed many programmes on TV, which are basically interview- based. These
programmes usually invite celebrities, film personalities, politicians, industrialists, etc. to get
information on their life, works or they may be asked questions pertaining to some social theme or
current political event. Interviewing in Survey Research is different from these interviews.
We will study some of the definitions to know the meaning of this term. According to Neuman (1991)
“the interview is a short term, secondary social interaction between two strangers with the explicit
purpose of one person obtaining specific information from the other…. Information is obtained in a
structured conversation in which the interviewer asks pre arranged questions and records answers, and
respondent answers.”
Krishan Kumar (1992) defines “interviewing is a process of personal interaction between a researcher
and a respondent.” Ranjit Kumar in his book Research Methodology (1999) opined that “any person-
to- person interaction between two or more individuals with a specific purpose in mind is called
interview.” O’ Leary (2004) of the view that “Interviewing a method of data collection which involves
researchers asking respondents basically open-ended questions.”
In simple words we can say that survey interviewing is a face-to-face interaction with the respondents
to get specific information. The questions may be pre decided. Invariably it is seen that for data
collection, the interview method includes only open-ended questions.
Interviewing as a method of data collection is not just easy. You may think that it involves only jotting
down questions and recording the answers. This method has its own complexities. O’Leary (2004) has
suggested that the complexities may arise due to people or the target population you interview and
secondly, due to complexities of communication. People are complex, complicated or may be
introverted. There is no doubt about this. Getting proper answers without annoying them is a difficult
task. If the interviewee and interviewer have some understanding, gathering data is assured. If there is
no chemistry between them, it may hamper the interview process.

TYPES OF INTERVIEWS
Adams (1985) has compared questionnaires and interviews with the surgical tools in the medicine. He
further stated that these tools are the most commonly used modes of data collection in many branches of
social and behavioral sciences. We all know that these tools are very flexible and adaptable by various
research scholars to different types of research problems. Interviews can be structured or unstructured. It
can be for personal, impersonal or mixed type of interaction. The most important aspect here is that the
social behavioral researcher must know how to prepare and use it; what type of interview will suit the
particular research problem, etc. In the following subsections we will learn about different types of
interviews. The type of interview to be chosen will definitely depend on the research topic, purpose of
research and population under study.

Structured Interview

During a structured interview the interviewer asks the pre-drafted questions. Here, he/ she cannot change
the questions, or their sequence. No freedom is given to add new questions or delete any question. The
interviewer is strictly instructed to ask the pre-decided questions verbatim and also to record them.

The interview schedule is prepared in advance. It contains open ended as well as closed ended questions.
The question schedule may be given to the interviewee in advance so that he/she can prepare the
answers. There is a difference between interviewing and interview schedule. Ranjit Kumar (1999)
suggested that the interview schedule is a tool to collect data while interviewing is a process/method of
data collection.
 As compared to unstructured interviews this type generates uniform data. It does not need any
professional skill to conduct interview sessions because of listed questions. It is required from the
interviewer that he/she should remain unbiased. The interviewer can be biased in the case of an
unstructured interview. The interviewer is supposed to give only clarifications on and when it is desired.
Krishan Kumar also said that it should restrict to only clarifications and no suggestions be given. This
type of interview can be conducted person-to-person or through telephone or by using electronic
devices.

Example

1) Do you make use of computers in your research? Yes .................. .

No .................. .

2) Are you aware of the concept of invisible college? Yes .................. .

No .................. .

3) Do you communicate with other scholars to seek information for your research? Yes .................. .

No .................. .

