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Subject Psychology
Paper No and Title Paper no.3: Qualitative Methods
Module No and Title Module no. 17: Interview Method Part 1
Module Tag PSY_P3_M17
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction
3. Choosing Interview Method of Data Generation
3.1 Specific Uses of Interview Method
3.2 Limitations of Interview Method
3.3 Theoretical position underlying use of Qualitative Interview Method
4. Types of Qualitative Interview
4.1 Unstructured, Semi-structured and Structured Interview
4.2 Nondirective versus Directive Interview
4.3 Research Interview, Diagnostic Interview, and Job Interview4.4 Interview as
‘Excavation’ or ‘Co-Construction’?5. Conclusion
PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. :PSY_P3: Qualitative Methods
Module no. 17: Interview Method Part 1
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1. Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, you shall be able to
Know about the Qualitative Interview Method as a research tool.
Learn about the advantages, disadvantages of the technique.
2. Introduction
This module introduces you to the concept of Qualitative Interview Method, explaining what it is
and how it can be a useful tool in research.
Definition:
Qualitative Interview is one of the methods to generate ‘qualitative data’. It is ‘inter-view’ that is
the view between the researcher and the participant that develops due to the interaction between
the two. This viewpoint is more reflective of the interview as a co-constructed process, although
it may be seen as an excavation process, where interviewer simply gathers the respondent’s ideas
on a topic. These approaches are discussed later.
It is an in-depth, semi-structured form of interview technique that has been defined as a
‘conversation with a purpose’ (Burgess, 1984).
The semi-structured interview provides an opportunity for the researcher to hear the participant
talk about a particular aspect of their life or experience. The questions asked by the researcher
function as triggers that encourage the participant to talk. So, although it is the interviewer’s
research question that drives the conversation between the researcher and the participant, this
style of interviewing is sometimes described as ‘non-directive’. The interviewer may be an
‘expert’ in the use of the method, but the interviewee is the ‘expert’ on his personal experiences
and opinions that the interviewer tries to elicit.
PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. :PSY_P3: Qualitative Methods
Module no. 17: Interview Method Part 1
______________________________________________________________________________________________
In the layman terms, it is a Face-to-face conversation
between equals. The technique involves respect between
both the individuals (The Participant and The Interviewer).
Although it has often been said to be characterized by lack of power relation (that is, the
interviewer as authority and the participant as the ‘subject’ or the lesser knowledgeable of the two
people) between interviewer and interviewee, since power relation process may colors the
movement of the interview, this is only relative and not absolute absence of power in the hands of
the researcher. The researcher attempts to create a balance between giving direction to the
interview process by himself, and allowing the interviewer to guide how exactly the process
unfolds.
Thus, the Central Characteristics that define this approach are following:
1. Informal style. It takes the form of conversation or discussion with the participant instead
of following a very formal question-and-answer format.
2. Interview Schedule may not be necessarily present. Thus, it involves a thematic,
biographical or narrative approach catered around a topic. The researcher may not have
list of exact statements or framed questions to ask to the participants, but usually has an
interview guide containing broad range of topics, themes, or issues that need to be
covered.
3. Interaction generates data. This is the basic assumption of this method. Thus, qualitative
interview involves interaction between the researcher and the participant (in case of one-
to-one interaction such as in-depth interview or key informant interview) or several
participants (in case of larger groups, example ‘focus groups’).
3. Choosing Interview Method of Data Generation
There are dozens of ways to data generation in qualitative research. When the researcher has
decided on a research question, he goes on to consider the best method out of all the available
methods that can be used to find out what he needs to know. Although several different methods
can also be used to generate data, often only one may be used due to time constraint.
Choosing Interview Method of Data Generation:
It is used when the researcher is interested in understanding the way in which people experience
an event- the subjective feelings and cognitive aspects of an event for an individual, and the ways
in which individuals attribute meaning to their everyday experience. You may consider this
statement for selecting interview method- “If you want to know how people understand their
world and their live, why not talk to them?” (Kvale, 2009)
3.1 Specific Uses of Interview Method
PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. :PSY_P3: Qualitative Methods
Module no. 17: Interview Method Part 1
______________________________________________________________________________________________
1. It is very useful method to capture the events and
activities that cannot be observed directly, which is
true for a lot of psychological phenomena.
2. It pictures a range of feelings, situations, and people. The context is clearly depicted.
3. The researcher can move in past and future of the situation and the context.
4. It can thus be used for settings and people that are not directly accessible.
5. Another advantage of this technique compared to others (like a survey) is that the since
the interviewer is present in front of the interviewee, he can explain if anything comes up
that the interviewee is unable to understand.
6. Interviews can be made longer than the material that requires self completion (like a
survey) since the presence of interviewer ensures that the interviewee does not leave half-
way, because the presence of interviewer keeps the participant motivated to continue
answering and not be bored and leave work incomplete.
Interviewing Process has importance of not just what is being said but also
for the gestures, glances, facial expressions, pauses, voice inflections,
halting statements and other nonverbal behaviors that also communicate a
response of the individual and may complement or contradict the answer
that the respondent says. This is another very important advantage of
interview method. The total personality of the interviewee is accessible to
interviewer along with his answers, which provides a very valuable source
to understanding several individual phenomena that may be searched.
3.2 Limitations of Interview Method
1. Unlike say, the observation method, interviews allow access to what people say and think
but not to what they do and often, actions may differ from what people say in a given
situation.
2. It is a time-consuming as interview is a one-on-one conversation, researcher may be able
to collect in-depth data on only few people in a given time constraint.
3. Data generation and analysis requires lots of efforts. The conversation is not just casual
chatting; researcher needs to elicit the responses from another active participant (the
interviewee) without making undue influence on the responses by the way of framing
his/her questions. It is difficult process to balance these two and may require a lot of
practice on part of the researcher.
4. The interviewee may try to deliberately manipulate his/her responses due to various
reasons, or s/he may do so unwillingly due to faulty perception, faulty memory, lack of
insight, or simply inability to articulate. In these situations, the interview as a technique
PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. :PSY_P3: Qualitative Methods
Module no. 17: Interview Method Part 1
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