INTERVIEWS

Interviews are routinely carried out when projects and programmes are planned, monitored or evaluated.
Interviews may be carried out face-to-face or through remote media. They may be carried out with
individuals or groups. They may be unstructured, semi-structured or structured. And they may be informal
or formal. Different types of interviews are appropriate in different circumstances.

Interviews are probably the most common data collection When interviewing stakeholders targeted by a project or
tool used in planning, monitoring and evaluation. They are programme sampling is often carried out to ensure a cross-
used at all stages of the project / programme cycle. section of a wider group is covered. For example, if
Interviews can be carried out with one person at a time or interviews are carried out with a community affected by a
groups of people. They can be administered formally or programme it is standard practice to interview a sample of
informally. They can be carried out face-to-face or by people. The purpose would be to acquire a range of
telephone. Increasingly, interviews are being conducted attitudes, opinions and behaviours which are
through remote media such as Skype and webinars. representative of the wider population.
Interviews can also be conducted through written
questions via letters, email or other forms of social media. There is no single methodology that is used for individual
interviews. Usually, however, there is discussion around a
Interviews are sometimes used on their own as a data topic or topics, and notes are taken during the interview.
collection tool. However, they are also considered an Sometimes interviews are taped instead. It should be made
integral part of other methodologies. For example, clear from the start how any information generated
interviews may help provide information for a survey, a through the interviews will be used.
case study or a story of change. From a monitoring and
evaluation (M&E) perspective, interviews are often Group interviews: Group interviews are carried out with a
essential for acquiring an in-depth understanding of group of people together. They enable an interviewer to
qualitative issues. They are therefore seen as important access the knowledge, views and opinions of several people
complements to more quantitative-based tools and at once. The purpose of a group interview is largely the
methodologies same as for an individual interview. The main difference is
that group interviews also allow an interviewer to record
discussions between group members.
Different types of interview As with individual interviews there is no standard
There are several different types of interview. These are methodology for carrying out a group interview. However,
not mutually exclusive. Among the most common types of it is important to ensure a good mixture of stakeholders
interview are: within the group. For example, it is often necessary to
interview men and women in different groups as women
• individual interviews; may not speak out in front of men. Equally, it may be
• group interviews; important to interview teachers separately from children;
• semi-structured interviews; or community mobilisers separately from local government
• informal interviews; and officials.
• focus group discussions.
An important consideration is the size of the group. Based
These are described below. on INTRAC’s experiences with community group interviews,
the following table shows the relationship between the size
Individual interviews: Individual interviews can be carried of the group and participation within that group (see
out with anyone involved in, or affected by, a project or Bakewell et. al., 2003).
programme. They can be carried out face-to-face or
through remote media. They can be carried out with key
informants or stakeholders targeted by a project or Number of people Participation
programme. 3-6 Everybody speaks

Key informant interviews are held with people who have 7-10 Almost everybody speaks
specialised knowledge of a subject or area. For example, 11-20 5-6 people speak a lot; 3-4 others join
teachers could be key informants for an education in occasionally; others keep quiet
programme, or local government officials for a governance More than 20 3-4 people dominate; there is little or
programme. no participation from others

© INTRAC 2017
How well different people engage within group interviews Although there are no set formats for informal interviews
also depends partly on the skills of the interviewer(s). More considerable skill may be required to bring out information
skill is usually needed to carry out a group interview than from a respondent. The way in which questions are asked
an individual interviews. The added difficulty of managing and the attitudes of the person doing the interviewing are
group interviews means it is common to have more than important factors that help decide how much useful
one interviewer for group interviews, with one person information is received.
leading the discussion and another taking notes.
Focus group discussions: Focus group discussions (FGDs)
Semi-structured interviews: Semi-structured interviews are structured discussions with a small group of people
(SSIs) are based around a checklist of questions that need who have specialist knowledge or interest in a particular
to be covered during each interview. But they also allow for topic. They use a small list of guiding questions to probe for
discussion around areas of interest that emerge over the in-depth information. FGDs are widely used in evaluations.
course of the interview. Semi-structured interviews are They are covered in a separate paper within this section of
therefore used to access information from a person or the M&E Universe.
small group on pre-identified topics, whilst at the same
time allowing for new questions to arise during discussions.
They can be carried out with individuals or with groups. Strengths and weaknesses of
Semi-structured interviews differ from interviews used to
different types of interviews
generate formal survey information in that questions are Each different type of interview has its own strengths and
not always asked in the same order and the same way in weakness that make it more or less appropriate in different
every interview. Questions can be added or omitted as circumstances. Some of these are described below:
appropriate, and questions on the checklist can be asked in
different ways or at different times during the interview.  Individual interviews are useful for getting an in-depth
view from a stakeholder, and are usually best for
During semi-structured interviews, respondents are often assessing individual perspectives. They can cover areas
encouraged to give examples or elaborate on different that are controversial or sensitive, as answers can be
aspects of topics which are of interest to them, or seem treated as confidential (unlike within a group
important to them. This can lead to important issues being interview). However, a large number of interviews may
raised which the interviewer had not previously considered. need to be conducted before an overall consensus can
be reached. If large numbers of people need to be
Because semi-structured interviews cover a core set of covered in a short space of time it might be better to
questions they can be used to generate some statistical conduct group interviews instead.
data. However, because the questions are not all asked in
the same way or at the same time the statistical data is not  Group interviews allow issues to be discussed between
considered as rigorous as when generated through a formal different members of a group, therefore enabling some
survey process. Consequently, semi-structured interviews triangulation (or cross-checking) of information. More
are more commonly used to generate qualitative data. people can be covered in a shorter space of time than
is the case with individual interviews. Group interviews
It is often useful to carry out small pilots to pre-test semi- can sometimes be good for exploring conflicts between
structured interview questions before applying them more a group of people and external organisations, as
widely. This means if there are mistakes in the questions people within a group may feel supported to address
they can be resolved at an early stage. issues of concern. On the other hand, information
cannot be treated as confidential as it would be heard
Informal interviews: Informal interviews are carried out on by the whole group, which means group interviews are
any occasion where information is exchanged between an not always good for discussing sensitive information
interviewer and a respondent outside of a formal process. within a group. Group interviews may require better
They are designed to explore the views, experiences and facilitation than individual interviews, as facilitators
values of the respondent. Interviewers have the freedom to need to be able to deal with conflicts or differences of
ask any questions they want, without worrying about opinion within the group. There is always a danger with
having to keep to a script. group interviews that dominant voices take over.

