The word "interview" refers to a one-on- one

conversation with one person acting in the role of the

interviewer and the other in the role of the interviewee

Interviewing, a method for conducting research, is a

technique used to understand the experiences of others.

WHAT IS Interview is a scientific method through which a person

INTERVIEW? enters into the life of a stranger.

Interview is a process of social interaction between

interviewer and interviewee.

A face to face interpersonal situation in which one ask

questions from the other to get answer about a social
problem.
An interview is a method of conversation with a
specified purpose.

• Psychologists uses interview method in order to gain

information in an efficient and streamlined manner.

Oldest and most widely used method

The conducting way depends on the objectives or goals

in question.

Investigate issues in an in depth way

Discover how individuals think and feel about a topic

and why they hold certain opinions.
 Description: An interview provides insight
into interactive quality of social life. In an
interview, people spend most of the time
with one another in some form of verbal
interaction, which enables interviewer in
understanding how people view the subject
under investigation and helps understand
the social life which is otherwise abstract and
MAJOR merely a statistical phenomena.
FUNCTIONS OF
INTERVIEW: Exploration: An interview provides insight
into the unexplored dimensions of a topic or
subject. Talking with interviewees and
thereby gaining insight into their conduct
from inquiries about their behavioural
dimensions provides adequate stimulation
for development of various hypotheses for
subsequent testing and research.
Completed by the interviewer
are a far more personal form of
based on what the interviewee
research than questionnaires •
says

Interviewer is considered a part

of the measurement instrument Provide a face-to-face
and an interviewer have to be interaction between two people
well trained in how to respond to to reduces conflicts
any contingency •
 Interviews will be recorded
Researchers can ask different by the researcher and the The interviewer must ensure
data written up as a transcript
types of questions which in to provide special care when The language the interviewer
(a written account of
turn generate different types interviewing vulnerable uses should be appropriate.
interview questions and
of data. groups, such as the children.
answers) which can be
analyzed at a later date.
 Characteristics of
interviewers
FACTORS Characteristics of
AFFECTING
INTERVIEWS: interviewees

Nature of problem
under study
§ 1. Subjective characteristics:
§ it is essential that the interviewers must have inquisitive
minds which can readily sharpen the questions
§ Can redirect and concentrate on other matters if needed
during the time of interview.
§ Interviewer must also have the ability for drawing
together the scattered pieces of information into a
uniform and integrated whole, which helps him conduct
the interview in a smooth way.
§ Objective characteristics:
§ It includes interviewers sex, age, race, manners,
clothing, culture, education, social class, speech
etc, which are important in determining the
effectiveness of the interview because they
interfere with, rather than influence the verbal
dialogue that takes place between the
interviewers and the interviewees.
 Clear – simple, easy and
Structuring – outline the
Knowledgeable – being short questions which
procedure of the
familiar with the topic are spoken
interview
understandably

Gentle – being tolerant, Steering – to control the Critical – to test the

sensitive and patient to course of the interview reliability and validity of
unconventional opinions to avoid digressions from what the interviewee
• the topic tells

Remember – retaining Interprets – provide

the subject information interpretation of what is
from the interviewee said by the interviewee
§ Capacity of interviewees to verbalize: The very young/mentally retarded/ill and
with extremely limited communication skills are not suitable as effective
interviewees and also people with little formal training and isolated personal
conditions
§ Willingness of the interviewees: i.e. Interviewees must be willing to verbalize their
viewpoints regarding the research problems. And to increase the willingness of the
interviewees to be interviewed, they should be paid money for participating in the
interview and should be conducted on interviewee’s terms.
 § It is believed that when the research problem are
NATURE OF such that touch the segments of the person’s
private lives and/or when the problems are such
PROBLEM UNDER that they create special difficulties in
verbalization, they tend to have an impact upon

STUDY:
the scientific quality of interviewing.
Because an interview is a social
interaction the appearance or behavior of
the interviewer may influence the
answers of the respondent.

The gender, ethnicity, body language,

age, and social status of the interviewer
can create an interviewer effect.

For example :If a female interviewer

interviews a male interviewee he will try
to keep his impression good and this may
leads to interviewer effect.
Useful to obtain detailed Usually achieve a high response rate
information about personal Respondents' own words are recorded
feelings, perceptions and opinions

Interviewees are not influenced by others

 This method is very time-
consuming for setting up,
interviewing, transcribing,
analyzing, feedback, reporting

It can be costly

Different interviewers may

understand and transcribe
interviews in different ways.

Preplanning is important .

i.e.)to know who you are going

to interview, when and where.