Unstructured Interview
During the interview when the interviewer exercises autonomy in asking questions what ever comes to
his/her mind on a particular research problem under investigation, is called unstructured interview. This
type of interview can be conducted on one - to- one basis or with a group of interviewees. Unstructured
interview may permit the interviewee to give responses freely or it may restrict free responses. Hence,
the interviewer asks the respondents only such questions, which comes under the area of research
problem. There are no set typed questions. One question leads to another and so on. The main aim of
the interviewer is to get personal viewpoint of the respondents on a given topic
The interviewer should keep interview guide/schedule with him/her at the time of the interview. It helps
him/her to know the areas to be covered and it also provides guidelines for smooth conduct of
interview session.
Interviewer is free to ask additional questions and also repeat or delete questions as mentioned in the
guide. If he/she feels some questions are not very clear he/she can exercise full freedom to change or
reward it. At the time of the interview if it is felt that putting certain questions or changing the sequence
may yield some useful results, interviewer can do it freely. On the respondent’s side, they are given
opportunity to give their views, opinion freely on the questions asked. An effort can be made during
interview to encourage them to speak freely. This flexibility helps generating spontaneous, useful
responses on the area of research. Unstructured interview is easy to conduct but difficult to analyse the
results. Reason is that no two interviews reveal same type of responses. On same questions you may
get different responses. This type of interview calls for sufficient knowledge background, good
interviewing skills, command on language; and ability to convince the respondent to answer. This type
of interview demands specialised training to be imparted to the interviewer/researcher to get best
results.
Unstructured interview is also called in-depth interview. It is also said that this type of interview is best
suited to those situations where very little is known. Such interviews aim to elicit information from the
respondents which otherwise may not be procured. Kothari (2004) opined, “Depth interviews are
designed to discover underlying motives and desires and are often used in motivational research. Such
interviews are held to explore needs, desires and feelings of the respondents.”
Depth interviews can be projective or non-projective in nature. Projective depth interview includes
such type of indirect questions, which are related to interviewee’s behaviour, attitude towards the
subject of study. Both types of depth interviews can generate data, which may be useful in
understanding the behaviouristic attitudes of people under study.
Examples

1. How do you keep up-to-date in the field of your research?

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2. Would you like to delegate search for information? Yes .................. .No .................. .

● If yes, give reasons.

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● If no, give reasons.
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Focussed Interview
Focussed interview is conducted basically to get focussed, in depth information on any given issue from
the respondent. It is one type of unstructured interview. The main task of the researcher in such an
interview is to involve the respondent in discussion on a specific topic so that the researcher gets desired
information. Here the interviewer has the freedom to decide the questions and their sequence. Kothari
(2004) is of the opinion that such interviews are helpful in the development of hypotheses. Here the
information is gathered from the respondent’s area of experiences, effects, participation, etc. Here the
interviewer is not only properly informed about the area of research but he/she is also knowledgeable and
skilled to get required information from the experiences, background of the respondent which has a
direct bearing on the topic under study. The selection of respondents is done on the basis of knowledge
experiences of the respondents on the area of study.
Non-directive Interview
Interviewer in this type of interview acts like a catalyst. He/She prompts the respondents to give
information on the topic under investigation. Like in focussed interviews here questioning is very less.
But the area(s) to be covered remains under the control of the interviewer. He/She is supposed to give a
free environment to the respondents so that they can express their views freely and to the point; the
interviewer simply supports the views expressed by the respondent instead of approving or disapproving
them.
Clinical Interview
This type of interview also comes under the category of unstructured interview. Adams and Schvaneveldt
(1985) reported that this type of interview has been used in social care work, counseling and prison
setting, and is also called personal history interview. This type covers basically the feelings, life
experiences, of the respondents. The interviewer has the freedom to interact freely with the respondents
to elicit the information on the given topic. This type of interview is flexible and it includes introductory
questions as well. Here the respondent can also give new information on related factors and elaborate on
them. It may prove very helpful in predicting, analyzing, and concluding in some areas. The area under
investigation, its objectives, scope are the main determinants of selection of questions and area to be
covered in the clinical interview.

Telephonic Interview
As the name suggests this type of interview is conducted on phone. You need a telephone connection
and an instrument, a phone directory and a set of questions to be asked. It is best suited for market type
of survey, poll, etc. The main advantage of this type of method is to get data very fast without wasting
time on visiting the respondents. It does not require special skills to conduct the interview session.
Telephone interview is a faster and cheaper method for obtaining information. Extra staff i.e., field staff
is not required in this method. Moreover, it is very flexible in comparison with mailed questionnaire
method. Non-response percentage is very low in telephone interview. On the other hand, long distance
calls, number of calls, length of call time adds to its cost. There is a possibility of many respondents not
having a connection. The voice quality or the connectivity may also pose problems. For short
conversation it may be ideal but lengthy conversation may not be liked by the respondents. It is very
difficult to find out doubtful information provided by the respondent. Like mailed questionnaire the
personal touch will be missing in this type of interview also. If respondents do not wish to talk to the
interviewer or do not cooperate it may turn a disaster for the researcher.
Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) System
The increasing use of information technology has changed the traditional scenario of conducting
surveys. It has definitely eased the efforts and enhanced the quality of research with minimising time.
Now, you can see that software companies have introduced many software programmes to facilitate
data collection, analysis, etc. Some of them are mentioned here for your information sake only. They
are CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing), CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone
Interviewing), ACASI (Audio Computer Assisted Self Interviewing) WinCati System, Wincati Mixed
Mode and Sensus Web, and many more to cite here.
CATI System is used to conduct telephone interview to gather data from number of respondents
scattered all over the world. In this system computers are used to automate the activities done in the
formal interviewing. In simple words, computers are used to conduct surveys. They keep control of
questions, data, data entry, and data analysis. It can also facilitate the status of the study whenever it is
required. It also helps in interview administration and monitoring. This system requires PC, which is
linked through network to server where data can be stored centrally. Telephone, head set and of course
set of questions to be asked, and telephone numbers of the respondent are required in this system also.
Interviewer sits facing the computer screen, reads the questions and simply records by keying the
responses.
 Looking at the advantages of this system we should not underestimate the importance of human touch
to the interviewing. For example, the proper wording of questions, sequencing their explanations,
suggestions to the questions, and more importantly, convincing the respondent to answer the questions
freely and frankly definitely generate credible responses from the respondents.

