Presentation onInterview

Submitted To: Dr. Maninder Singh Randhawa

Submitted By: Ms. Rabnoor Johar (M.Phil.) 1645102

MEANING

The word interview is comprised of two words i.e. “inter” and “view”. “Inter” means “internal” and “view” means “gaze” or “to look”, thus interview means “insight”.

Insight is basically used in philosophical sense. But for a social researcher, the meaning of insight is search for those human facts, the introspection/ invigilation or observation of which is otherwise impossible and such socio-psychological facts are: Human thoughts,Beliefs,Perspectives,Values etc.

Interview is a verbal interaction between the researcher and the respondents. There is face-to-face contact with the respondents.

DEFINITIONS According to Bingham and Moore (1924),” Interview is a

conversation with a purpose”. According to P.V. Young,” Interview may be regarded as a

systematic method by which one person enters more or less imaginatively into the inner life of another who is generally a comparative stranger to him”.

CHARACTERISTICS Personal communication Equal status Verbal Recording Transitory relation Unit of interview is dynamic Flexibility

OBJECTIVES Lab studies of interview Basis of hypothesis Validity Secret information Dual method of study Information about unknown facts Information about qualitative facts

PROCESS OF INTERVIEW Select and locate the sampled members. Seek appointment from the respondent before approaching him/her for the interview. In the beginning of the interview, the interviewer has to introduce himself to the

interviewee in a very polite manner to win over his confidence. Manipulate the situation of the interview in such a way that only the respondent is

available at the place of interview and others leave the place willingly. Begin the interview by stating the organisation the interviewer represents, and explain

how he/she(respondent) was selected for the interview. The very nature and purpose of the interview must be made known to the interviewee

so as to dispel the undesirable anxiety and tension. Inform the respondent about the approximate time the interview is to last.

Cont. Questions must be put in a systematic manner and in a lucid language. Never ask questions in a haphazard manner. The interviewer must encourage the interviewee to talk freely and can jot down points

during brief pauses. On no account the interviewee should give an indication of own views. This will either

prevent the respondent from giving the opposite view or he/she might favour the interviewee’s view. In either case, the answers would misrepresent the respondent’s true opinion.

Reassure the respondent of keeping his/her identity a secret. The interview must not be closed suddenly and abruptly. The interviewer must be very careful in writing the report. He must also make

observations about the feelings, emotions, facial expressions, and gestures of the interviewee and must give due weightage for them.

TYPES OF INTERVIEWTypes of interviews are based chiefly on the respective roles assumed in them by interviewer and interviewee. The following types of interviews may be noted: Unstructured Interview Structured Interview Semi-structured Interview

Some other types: Individual Interview Group Interview Focused Interview and Focus group Interview Telephonic Interview Repetitive Interview Clinical Interview

TYPES OF INTERVIEW

UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEW: This type of interview is also known as uncontrolled /unguided /unstructured/ indirective /non-formal interview.

In this kind of interview, interviewer does not follow a system or list of predetermined questions. It is flexible and provides freedom to the researcher. No schedule is made in this interview.

The researcher puts more general questions, usually “open-ended questions” to the respondents, allow them to answer freely and follows up on their comments.

Cont. STRUCTURED INTERVIEW: The Directive or Structured

interview uses a highly standardised technique and a set of predetermined questions.

A highly structuralised interview is very similar to questionnaire. It is especially useful for administrative and market research of various types. In a structured interview the researcher has a checklist of questions and puts them to the respondent in exactly the same form and exactly the same order.

The respondent is asked to choose among several answers such as “Yes/No/Don’t know” or “Very likely/Likely/Unlikely/Very Unlikely”.

Cont. SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW: With semi-structured

interviews, the interviewer still has a clear list of issues to be addressed and questions to be answered.

However, with the semi-structured interview the interviewer is prepared to be flexible in terms of the order in which the topics are considered, and, perhaps more significantly, to let the interviewee develop ideas and speak more widely on the issues raised by the researcher.

SOME OTHER TYPES Individual interview: The most common form of semi-structured or unstructured interview

is the one-to-one variety or personal interview, which involves a meeting between one researcher and one informant.