It is subjective and artificial

Interpretation is difficult.
 Who you are, what you
Introduction, establish are doing, what
happen to any Warm-up, simple
relationship, explain
aim of interview findings, how long will questions
the interview last

Main body of Cool off questions,

Closure, thanks
interview diffuse tensions

After the tape record

is switched off – ‘off
the record’
 STRUCTURED
INTERVIEW

TYPES OF SEMI STRUCTURED

INTERVIEW INTERVIEW

UNSTRUCTURED
INTERVIEW
 In structured interviews,
A structured interview is a type questions are planned and
of interview in which the created in advance, which It uses highly systematized
interviewer asks a particular set means that all techniques of recording.
of predetermined questions. candidates are asked the same
questions in the same order.

Data analysis usually tends to be

It is a method of quantitative more straightforward because
Mostly used for Quantitative
research used for the purpose of researcher can compare and
Research
the survey. contrast different answers given
to the same question.
 TYPES OF § Guidelines to keep in mind:
§ – Stay consistent with the study introduction,

INTERVIEWS:
sequence of questions and question wording.
§ – Do not let another person answer for the
participant or offer his/her opinion about the
STRUCTURED §
question.
– Do not suggest an answer or agree or disagree

INTERVIEW §
with an answer.
– Do not interpret the meaning of a question.

(CON.) § – Do not improvise, such as, adding answer or

making word changes.
 Formal interview

STRUCTURED Patterned interview

INTERVIEW IS
ALSO KNOWN AS: Planned interview

Standardized interviews
 Develop and
write down Develop and write down interview questions

Develop and Develop and write down a scale that will be

write down used to grade candidates answers.

STEPS OF
STRUCTURED Print out
Print out your questions and bring them with
you to the interview site.

INTERVIEW
Take detailed notes of each candidate’s
Take answers.

Grade your candidate’s answers according to

Grade previously determined scale.
§ Structured interview questions can be open-ended or
closed-ended.
§ Open-ended questions are those that can be answered in
many ways and allow the respondent to give elaborate,
thoughtful answers.
§ E.g. : ‘Tell about yourself’
Here, the respondent can answer thoughtfully.
§ Closed-ended questions ask respondents for specific
pieces of information, and often require the respondent to
choose from a list of given alternatives.
§ E.g. : 'Are you currently taking any drugs ?‘
Here, the respondent can either answer by saying yes or
no.
 Since in structured
interviews all the
candidates are asked the We can evaluate
Structured interviews are Can reach a large Can ensure questions
same questions, it’s easy candidates in a most
objective and fair way more legally defensible sample are fully understood.
to compare their
answers

These are easy to

There is a pre-developed It is easy to test for Can take place within a Allows generalization of
replicate, as a fixed set
system or guide to check of closed questions are reliability short amount of time. results
the results.
used.
 Structure interviews are not flexible. This means new
questions cannot be asked during the interview

The answers from structured interviews lack detail

Restrictive questioning leads to restrictive answers

DISADVANTAGES OF Structured interviews are harder and more

complicated to develop.
STRUCTURED Before giving questions we have to write them, test
INTERVIEWS them and make sure interviewers stick to them.

Interview questions may be leaking out

The method seem a bit cold and impersonalized

It is harder to provide an excellent candidate

experience
A semi-structured interview is a type of interview in which the
interviewer asks only a few predetermined questions while the
rest of the questions are not planned in advance.

The researcher will have a list of themes and possibly some key
questions to be covered

In semi-structured interviews, some questions are predetermined

and asked all candidates, while others arise spontaneously in a
free-flowing conversation.

Open –ended questions with answers solicited in writing- typically

in the for of short essays

Respondents are free to write as much as or as little as they choose

It has a general set of questions but the interview flows like

conversation and topics are covered as they come up.
 At the same time, are often preceded by
Interviewer prepares a set additional questions might observation, informal and
contain the components of of same questions to be be asked during unstructured interviewing
both, structured and
answered by all interviews to clarify and/or in order to allow
unstructured interviews.
interviewees. • further expand certain researchers to develop a
issues. keen understanding.

open ended questions: ex. When comparing it to Compare to structured

What are some of your unstructured interview, the interview, the researcher
motivations for learning researcher has more has more guidance over
English? • control over the content. • the content.
 Moderately
structured interviews
SEMI-STRUCTURED
INTERVIEWS ARE Hybrid interviews
ALSO KNOWN AS:

Combined interviews
Write down most important questions that you want to ask
all the candidates.

Develop a few conversation starters to explore specific

interesting points from your candidate’s resume.

Depending on your candidates' answers, ask follow up

questions to gain a more in-depth understanding of their
qualifications and motivation.

Follow the natural flow of conversation and feel free to

explore
It can secure objective comparison of candidates

It provide a more personalized and spontaneous approach that allows

exploration of interesting points in a specific candidate.

Less prone to interviewer’s bias.

More information can be explored.

Needed data is collected.

Interviewer and the interviewee create the interview together.

Flexibility to follow up interviewee’s responses ad interests.

