Primary Data: Semi-Structured,

in-depth and group interviews

By Dr. Saddam Hussain

 Learning Outcomes
able to classify research interviews in order to help you to
understand the purpose of each type;
aware of research situations favouring the use of semi-structured and
in-depth interviews, and their limitations;
able to analyze potential data quality issues and evaluate how to
overcome these;
able to consider the development of your competence to undertake
semi-structured and in-depth interviews, and the logistical and
resource issues that affect their use;
aware of the advantages and disadvantages of using one-to-one and
group interviews, including focus groups, in particular contexts; &
aware of the issues and advantages of conducting interviews by
telephone and via the Internet or intranet.
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 Introduction
An interview is a purposeful discussion between two or more
people. The use of interviews can help you to gather valid and
reliable data that are relevant to your research question(s) and
objectives.
Where you have not yet formulated such a research question
and objectives, an interview or interviews may help you to
achieve this.
In reality, the research interview is a general term for several
types of interview. This fact is significant since the nature of any
interview should be consistent with your research question(s)
and objectives, the purpose of your research and the research
strategy that you have adopted.
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 Types of interview: Purposes of research
and research strategy

Interviews may be highly formalized and structured, using

standardized questions for each research participant (often
called a respondent), or they may be informal and
unstructured conversations. Interviews may be categorized as
one of:
Structured interviews;
Semi-structured interviews;
Unstructured or in-depth interviews.

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 Types of interview: Purposes of research
and research strategy

Structured interviews use questionnaires based on a

predetermined and standardized or identical set of questions
and we refer to them as interviewer-administered
questionnaires. You read out each question and then record
the response on a standardized schedule, usually with pre-
coded answers.
While there is social interaction between you and the
participant, such as the preliminary explanations that you will
need to provide, you should read out the questions exactly as
written and in the same tone of voice so that you do not
indicate any bias. As structured interviews are used to collect
quantifiable data they are also referred to as quantitative
research interviews.

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 Types of interview: Purposes of research
and research strategy

Semi-structured interviews the researcher will have a list

of themes and questions to be covered, although these may
vary from interview to interview. This means that you may
omit some questions in particular interviews, given a specific
organizational context that is encountered in relation to the
research topic.
The order of questions may also be varied depending on the
flow of the conversation. On the other hand, additional
questions may be required to explore your research question
and objectives given the nature of events within particular
organizations.

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 Types of interview: Purposes of research
and research strategy

Unstructured interviews are informal. You would use these

to explore in depth a general area in which you are interested.
There is no predetermined list of questions to work through in
this situation, although you need to have a clear idea about the
aspect or aspects that you want to explore.
The interviewee is given the opportunity to talk freely about
events, behavior and beliefs in relation to the topic area, so that
this type of interaction is sometimes called non-directive. It
has been labeled as an informant interview since it is the
interviewees perceptions that guide the conduct of the
interview.

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 Links to the purpose of research
and research strategy
Each form of interview outlined above has a distinct purpose.
Standardized interviews are normally used to gather data,
which will then be the subject of quantitative analysis, for
example as part of a survey strategy.
Non-standardized (semi-structured and in-depth) interviews
are used to gather data, which are normally analyzed
qualitatively, for example as part of a case study strategy. These
data are likely to be used not only to reveal and understand the
what and the how but also to place more emphasis on
exploring the why.

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 Links to the purpose of research
and research strategy
To examining these categories we can see how the various types of
interview may be used to gather information for, and assist the
progress of, each kind of study:
In an exploratory study, in-depth interviews can be very helpful to find out
what is happening [and] to seek new insights. Semi-structured interviews
may also be used in relation to an exploratory study.
In descriptive studies, structured interviews can be used as a means to
identify general patterns.
In an explanatory study, semi-structured interviews may be used in order
to understand the relationships between variables, such as those revealed
from a descriptive study. Structured interviews may also be used in relation
to an explanatory study, in a statistical sense.

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 Links to the purpose of research and
research strategy
Your research may incorporate more than one type of
interview (multiple methods). As part of a survey strategy, for
example, you may decide to use in-depth or semi-structured
interviews initially to help identify the questions that should be
asked in a questionnaire administered as a structured interview.
The data that you gather from such exploratory interviews will
be used in the design of your structured interview.
Alternatively, semi-structured interviews may be used to
explore and explain themes that have emerged from the use of
a questionnaire (Tashakkori and Teddlie 1998).

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 When to use non-Standardized
(qualitative) interviews

There are many situations in which the use of non-standardized

(qualitative) research interviews as a method of data collection
may be advantageous. These can be grouped into four aspects
related to interview:
the purpose of the research;
the significance of establishing personal contact;
the nature of the data collection questions;
length of time required and completeness of the process.

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 Data quality issues and preparing for the
interview
A number of data quality issues can be identified in relation to the
use of semi-structured and in-depth interviews, related to: reliability;
forms of bias; & validity and generalizability.
The lack of standardization in such interviews may lead to concerns
about reliability. In relation to qualitative research, reliability is
concerned with whether alternative researchers would reveal similar
information. The concern about reliability in these types of interview
is also related to issues of bias. There are various types of bias to
consider.
The first of these is related to interviewer bias. This is where the
comments, tone or non-verbal behavior of the interviewer creates
bias in the way that interviewees respond to the questions being
asked. This may be where you attempt to impose your own beliefs
and frame of reference through the questions that you ask.
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 Data quality issues and preparing for
the interview

Related to this is interviewee or response bias. This type of bias may

be caused by perceptions about the interviewer, as referred to above,
or in relation to perceived interviewer bias.
Generalisability: In the first part of this section, which described data
quality issues relating to semi-structured and in-depth interviews, we
stated that there is likely to be a concern surrounding the
generalisability of findings from qualitative research, based on the use
of a small and unrepresentative number of cases.
However, two arguments have been advanced that seek to clarify and
modify the approach often adopted to the generalisability or
transferability of qualitative research. The first of these relates to the
situation where a single case study is used because of the
unstructured nature of the research.

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 Books
1.Research Methods for Graduate Business and Social
Science Students By: John Adams, Hafiz T.A. Khan, Robert
Raeside, David White; Page# 144-151
3. Research Methodology: Methods & Techniques By C.R.
Cothari Page#97-100

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