This system has many advantages:

● Uniformity may be maintained.

● Questions can be stored in the computer memory.

● Responses can be recorded directly into the computer.

● It eliminates the errors on the part of interviewers or in case missed questions

● Analysis can be done very fast.

● It helps in keeping automatic records.

In this Unit our main emphasis is on the traditional way of interviewing. Hence, we will not discuss the
CATI system in detail.

Interviews are basically structured, semi-structured or unstructured. They can be formal or informal.
Formal interview follows the rules and roles associated with this method whereas informal does not
follow any rule of interviewing and it seems a casual and relaxed form of interviewing which removes
the gulf between interviewer and interviewee. Formal interview is structured and informal is highly
unstructured. Interviewing can be done one to one and in groups also. Telephone interviews are the best
example of one to one interviewing. In-group interviews the interviewees are seen as a focussed group
and the interviewer acts as a moderator or facilitator.

INTERVIEW PROCESS
In the foregoing sections you have learnt about the interviewing and its different types. In this section we
will focus our attention to the process of conducting interview, which involves the preparation of plan of
action to meet all types of contingencies, training of interviewers or field staff, preparation of interview
schedule, selection of data recording system, pilot run of the interview, modifications for the final
interview, conducting interview sessions and finally the data analysis.

Plan: In this stage the researcher plans the whole interview process, which includes the training of the
interviewer, time to be taken in the interview and the venue of the interview. It also takes into account the
cost factor, travel time and wait around time. Field staff is required when the number of interviewees is
more. One principal interviewer/research assistant is not sufficient for the large number of respondents.
Training of field staff/ enumerators or research assistants is needed to successfully manage the interview
session. In this process the interviewer will become aware of the questions and the instructions to be
followed in the session.
Preparation of Interview Schedule: Interview schedule is a list of printed questions, set in some
order or sequence, and the interviewer records the answers on the printed schedule during the interview
session. Interview schedule is prepared in advance. People (researcher, interviewer, or simply the
enumerator) who are going to take this assignment need practical training to conduct the interview
smoothly. However, we cannot ignore the interviewer’s bias towards the interpretation of answers.
Through the interview schedule the identity of the respondent is known to the researcher. The problem
of low response rate is not faced in this method. However, information received from the respondent is
recorded there only the ones which prove to be highly accurate. Through Interview schedules personal
contact with the respondent can be established. This method has some drawbacks also. Interviewer may
be biased, if he/she is not well trained, then it will hamper the investigation and this method is not
feasible when the target population is geographically widespread.
Pilot Test of the Schedule: Before the actual interview process starts it is advisable to pre test the
interview questions. A group of interviews should be selected for pilot study. This group should not be
included in the proper study. Interviewer should request the selected respondents to give their
suggestions/observations to improve the interview schedule. After getting the responses from the pilot
study group the researcher should modify it accordingly. This practice is very important to get proper
responses from the respondents.

Conducting the Interview: We all know that interview is an art. But for researchers it is the most
difficult task. The researcher/interviewer has to manage multiple tasks at one time. For example he/she is
putting questions to the respondent, listening to the answers carefully, giving clarification, sometimes
explanations, directions to clear the doubts of the respondents and recording the answers manually, or
with the help of any electronic device (i.e., tape recorder). The interviewer is also keeping tap on time,
the questions to be covered in the session, etc. It is a skilled job. The interviewer should be trained to
undertake such a job. Experience shows that this skill can be improved over time.

