What is Interview in Research Methodology l Types of Interview in Research Methodology l BS English Research Methodology l MA English Research Methodology

What is Interview in Research Methodology?

Interviewing is a popular technique for gathering information. The researcher collects information in a variety of methods. Interviews have several definitions. According to Monette, an interviewer reads questions to respondents and records answers. "Interviews are verbal interchanges, usually face-to-face, but may be used to obtain information, beliefs, or opinions from someone being interviewed," according to Burns. When interviewing the responder, you, as the researcher, have the freedom to select the wording, structure, and order of the questions. Inflexible: When you as the interviewer are free to ponder and ask questions about the topic at hand, or rigid: When you rigorously follow the questions that you have chosen in advance – including their language, order, and method of asking. Interviews are classified into many groups based on flexibility. In simple words, An interview is a verbal discussion between two individuals with the aim of gathering important research information. Interviews are very helpful to obtain the narrative behind the experience of a participant. The interviewer may study the subject in detail. Interviews may be helpful for some responders as a follow-up.

Types of Interviews:

Personal Interview
The interviewer communicates between the interviewee and the interviewee. The personal interview frequently takes place on a planned basis and is termed a "structured interview." This may be done in many ways, such as door to door or as a formal management meeting.

Structured interview:

The researcher prepares a range of questionnaires in preparation, in a structured interview, so that responses can be easily placed into similar categories. An organized interview is also known as a patterned interview, a scheduled interview, or a standard interview.

Unstructured interview:

A non-structured interview is an interview in which questions are not prepared in advance. This kind of discussion allows for creativity and inquiries which are based on the answers of the respondents throughout the interview. It is an unstructured interview where questions are based on the answers of respondents.

Semi-structured interview:

A semi-structured interview is a meeting where the interviewer does not follow an official list of questions exactly. They will instead raise more open-ended questions that will allow for conversations with the interviewee, rather than an instant approach. Semi-structured interviews may provide reliable and comparable qualitative data.

 Questionnaires:

A questionnaire is a written collection of questions. In a questionnaire, participants read the questions and then write down their answers. The primary difference between an interview plan and a questionnaire is that the interviewer asks the questions (and explains to them if necessary) in the former, while the respondent's replies are recorded in the latter. This distinction affects both methods' strengths and weaknesses.

A questionnaire may be administered in many ways.

The mailed questionnaire

The most frequent method of collecting data is to distribute questionnaires to potential responders. Obviously, this requires access to their addresses. Sending a prepaid, self-addressed envelope with the questionnaire is usually a good idea. A covering letter must accompany a postal questionnaire (see below). This technique has a poor response rate. In the event of a low response rate, the results are restricted to the population examined.

Collective administration

An ideal captive audience for a questionnaire is a group of students in a classroom, individuals attending an event, participants in a program, or people gathered in one location. Few individuals will reject to participate in your research as a result. In addition, since you are in direct touch with the research participants, you may answer any queries they may have. A captive audience for your research is the fastest method to gather data, guarantees an extremely high response rate, and saves you money on shipping. 

Administration in a public place

Questionnaire administration in a public location such as a shopping mall, health care facility, hospital, school, or bar. Of course, this depends on the research population and where it is likely to be discovered. Potential respondents are usually informed of the study's aim and asked to participate. In addition to saving time, this approach offers all the benefits of administering a questionnaire in bulk.

Questionnaires advantages:

• It is cheaper. 
• Don't bother interviewing respondents. 
• As a result, using a questionnaire is simple and cheap. 
• In a study population, it is a relatively low-cost data collection method. It's more anonymous. 
• Due to the lack of face-to-face interaction, this method is more anonymous. 
• Sensitive questions enhance the likelihood of accurate responses.

Questionnaire disadvantages:

• Limited use of time.
• The research population must be literate. 
• It can't be used on the uneducated, young, old, or handicapped. 
• Questionnaire responses are notoriously low. 

Creating excellent questions is a skill. The following measure should be taken while taking interview

• Always communicate in plain, ordinary terms. 
• Do not ask queries that are unclear.
• Do not pose questions that have two possible answers.
• Do not ask inquiries that may be seen as leading.
• Questions that are predicated on assumptions should not be asked.'

Conclusion 

Interviews assist you in explaining, better understanding, and exploring the views, behavior, experiences, phenomena, and other aspects of study participants' or students ' lives. Typically, interview questions are open-ended in order to get detailed information on the subject matter of the interview.