Informal interviews are routinely carried out by project and  Semi-structured interviews are good for acquiring
programme staff when visiting the field or partner qualitative information on a range of topics, and are
organisations. They are also widely used in evaluations – useful for acquiring information on unintended as well
indeed it is often the case that better information can be as intended changes brought about through a project
obtained in a cafe at the end of the day, when people are or programme. They are more systematic than
more relaxed, than through formal interviews where unstructured interviews, and can lead to the
people may be more on their guard! Because of their generation of some statistical data. The main
informal nature, it is not usually necessary to take notes disadvantage (compared to structured interviews) is
during an informal interview (although important that open-ended questions can be difficult and time-
information may be noted later on). consuming to analyse. In addition, semi-structured
interviews are generally more time-consuming to
conduct than less formal types of interview.

© INTRAC 2017
 Informal interviews are often very useful for acquiring information is not always replicable. In other words it
information that may not have been volunteered in a may rely on the relationship between the interview
more formal setting. They can be done anytime and and the respondent, which means that other
anywhere, and few, if any, notes need to be taken. interviewers would not get the same information or
However, they can also be very time consuming as arrive at the same conclusions.
conversations may range over many areas and can be
difficult to control. Information coming from a number There are certain elements of behaviour that are required
of individuals or groups may be difficult to collate. A across all different types of interviews. Some of these are
key disadvantage of informal interviews is that described below.

Some Do’s and Don’ts of Interviews

Do... Don’t...

• Ensure that the wording of questions is clear so that • Don’t ask leading questions that suggest what answer is
they cannot be misinterpreted. expected. For example, it is better to ask “what do you
• Only ask one question at a time so that clear and think of the service?” than “do you think the service is
concise answers are received. useful?”
• Make sure the respondent(s) are comfortable with the • Don’t let your own biases affect the interviews. Be open
person asking the questions. Otherwise they are and objective.
unlikely to tell the truth. For example, in some societies • Don’t ignore anything that does not fit with your own
women may not be comfortable providing honest ideas and preconceptions.
answers to men. • Avoid ‘helping’ the interviewee give the answer that
• Encourage alternative views and opinions in group you want or expect – it is better to wait until they have
situations. This helps avoid dominance by a small finished answering your question fully.
number of people. • Don’t ask vague or insensitive questions.
• Carefully lead up to sensitive questions. People are • Don’t believe everything you hear! Remember that
more likely to give honest responses if they know why people may provide false, ill-informed or misleading
you are asking them the question and how the answers. People have many reasons for not telling the
information will be used. whole truth during interviews
• Be aware of non-verbal signals!

Further reading and resources

Two other relevant papers in this section of the M&E Universe deal with Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and surveys and
questionnaires. To access these papers directly, click on the relevant links below.

Focus group discussions Surveys and questionnaires

A practical guide for interviewing people using different interview techniques can be found in the INTRAC book Sharpening the
Development Process: A practical guide to monitoring and evaluation (see reference below) pp 82-87. A section on semi-
structured interviews can also be found in the IFAD M&E Guide, annex D, pp14-15. This guide can be found at various internet
locations.

References
 Bakewell, O; Adams, J and Pratt, B (2003), Sharpening the Development Process: A practical guide to monitoring and
evaluation. INTRAC, UK.

© INTRAC 2017
 Author(s): INTRAC is a not-for-profit organisation that builds the skills and knowledge of civil
INTRAC society organisations to be more effective in addressing poverty and inequality. Since
1992 INTRAC has provided specialist support in monitoring and evaluation, working
Contributor(s): with people to develop their own M&E approaches and tools, based on their needs.
Anne Garbutt, Alison Napier, We encourage appropriate and practical M&E, based on understanding what works in
Vera Scholz and Nigel Simister different contexts.

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