How an interviewer is conducting himself/herself in the interview session is very important. His/Her
appearance, pleasing personality, behavior, use of words, and knowledge of the area can make a lot of
difference to the results. Body language can also affect the communication process. It may increase the
level of comfort or ease of respondent.

Interviewer should not keep waiting for the respondent. He/she should be punctual, polite and courteous.
Before starting the actual interview session he/she should introduce the objective of the study and clearly
explain the importance of contribution of the respondent in the research. The interviewer should listen
more than talk. He/She should have listening skills. The main objective of the interview is to facilitate
respondents to answer. So it is important that the interviewer should ask right types of questions
prompting the respondent to answer and then properly recording the answers

Guidelines for Conducting Interviews

● Interviewer should plan in advance the venue, time, etc. of the interview session.

● He/She should have the friendly approach so that a proper understanding/rapport can be established
between the interviewer and interviewee.

● He/She should have the ability to mobilize the respondent to answer freely and frankly on the
subject.

● Questions should be well framed. Complex questions should be avoided. Such questions should be
added which will elicit the desired answers.

● He/She should be properly trained to have proper control of the interview session. He/She should
be responsible for creating a friendly atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence.

● He/She should not show any surprise or disapproval to the answers of the respondent but at the
same time he/she should be supportive of the respondent's answers.

● He/She should have a friendly, courteous, unbiased approach.

● He/She should be non judgemental and should not try to change or influence the reactions or
opinions of the respondents.

● At the end of the interview session the interviewer must show gratitude for their cooperation. The
respondent should get the feeling that they are actively participating in the research process and
their views are valuable and important to research.
In addition to this Adams (1985) suggested three factors, which make an interview successful. They are:
“having a thoroughly tested questionnaire or interview form which to work; being familiar and “wise” in
the interview process; treating respondents with trust, respect and courtesy”.

Recording the Interview: In the structured interviews where mostly the questions are closed ended, it
is easy to record the responses on the interview schedule. This method is called Note Taking method.
It is difficult for the interviewer to remember all the responses and enter at the end of the day. It is
advisable for he/she to record accurately and fully whatever responses emerge after the session. In the
Note Taking method no answer should be left blank if the respondent did not answer. In such situations
it should be written “not responded”, etc. Some explanation should be recorded against unanswered
questions Interviewer should also note the comments made by the respondent on the margin area near
the questions. The explanations given by the interviewer should also be recorded separately question
wise. These notes will prove highly useful at the time of data analysis.

In this method the interviewer should be extra careful. He/She should be questioning, listening, and
recording the answers simultaneously. In the case of highly structured interviews use of tape recorder is
not required. It may prove helpful in the case of open-ended questions.

For open-ended questions, writing the responses, which may be long, is not only difficult but time
consuming also. In order to get the main substance of the answer recording of exact wordings is
required. In such situation interviewer may make use of the Tape Recording method to have the
verbatim copy of the answers. Data generated through audio recordings can be preserved and used later.
The use of this method saves the time of the interviewer and the same can be utilised for further
analysis and report writing. The only disadvantage of this method is that it may put respondents at
unease.

At the end or in between the interview session if time and other conditions permit the respondents
should be shown the marked responses. The openness, truthfulness and trust on the part of the
interviewer may generate confidence in the respondent and he/ she is prompted to cooperate with the
interviewer. If the marked responses are not shown to them then they may get the feeling that
something is being concealed from them and they may not continue the interview session. Such
situations may play havoc not with the interview but with the research as such. For the case of tape
recorded responses the transcripts of the recordings in verbatim should be shown to them for the
confirmation of accuracy. It is expected from the respondent that he/she should not revise the answers.

Preparation of Verbatim Transcripts: After the interview the recordings are transformed into
verbatim transcripts. This forms the primary material for research. Helen Finch (1990) is of the opinion
that preparing transcripts is a arduous task. It is time consuming. It is better to give such task to some
outside professional agency and the researcher can utilise the time elsewhere.

