What is an Interview : Definition Types and Techniques

Definition of Interview

Interview refers to a one-on-one conversation with a specified purpose, where one person acts as interviewer and other person is in the role of interviewee.

 According to Kerlinger - “The interview is face to face interpersonal role situation in which one person, the interviewer, asks a person being interviewed, the respondent questions designed to obtain answers pertinent to research 
problem.”

 According to Dezen: “An interview is any face-to face conversational exchange where on 

  According to Good and hatt: “Interview is a process of  social interaction between interviewer and interviewee.”

  According to APA(American Psychological Association): 

     Interview is a directed conversation in which a researcher, therapist, clinician, employer, or the like (the interviewer)  intends to elicit specific information from an individual (the interviewee) for purposes of research, diagnosis, treatment,  or employment. Conducted face to face, by telephone, or online, interviews may be either standardized, including set questions, or open ended, varying with material introduced in responses by the interviewee.

Characteristics of Interview

 A widely used research technique.

 Interviews involve social interaction

 It is a directed conversation with specific purpose.

 Provides in-depth knowledge about the issue being 
investigated.

 Different types of data are generated from interview 
depending upon different type of questions a researcher 
asks.

 Interview is a type of verbal communication.

 There is considerable flexibility in the process of interview.

Types of Interview:

 

Structured and Unstructured

   Structured Interview

 According to APA(American Psychological Association):

“ Structured Interview is a method for gathering information, 

used particularly in surveys and personnel selection, in which 

questions, their wordings, and their order of administration are 

determined in advance. The choice of answers tends to be 

fixed and determined in advance as well. With structured 

interviews, answers can be aggregated and comparisons can 

be made across different samples or interview periods; 

interviewees can be assessed consistently (e.g., using a 

common rating scale); and order effects are minimized. Also 

called standardized interview.

 It is a quantitative research method.

 Predetermined set of closed-ended questions are used.

Interviewer asks same questions in the same order from

every interviewee.

 Also known as formal interview.

 Easy to replicate, this means it is easy to test for

reliability.

 Structured interviews are less time consuming, so large

sample can be obtained with this method. This considerably enhances representativeness of sample.

Unstructured Interview

 According to APA: “ Unstructured interview is an interview 

that is highly flexible in terms of the questions asked, the 

kinds of responses sought, and the ways in which the 

answers are evaluated across interviewers or across 

interviewees. For example, a human resource staff member 

conducting an unstructured interview with a candidate for 

employment may ask open-ended questions so as to allow 

the spontaneity of the discussion to reveal more of the 

applicant’s traits, interests, priorities, and interpersonal and 

verbal skills than a standard predetermined question set 

would. Also called nondirective interview.”

 

 In such type of interviews, set questions are not used.

 Interviewer asks open-ended questions based on a specific 

topic and tries to give whole process, a natural flow.

 

 Interviewer remains free to modify his questions based on 

respondent’s answers at any moment if he considers it 

necessary.

 Often called informal interview.

 Generates qualitative data. Interviewer is able to get dipper 

understanding of person’s situation. This improves validity of 

this method.

Merits of Interview method

 In-depth investigation is possible.

 Interview is a great tool to discover how individuals think

and feel about a topic and why they hold certain

opinions.

 Useful to obtain detailed information about personal

feelings, perceptions and opinions.

 Produces high response rate.

 Respondent’s own words are recorded and if there is

any ambiguity, follow up questions are asked to clear it.

 In one on one conversation, interviewee feels less self

conscious.

Limitations

 Time consuming and costly.

 Different interviewers elicit different response from same 

respondent.

 Interviewer can be biased.

 Interviewee can sometimes hide correct information.