Interview

• If we want to know how people feel what

• they experience and what they remember,
• what their emotions and motives are alike,
• and the reasons for acting as they do – why
• not ask them”
• -G.W.Allport
• According to witles
• “face to face conversation”
• According to Bingham and Moore (1924)
• “A conversation with a purpose”
• According to Lindzey Gardner (1968)
• A two-person conversation initiated by the
interviewer for the specific purpose of obtaining
research-relevant information and focused by
him on the content specified by the research
objective of description and explanation.
 Function of interview

• Description provides insight into the nature of social

reality. due to spending time with the respondents,
interviewer understand their feelings and attitude
more clearly.
• Exploration provides insight into unexplored
dimension of the problem. Effective exploratory
device for identifying new variables can prove to be .
 Characteristic of interview

• According to black and Champion :

• Personal communication: face to face contact, conversational exchange
and verbal interaction.
• Equal status
• Question are asked and responses received verbally.
• Information is recorded by the interviewer
• The relationship between them is transitory
• The interview is not necessarily limited to two persons.
• Flexibility in the format of the interview.
 Types of interview
• Unstructured v/s structured
• interview
• Unstructured interview
• The nature of question is their in the mind of
the interviewer and it is ask in
unsystematically order.
• It is Flexible in nature ,being presented in the
form of guide.
• The interviewer has :
• Only general nature of the questions in mind
• Has no prior indication of the specific issue On
which the questions are to be asked
• Has not ordered questions
• Has no time limit
• Advantages
• Interview conducted in the form of natural
conversation
• Great possibility of exploring in an unrestricted
manner
• Interview can focus his attention on respondents
area of interest.
 limitations

• The data obtained from different respondents

cannot be compared with each other
• Reliability of the data becomes doubtful
• The obtained data cannot be quantified
• Time wasted
• Some aspects may be left out in discussions
 Structured interview

• The questions as well as their sequence is fixed

• It allows little freedom to make adjustments to
any of its elements
• The interviewer is expected to act in a neutral
manner
• This form is employed in quantitative research
• In this interview following dimensions are regulated:
• Specifying the setting of the interview
• Regulating questions and the range of responses
• Controlling interviewer-interviewee characteristic
• Limiting the facets of the problem
• Standardized v/s
• unstandardized interview
 Standardized interview

• In standardized interviews, answer to each

question is standardized as it is determined by
a set of response categories given one of the
given for this purpose
• Mainly used in quantitative research
 Unstandardized interview

• In Unstandardized interview responses are left

open to the respondent.
• Mainly used for qualitative research.
• Individual v/s group
• interviews
• In individual interview the interviewer
interviews only one respondent at a time
• In group interview ,more than one respondent
are interviewed simultaneously.
• Self –administered v/s otheradministered
• interview
 Self-administered interview

• The respondent is supplied a list of questions

along with instructions for writing answers
the appropriate place on the interview form.
 Other – Administered interview

• The interviewer himself writes answers to

questions on the response sheet
• Unique v/s panel interview
 Unique interview

• The interviewer collects entire information in

one interview. He not barred for approaching
the interview for the second time for seeking
additional information.
 Panel interview

• The interviewer collects information from the

same group of respondents two or more times
at regular intervals.
Soft v/s hard interview
 Soft interview

• Interviewer holds a secondary position in the

process of data collection but he guides the
respondents without putting any pressure on
them.
 Hard interview

• The interviewer question the validity and the

completeness of the answer obtained, often
warning the respondent not to lie .
• This type of interview appears more in
quantitative than in qualitative form.
Personal v/s Non-personal interviews
 Personal interview

• There is a face to face contact between the

interviewer and the interviewee.
Non-personal interview
• No face to face relationship but information is
collected through telephone , computer or
some other medium.
Other types
 Focused interview

• It is focused on a specific topic .

• In this all respondents are subjected to same
experience .
• Similar to semi-structured interview
 According to Sarantakos (1998) it has
following advantages

• The respondants gets relatively more

freedom of responding to questions
• Interviewer’s role is mild
• Information is more specific
• Opportunities for increased information are
greater
 Telephone interview

• More common in western societies, but it is

now being used in urban areas.
• News papers, radio and T.V personnel use this
method more to asses public opinion on
important issues
 advantages

• It is fast
• Can be recorded on machine
• It is cheep as not many investigators need to be appointed It
cost one fourth or one fifth of the cost of personal interview
• Respondants can be contacted at their convenient time even
in the evening
• Respondants remain more anonymous than in the personal
interview
 Disadvantages

• Each selected respondant in the sample may not

own the telephone (i.e. he may be talking on
family telephone) and therefore may not feel free
in answering .
• Respondants are often less motivated over the
telephone because the respondant can terminate
the interview at his will.
• Sometimes, the respondants can be
distrustful, particularly when they believe that
the interviewer is playing prank on them.
• Since respondant has to give quick answers on
telephone, he may not be able to think much
on his answers.
 Computer interview

• This interview is conducted with the help of

computers.
• In India this method is not popular.
 Condition for a successful interview

• Gardner (1956) has pointed out three condition,

for successful interviewing…
• Accessibility
• For giving information important that the
respondant understands what is required of him
and he is also willing to provide information he
possesses.
 Understanding

• The respondant sometimes is not able to

understand what is expected of him.
• Unless he understands the significance of the
research/survey the extent of interview demands,
the concepts and the terms used , the nature of
answers which the interviewer expects from him,
his answers might be off the point.
 Motivation

• The respondent needs to be motivated not only for

giving information but also for giving accurate
information. The fear of consequences, embarrassment
at ignorance, being suspicious about the interviewer,
and dislike of the subject are some of the factors which
decrease the level of respondent's motivation .The
interviewer, therefore, has to try to reduce the effect of
these factors.
 Merits of interview

• Gordon (1969)has listed five major advantages of the interview

technique as under
• Quick information
• Proper interpretation: respondants interprete the questions properly.
• Flexibility
• Checking validity
• Control: exercising control on the context of questions and answers is
possible.
• ………Besides this
• The response rate is high
• In-depth probing is possible
• respondent's confidence can be sought through
personal rapport
• Interviewer can explain difficult terms and remove
confusion and misunderstandings
• Administration is easy because respondents are not
required to be educated or handle long questionnaires
• Interviewer gets opportunity to observe respondents’ non-
verbal behavior
• Identity of the respondent is known and
• Since all questions asked by the interviewers are answered
by the respondents, completeness of the interview is
guaranteed.
 Limitations

• The interviewees can hide information or give wrong

information because of fear of identity.
• Interviews are more costly and time-consuming than
questionnaires.
• The nature and extent of responses demands upon
interviewee’s mood. If he is tired, he will be distracted. If he
is in hurry, he will try to dispose off the interviewer quickly.
• There could be variability in responses with different
interviewers, particularly when interview is
unstructured.
• The interviewer may record the responses differently,
depending upon his own interpretations sometimes.
• It offers less anonymity than other methods.
• It is less effective for sensitive questions.