Analysis of Data and Report Writing: Analysing the qualitative data is a very difficult task. Same
sets of questions receive diverse answers. Analysis of data and report writing will be discussed in detail
in this course.
ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF INTERVIEW
METHOD
Advantages
● Through questioning in depth information can be obtained from the respondent.
● In personal interaction clarifications and explanations can be made.
● This is a very flexible method. Questions can be restructured to eliminate ambiguity.
● Through personal interaction complete responses can be obtained from the respondents.
● Personal information, as well as complex and sensitive information can be generated.
● Non- response percentage is very less. As compared to questionnaire method here participant rate
is high.
● The interviewer may come across information, which is most spontaneous.
● Interviewer can remould the questions, change the language according to knowledge, educational
background of the respondent.
● Many people do not want to answer questionnaires due to time constraints but at the same time
they may very willingly face the interview session. It takes less effort and time of the respondent.
● Quarterly data can be retrieved from interview session.
● Through personal interaction the interviewer can observe the respondent’s reactions, body
language, facial expressions vis-à-vis a particular question. These expressions help the
researcher/interviewer to reword or remould the questions spontaneously. Some of these reactions,
if observed carefully, may prove useful at the time of analysis.
● Face –to –face or group interaction gives respondent the feeling of direct participation in the
research process.
● Conducting interview is an art. A properly trained interviewer can make the respondent answer
even sensitive, emotional and sometimes complex questions with ease. Information gathered from
this method can be supplemented to the original findings of the research.

Limitations
● No method is foolproof. There are some inherent weaknesses, limitations associated with this
method. Some of them are mentioned below:
● It is a very time consuming as well as very expensive method especially when the target
population is big in number and widely spread over a geographical area.
● There is a possibility of biased analysis, interpretations from the side of the researcher or
interviewee. Biased reactions can also be received from the interviewee. Age, class, race,
gender, social status, etc. can play crucial roles in generating biased opinions from both sides.
Biased reactions, analysis and interpretation can hamper proper research results.
● If the interviewer/ researcher is not skilled, trained in the art, he/she may not be able to conduct
a successful interview session with proper control.
● There is a possibility if the majority of the target population consists of high and top-level
management groups, executives, therefore this method may not prove approachable to such
clientele. Getting information from such people is not under the control of the interviewer.
● Proper training, selection and supervision of the interviewer are very essential to this method.
● Getting free, frank responses from the target population is not an easy task. Establishing proper
rapport with the target group is a very difficult requirement.
● Information received from this method is difficult to analyze. Same set of questions may receive
diverse responses.
 ● Interview method may call for some errors, which are difficult to eliminate.
● The use of computers in data collection has its own set of limitations. Infrastructures,
connectivity, and knowledge to operate such systems are some of the essential requirements.
Without them the system may not run.

Interviews vary in form and purpose. Each type has its own advantages and limitations. However in any
given situation one type of interview may yield excellent results and it may not prove fruitful in some
other situation. We all know that interviews are an important tool of survey research. In the following
section we will learn the inherent advantages and limitations of this method. Adams has rightly said, “It
is a most sensitive device for the acquisition of reliable valid data.”

SUMMARY
In this Unit we have studied the interviewing as a tool for data collection. This method can be useful
when it is combined with questionnaire, observation, case study method and especially in user studies
will definitely add qualitative analysis to the interpretation of results. Interviewing in one of the
methods of getting data under primary sources. Each method of data collection has its own merits and
demerits. The success of interviewing method is dependent upon the target population, trained/skilled
and knowledgeable interviewer. Like other methods this method also cannot generate 100% accurate
results. This Unit elaborates in details different types of interviews, the process of interviewing, the
guidelines to be followed and finally the chief merits and limitations of this method. The construction
of research instrument is the key aspect in conducting the research. This tool will generate the primary
and quality information for analysis.
This instrument may be designed keeping in view the target population, the objectives, and scope of the
research.

Interview is an expensive as well as time consuming tool but at the same time it can be used as an
excellent mode of communication between interviewer and interviewee. Personal, complex, confidential
types of information can easily be gathered from the respondents.

Busha and Harter (1980) have said that some investigations give more weight to the interview method
than the questionnaire method. The reason they likely give that the former generates more complete
answers.

Interview is a data-gathering device, which elicits answers or information from a respondent to the
already printed questions or spontaneous questions from the interviewer. Interviews may be structured,
unstructured, and telephonic or computer assisted, consisting of open or close-ended questions. Any type
of interview is basically to get information from respondents on information about themselves, their
experiences, their views, expressions, attitudes, etc. The purpose(s) for which interview method is used
differs considerably. Use of the interview method in survey research signifies its utility and flexibility.
The presence of researcher and respondent and interaction between them has a great influence on both
the quality and quantity of response(s) generated from the respondent.