What is an interview?

Interviewing is a very common method of collecting information. Basically, it involves asking someone who knows whatever it is you want to know.

It differs from a questionnaire because there is interaction between the interviewer and interviewee, which may be face-to-face or voice-to-voice, as over the telephone. There is some overlap in these two methods because an interviewer may use a standard set of questions.

Why would I use an interview?

Interviews are useful when you want to develop an understanding of a situation and how individuals are interpreting it. For example, you may be interested in how people have reacted to a major event in their lives. What do they think happened? Why? How do they feel about it?

The presence of an interviewer is a distinct advantage; it increases completion rates and makes it possible for respondents to clarify points and the interviewer to follow up leads.

What are the steps?

• Think carefully about what you want to find out
• Develop a set of interview questions
• Decide how to record the results
• Decide who is to be interviewed
• Arrange the interviews

You may interview everyone in a particular group or, if this was impossible, you'd select a representative sample of people from the group. The representative sample should have similar characteristics to the whole group so that any results could be said to represent the views of the whole group, or in research terms, to be valid for the whole group.

for more on sampling techniques.

How do I develop an interview?

The first step is preparation - learning all you can about the topic and people of interest.

If you want a structured interview, develop a set of questions and test them to ensure that they are clear and give the type of information that you require.

If you want your subjects to discuss and explore issues more freely, you should develop some open-ended questions.

When you're designing questions, always use simple, everyday language.

Open-ended and closed questions

• Open-ended questions allow the subject to respond in his or her own way - briefly or at length. A tape recorder is usually needed to collect these responses.
• Closed questions are more specific and often result in one word answers. They are useful for finding out specific details.

Open-ended questions may elicit more information than you need and provide material that is difficult, if not impossible, to analyse.

How do I record interview results?

You can use text, tables or graphs to record and summarise your interview results.

Tables and graphs communicate information very clearly. Tables have the advantage of organising a lot of information in a small space, while a graph makes it easier for readers to absorb information at a glance.

to see some examples of tables.

to see some examples of graphs.

How do I interpret interview results?

Examine the results carefully, looking for links and patterns.

For example:

• 30% of respondents strongly agreed with the proposal.
• Men were more likely to give a favourable response to the proposal than women.
• One in five respondents indicated 'don't know'.