An interview in qualitative research is a conversation where questions are asked to elicit information. The interviewer is usually a professional or paid researcher, sometimes trained, who poses questions to the interviewee, in an alternating series of usually brief questions and answers. They can be contrasted with focus groups in which an interviewer questions a group of people and observes the resulting conversation between interviewees, or surveys which are more anonymous and limit respondents to a range of predetermined answer choices. In addition, there are special considerations when interviewing children. In phenomenological or ethnographic research, interviews are used to uncover the meanings of central themes in the life world of the subjects from their own point of view.
Characteristics of qualitative research interviews
Qualitative research interviews are completed by an interviewer who records what the interviewees say and do. The interviewer is considered a part of the measurement instrument and has to be well trained in how to respond to any contingency.
Compared to a mail questionnaire, interviews are a more personal form of research method because the interviewer works directly with the interviewee, has the opportunity to probe, and can follow up on responses. Because interviews provide an opportunity of face to face interaction between 2 persons, they reduce conflicts. It is believed that interviews are generally easier for the interviewee when the topic covers their opinions or impressions. However, interviews are time consuming and resource intensive.
Technique
When choosing to interview as a method for conducting qualitative research, it is important to be tactful and sensitive in your approach. Interviewer and researcher, Irving Seidman, devotes an entire chapter of his book, Interviewing as Qualitative Research, to the importance of proper interviewing technique and interviewer etiquette. Some of the fundamentals of his technique are summarized below:
Listening: According to Seidman, this is both the hardest as well as the most important skill in interviewing. Furthermore, interviewers must be prepared to listen on three different levels: they must listen to what the participant is actually saying, they must listen to the "inner voice"Seidman, I (1998). Technique isn't everything, but it is a lot. In Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. or subtext of what the participant is communicating, and they must also listen to the process and flow of the interview so as to remain aware of how tired or bored the participant is as well as logistics such as how much time has already passed and how many questions still remain. The listening skills required in an interview require more focus and attention to detail than what is typical in normal conversation. Therefore, it is often helpful for interviewers to take notes while the participant responds to questions or to tape-record the interviews to be able to, more accurately, transcribe them later.
Ask questions (to follow up and to clarify): While an interviewer generally enters each interview with a predetermined, standardized set of questions, it is important that they also ask follow-up questions throughout the process. Such questions might encourage a participant to elaborate upon something poignant that they've shared and are important in acquiring a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Additionally, it is important that an interviewer ask clarifying questions when they are confused. If the narrative, details, or chronology of a participant's responses become unclear, it is often appropriate for the interviewer to ask them to re-explain these aspects of their story so as to keep their transcriptions accurate.
Be respectful of boundaries: Seidman explains this tactic as "Explore, don't probe," It is essential that while the participant is being interviewed they are being encouraged to explore their experiences in a manner that is sensitive and respectful. They should not be "probed" in such a way that makes them feel uncomfortable or like a specimen in a lab. If too much time is spent dwelling on minute details or if too many follow-up questions are asked, it is possible that the participant will become defensive or unwilling to share. Thus, it is the interviewer's job to strike a balance between ambiguity and specificity in their question asking.
Be wary of leading questions: Leading questions are questions which suggest or imply an answer. While they are often asked innocently they run the risk of altering the validity of the responses obtained as they discourage participants from using their own language to express their sentiments. Thus it is preferable that interviewers ask open-ended questions instead. For example, instead of asking "Did the experience make you feel sad?" - which is leading in nature - it would be better to ask "How did the experience make you feel" - as this suggests no expectation.
Do not interrupt: Participants should feel comfortable and respected throughout the entire interview—thus interviewers should avoid interrupting participants whenever possible. While participants may digress in their responses and while the interviewer may lose interest in what they are saying at one point or another it is critical that they be tactful in their efforts to keep the participant on track and to return to the subject matter in question.
