There’s more types of interviews than most people think. An interview is generally a qualitative research technique which involves asking open-ended questions to converse with respondents and collect elicit data about a subject. The interviewer in most cases is the subject matter expert who intends to understand respondent opinions in a well-planned and executed series of questions and answers. Interviews are similar to focus groups and surveys when it comes to garnering information from the target market but are entirely different in their operation – focus groups are restricted to a small group of 6-10 individuals whereas surveys are quantitative in nature. Interviews are conducted with a sample from a population and the key characteristic they exhibit is their conversational tone. Show
Fundamental Types of Interviews in ResearchA researcher has to conduct interviews with a group of participants at a juncture in the research where information can only be obtained by meeting and personally connecting with a section of their target audience. Interviews offer the researchers with a platform to prompt their participants and obtain inputs in the desired detail. There are three fundamental types of interviews in research:
Structured interviews are defined as research tools that are extremely rigid in their operations are allows very little or no scope of prompting the participants to obtain and analyze results. It is thus also known as a standardized interview and is significantly quantitative in its approach. Questions in this interview are pre-decided according to the required detail of information. Structured interviews are excessively used in survey research with the intention of maintaining uniformity throughout all the interview sessions. They can be closed-ended as well as open-ended – according to the type of target population. Closed-ended questions can be included to understand user preferences from a collection of answer options whereas open-ended can be included to gain details about a particular section in the interview. Advantages of structured interviews:
Disadvantages of structured interviews:
Learn more: Market Research
Semi-structured interviews offer a considerable amount of leeway to the researcher to probe the respondents along with maintaining basic interview structure. Even if it is a guided conversation between researchers and interviewees – an appreciable flexibility is offered to the researchers. A researcher can be assured that multiple interview rounds will not be required in the presence of structure in this type of research interview. Keeping the structure in mind, the researcher can follow any idea or take creative advantage of the entire interview. Additional respondent probing is always necessary to garner information for a research study. The best application of semi-structured interview is when the researcher doesn’t have time to conduct research and requires detailed information about the topic. Advantages of semi-structured interviews:
Learn more: Quantitative Data Disadvantages of semi-structured interviews:
Also called as in-depth interviews, unstructured interviews are usually described as conversations held with a purpose in mind – to gather data about the research study. These interviews have the least number of questions as they lean more towards a normal conversation but with an underlying subject. The main objective of most researchers using unstructured interviews is to build a bond with the respondents due to which there are high chances that the respondents will be 100% truthful with their answers. There are no guidelines for the researchers to follow and so, they can approach the participants in any ethical manner to gain as much information as they possibly can for their research topic. Since there are no guidelines for these interviews, a researcher is expected to keep their approach in check so that the respondents do not sway away from the main research motive. For a researcher to obtain the desired outcome, he/she must keep the following factors in mind:
Advantages of Unstructured Interviews:
Disadvantages of Unstructured Interviews:
Learn more: Qualitative Market Research Methods of Research Interviews:There are three methods to conduct research interviews, each of which is peculiar in its application and can be used according to the research study requirement. Personal Interviews:Personal interviews are one of the most used types of interviews, where the questions are asked personally directly to the respondent. For this, a researcher can have a guide online surveys to take note of the answers. A researcher can design his/her survey in such a way that they take notes of the comments or points of view that stands out from the interviewee. Advantage:
Disadvantages:
Telephonic Interviews:Telephonic interviews are widely used and easy to combine with online surveys to carry out research effectively. Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Email or Web Page Interviews:Online research is growing more and more because consumers are migrating to a more virtual world and it is best for each researcher to adapt to this change. The increase in people with Internet access has made it popular that interviews via email or web page stand out among the types of interviews most used today. For this nothing better than an online survey. More and more consumers are turning to online shopping, which is why they are a great niche to be able to carry out an interview that will generate information for the correct decision making. Advantages of email surveys:
Undoubtedly, the objective of the research will set the pattern of what types of interviews are best for data collection. Based on the research design, a research can plan and test the questions, for instance, if the questions are the correct and if the survey flows in the best way. In addition there are other types of research that can be used under specific circumstances, for example in the case of no connection or adverse situations to carry out surveyors, in these types of occasions it is necessary to conduct a field research, which can not be considered an interview if not rather a completely different methodology. To summarize the discussion, an effective interview will be one that provides researchers with the necessary data to know the object of study and that this information is applicable to the decisions researchers make. Learn more: Quantitative Research Which type of interview has the highest validity?Structured situational interviews are conducted for hiring new employees. Structured situational interviews are set up to see if candidates can respond or respond in a hypothetical scenario. This form of interview format often results in the highest validity.
Which type of interview consists of a standardized set of job relevant questions?A structured interview is a standardized way of interviewing job candidates based on the specific needs of the job they are applying for. Candidates are asked the same questions in the same order and are all compared on the same scale.
Which type of interview helps in comparing the candidates on a consistent ground?A semi-structured interview combines the best of both interviewing formats. It uses the organised format of a structured question list to evaluate candidates equally but also adds a human touch via a set of questions that are not predetermined.
Which interview approach typically asks an applicant what they actually did in a given situation?In a behavior description interview, the candidate is asked questions about what he or she actually did in a variety of given situations. The assumption in this type of interview is that someone's past experience or actions are an indicator of future behavior.
|