Provide much more detailed information.

Provide more relaxed atmosphere to collect data.

Spontaneous questioning makes answers difficult to
evaluate
The outcome largely depend on the skill of the
interviewer

The process is highly time consuming

It is very expensive

Sees to be unreliable

Difficult to analyze the relevance of answers

Some of the information may not be revealed

Needs preparation

Semi-structured interviews are less objective

legally harder to defend.

 An unstructured interview is a type of interview in which the
interviewer asks questions which are not prepared in advance.

In unstructured interviews, questions arise spontaneously in a

free-flowing conversation, which means that different
candidates are asked different questions.

As the interview is unplanned, it has an informal approach where

a friendly conversation takes place between the interviewer
and interviewee.

UNSTRUCTURED Interviewees are deliberately encouraged to produce elaborated

INTERVIEWS and detailed answers

They will contain open-ended questions that can be asked in any

order.

In-depth – broad area, but more like a free conversations

High level of bias

§ Discovery interviews
§ Guided conservation
§ Informal interviews

§ Casual interviews
§ Free flowing interview
 Keep in Keep in mind interview’s purpose and the
general experiences and qualities you are
mind looking to asses in candidates.

Gather The goal is to gather and record important

and record information about candidates.
STEPS OF
UNSTRUCTURED
INTERVIEW
Make Make sure you have a focus

Be flexible to proceed based on the

Be flexible candidate’s responses. Explore specific
interesting points
 The main advantage of an unstructured interview is their
personalized approach.

They seem much more casual and help candidates relax and
feel more comfortable during the interview.

Observing direct behavior

Allows control of extraneous variable

ADVANTAGES OF
UNSTRUCTURED Reliability of results by repetitive study

INTERVIEW Try to establish rapport ad trust

Gently guide discussion towards goal

Explorative and qualitative studies

They have increased validity

 Time consuming

Employing and training interviewers is

expensive

Control can effect behavior

DISADVANTAGES OF
Not possible to know intentions behind the
UNSTRUCTURED behavior
INTERVIEW
Unable to produce data a whole

Information cannot be compared

Analysis will be difficult

Structured interview Unstructured interview

§ Predetermined questions are § The questions to be asked to the

prepared by the interviewer in respondents are not set in advance.
advance.
§ Qualitative
§ Quantitative
§ Open-ended questions
§ Closed-ended questions
§ To probe personal details of the
§ To validate results, when the number candidate, so as to judge if he is the
of candidates is quite large. right person for the job.
§ Research type is descriptive § Research type is exploratory
Structured interview Unstructured interview

§ Same set of questions are put to all § Different questions are put to
the candidates different candidates
§ Structured interviews are used by § Unstructured interview is used by
positivists interpretivists
§ In a structured interview, the § In an unstructured interview, the
characteristics evaluated are explicit characteristics evaluated are implicit.
HOW TO DESIGN THE
INTERVIEW
§ First you must choose the type of interview

§ Next, you must consider who will be the interviewer, and

this will depend on what type of person is being
interviewed. There are a number of variable to consider:
§ Gender and age: This can have a big effect on
respondents answer, particularly on person issues.
§ Personal characteristics: Some people are easier to get
on with than others. Also, the accent and appearance
(e.g. clothing) of the interviewer can have an effect on
the rapport between the interviewer and interviewee..
§ Ethnicity: People have difficulty interviewing people
from a different ethnic group.
ACCESSIBILTY: Means the information
required be such that the respondent be
able to convey it to the interviewer
without producing any embarrassment to
the respondent.

COGNITION: Means the respondent must

know and understand what type of
information s/he is going to express and
in what terms of reference s/he should
express the required information.

MOTIVATION: The respondent must be

motivated and cooperative to give
accurate answers because a highly
distorted answer is no better than no
answer at all.
Attitude of the interviewer: Sometimes the interviewers carry a
definite attitude and bias toward the favourability or unfavourability of
the respondents/ interviewees, due to which the commit several errors
in recording the information given by interviewees.

Incomprehensibility of the questions asked: Sometimes the questions

are deliberately made difficult due to which interviewees are unable
to give correct answers. And hence, the data obtained is not
dependable and the investigator is bound to arrive at a wrong
conclusion.
§ Lack of warmth in the situation of the interview: When the interviewers don’t
exhibit an unfriendly and curt behaviour, the interviewees naturally don’t co-
operate with the interviewers.
§ Lack of motivation in respondents: When the interviewees/respondents don’t
possess proper motivation to answer the questions asked during the interview, it
constitutes a major source of error in interviewing.
§ Duration of interview: Sometimes the duration of the interview is unnecessarily
long causing the interviewees to feel nervous and monotonous. And the
information given is no longer dependable and the interviewers tend to arrive at
erroneous conclusion.