Make the participant feel comfortable: Interviewing proposes an unusual dynamic in that it often requires the participant to divulge personal or emotional information in the presence of a complete stranger. Thus, many interviewers find it helpful to ask the participant to address them as if they were "someone else," such as a close friend or family member. This is often an effective method for tuning into the aforementioned "inner voice" of the participant and breaking down the more presentational barriers of the guarded "outer voice" which often prevails.
Virtual Methods of Interviewing
With the advent of new telecommunications technologies, and especially those which allow real-time conversation with both a visual and sound component (i.e. Zoom (software)), research interviews may take place online at times. The use of virtual interview methods increased following the isolation requirements of the 2019 Covid-19 pandemic, and remains in widespread use. Such interviews are often considered to have an equivalence to in-person interviews.
An Online interview may require additional considerations which are not presented in in-person interviews. For example, the natural constraints presented by travel to in-person interviews are not present for virtual interviews.
Walking ('go-along' or mobile) interviews Recent methodological innovation has seen the development of walking interviews as a novel approach to qualitative research. Walking interviews allow participants to encounter and to reflect on mobility through surroundings. Participants can draw on past experience and on sensory cues, enabling researchers to interrogate place-specific experiences. Specific examples include Edensor's work to evaluate the experience of walking in the British countryside, on the experience of people in wheelchairs in navigating urban environments and research on dog walking in urban environments.
Strengths and weaknesses
There are many methods. When considering what type of qualitative research method to use, Qualitative Interviewing has many advantages. Possibly the greatest advantage of Qualitative interviewing is the depth of detail from the interviewee. Interviewing participants can paint a picture of what happened in a specific event, tell us their perspective of such event, as well as give other social cues. Social cues, such as voice, intonation, body language etc. of the interviewee can give the interviewer a lot of extra information that can be added to the verbal answer of the interviewee on a question. This level of detailed description, whether it be verbal or nonverbal, can show an otherwise hidden interrelatedness between emotions, people, objects unlike many quantitative methods of research.Weiss, R. S. (1994). Learning from strangers, the art and method of qualitative interview studies. New York, NY: Free Pr.
In addition, qualitative interviewing has a unique advantage in its specific form. Researchers can tailor the questions they ask to the respondent in order to get rich, full stories and the information they need for their project. They can make it clear to the respondent when they need more examples or explanations.Emans, Ben (1986). Interviewen; theorie, techniek en training. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff.
Not only can researchers also learn about specific events, they can also gain insight into people's interior experiences, specifically how people perceive and how they interpreted their perceptions. How events affected their thoughts and feelings. In this, researchers can understand the process of an event instead of what just happened and how they reacted to it.
Another advantage of qualitative interviewing is what it can give to the readers of academic journals and papers. Researchers can write a clearer report for their readers, giving them a "fuller understanding of the experiences of our respondents and a greater chance to identify with the respondent, if only briefly."
Qualitative interviewing is not a perfect method for all types of research. It does have its disadvantages. First, there can be complications with the planning of the interview. Not only is recruiting people for interviews hard, due to the typically personal nature of the interview, planning where to meet them and when can be difficult. Participants can cancel or change the meeting place at the last minute.
During the actual interview, a possible weakness is missing some information. This can arise from the immense multitasking that the interviewer must do. Not only do they have to make the respondent feel very comfortable, they have to keep as much eye contact as possible, write down as much as they can, and think of follow up questions. After the interview, the process of coding begins and with this comes its own set of disadvantages. First, coding can be extremely time consuming. This process typically requires multiple people, which can also become expensive. Second, the nature of qualitative research itself, does not lend itself very well to quantitative analysis. Some researchers report more missing data in interview research than survey research, therefore it can be difficult to compare populations
Participant in qualitative research interviews
Compared to something like a written survey, qualitative interviews allow for a significantly higher degree of intimacy,Seidman, Irving. Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences. Teachers College Press, 1998, pg.49 with participants often revealing personal information to their interviewers in a real-time, face-to-face setting. As such, this technique can evoke an array of significant feelings and experiences within those being interviewed.