An interview is a tool many researchers use to obtain information from individual participants in a study. The researcher will have a set of questions that are asked of each participant and the responses are recorded and analysed. Notes may be taken by the interviewer during the interview, or it can be recorded and transcribed at a later date.
Interviews may be conducted face to face, over the telephone, or an online meeting function such as Zoom.
(Kumar, 2014).
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1. interviews are useful for more complex situations.
2. the researcher can delve deeper into the topic.
3. information can be reinforced by the researcher taking note of the participants body language and other factors.
4. reasons behind answers can be explained in more depth.
5. interviews can be used with any population and age group.
(Kumar, 2014).
1. interviews may take a lot of time
2. may require travel or hiring of interview rooms, which can increase the cost of the research.
3. the interviewing skills of the researcher, the participants willingness to share, noisy environment, and other factors, may affect the quality of the information collected.
4. If different interviewers are used, the data collected may differ.
5. The data can be affected by researcher bias through the way questions are framed or how the researcher responds to the participants answers. This bias can also extend to the recording and interpretation of the responses given during the interview.
(Kumar, 2014).
There are two main types of interviewing: structured and unstructured.
Structured Interviews:
The researcher will devise an interview schedule. This will be a list of questions that are asked of all participants with identical wording and order. The questions will be pre-tested to ensure the desired information is collected and to reduce the incidence of leading questions, bias and misinterpretation.
An advantage of structured interviews is that the data collected will be similar which makes comparisons easier.
One disadvantage of structured interviews is that there is no opportunity to explore in depth something a participant may wish to talk about.
Unstructured Interviews:
Unstructured interviews give the researcher the freedom to explore the topic in whichever direction the participant and researcher may wish to go. The researcher may have an outline of the questions they wish to ask, but, if they think the participant has said something particularly interesting or unexpected, they may divert from the prepared questions, and follow the participants lead.
The advantage of unstructured interviews is that the researcher may unearth unexpected information that can enhance the research. This kind of interviewing also allows the researcher to adapt the interview to the situation.
A disadvantage is that, because interviews may go in different directions, it can become difficult to find commonalities and analysis can become more complex and time consuming. The researcher, while following the lead of the participant, may find that they have gone in a different direction, and therefore end up with a lot of information that does not answer the research question. This, therefore, requires the researcher to have advanced interviewing skills, so they can go with the ideas of the participant, while still collecting the information they are seeking.
(Kumar, 2014).
(Gerson & Damaske, 2021).
Some things to remember:
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The Science and Art of Interviewing by 
Research Interviewing by The first video below shows the difference between a poorly conducted interview where the researcher gained little information and a much better interview where the researcher was able to interact with the interviewee to obtain some very useful information. It is worth watching the full clip..