Two types of individual interviews are: •  Intercept approach: the interviewer usually conducts a short but concise survey by means of getting the sample from public places such as malls, theatres, food courts, or tourist spots.

•  Door-to-door interview: involves going directly to the house of the respondent and conduct the interview either on-the-spot or at a scheduled date. Group interview: In a group interview, more than one respondents are

interviewed simultaneously. Group interviews falls into the category of unstructured interviews. The group can be small, say, of two individuals (e.g., husband and wife, or two co-workers in a factory, etc.) or large, say, of 10 to 20 persons (e.g., all students in a class).

Cont. Focused interview and focus group interview: As an alternative to

the structured or standardised interview using a combination of open-and closed-ended questions, one can use semi-structured interview. The most famous semi-structured interview is Merton’s focused interview. When information regarding a particular person or event is to be collected then this method is used.

Telephonic interview: The interview may also be conducted over telephone. In fact, during 1990s the telephone interview has matured into a dominant method, rivalling the mailed-questionnaire study and personal interview in popularity. One chief advantage of telephonic interview is that it is fast.

Cont. Repetitive interview: This type of interview is particularly useful in

attempts to trace the specific developments of social or psychological process. Paul Lazarsfield and his associates made extensive use of this repeated interview technique in their study of how the voter makes up his mind in presidential campaign.

Clinical interview: The clinical interview, or personal history interview is similar to the focused interview. The personal- history interview is often used by professionals such as social case workers, counselors, or prison workers. In this interview, individual’s life experiences are studied.

MERITS OF INTERVIEW METHOD Depth of information Insight High-response rate Possibility to cross check Flexibility Validity

LIMITATIONS OF INTERVIEW METHOD Time consuming: Interviews are often lengthy and may require

the interviewer to travel miles, especially if the informants are geographically widespread.

Money consuming: Interview studies can be extremely costly. Interview bias: The interviewer serves a useful function in

making sure all the questions are answered and that the respondent understands the instructions and the questions. However, the interviewer can also cause error.

RECORDING THE INTERVIEW Field Notes: Under certain circumstances researcher will need to rely on

field notes written soon after the interview or actually during the interview. Sometimes interviewees will decline to be tape-recorded. This means that what was actually said will always remain a matter of recollection and interpretation.

Tape-Recording: Audio tape-recording offers a permanent record and one that is complete in terms of speech that occurs. It lends itself to being checked by other researchers. However, it captures only speech, and misses non-verbal communication and other contextual factors. In practice, most research interviewers rely on audio tape-recording backed up by written field notes.

CLOSING THE INTERVIEW Closing of interview is also is also a technique. If the interview is suddenly closed and the interviewer immediately

leaves as soon as his/her work is over, he/she will leave a bad impression behind.

The interviewee will think that he has been befooled and that he has wasted his time in this interview.

This will prove out to be a bad impression not only for the present study but also on any study which may be conducted in the same area in future.

The interviewer will then have no rapport with the interviewee. 

Cont. Before last sitting the interviewee must be thanked for the time

which he/she has spared. He/she should be assured that the information of the type which

he proposes to be kept confidential, will be so kept. A good interviewer will always leave an impression on the

interviewee that they both met as friends for doing a common job and also that the secret which has been divulged to a stranger will strictly remain with him/her.

REFERENCES Randhawa, M.S. (2013): Social Research Methods, Twenty first century publications,

Patiala. Haralambos Michael, Holborn Martin, Chapman Steve, Moore Stephen (2013): Sociology

Themes and Perspectives, Harper Collins publisher limited, London. Bailey, Kenneth D. (1994): Methods of Social Research, The Free Press, New York. Denscombe, Martyn (1999): The Good Research Guide, Viva books pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,

Mumbai, Chennai. Ahuja, Ram (2015): Research Methods, Rawat publications, Jaipur-302004 (India). Rao, C.N. Shankar (2015): Sociology, Principles of Sociology with An Introduction to Social

Thought, S. Chand and Company pvt. Ltd., New Delhi- 110055. Raj, Hans (2011): Theory and Practice in Social Research, Surjeet publications, Delhi.