Interviews

• Interviews are a face-to-face interaction where questions are posed to a participant by a researcher and the responses are recorded.
• They are a self-report method.
• Researcher is present.
• Structured interview

  Researcher has a set list of questions to ask the participant before the interview begins.
• Unstructured interview

  Researcher has no predetermined questions. Participants are free to discuss what they wish and the researcher will ask questions as the conversation unfolds.
• Designing interviews

  Impact of the researcher

  Listening skills

  Digging deeper

  Non-verbal communication

  Recording the information
• Strengths of interviews

  Rapport with participants can be built which may help to put them at ease.

  Researcher is present so can define/explain questions.

  Additional questions can be asked to get more data.

  Structured interviews can easily be repeated.

  Can obtain a lot of rich + detailed information in the form of qualitative data.

  More ethical than questionnaires, sensitive topics can be discussed.

  Can be used as a part of a pilot study.
• Weaknesses of interviews

  Interviewer effect from researchers presence.

  Training may be required (time and cost).

  Lots of qualitative data can be collected (harder to analyse).

  Takes longer than other methods to complete.

  Social desirability bias- participants give socially acceptable answers which aren't necessarily truthful.

  Requires participants to have basic competencies for interviews to be successful which could limit sample size and representativeness.