Advantages And Disadvantages Of In-Based Interviews

Interviews provide a way for businesses to collect detailed qualitative information from a small selection of people by face to face discussions

Flexible and inexpensive, focus groups consist of six to ten participants (Hartman, 2004, p. 408). Additionally, a moderator guides the discussion among its panel members that allows researchers to observe real-time verbal responses and nonverbal cues (Hartman, 2004, p. 402; Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 160). Focus groups moderators also have the ability to introduce new ideas to gain a greater understanding of concerns from respondents (Hartman, 2004, p. 402). However, a concern with focus group is the lack of anonymity due to the face-to-face participation.

This article represents a focus group type of qualitative research. According to Qualitative Research Consultants Association (2015), in focus group qualitative research, a group of individuals who share a need, life circumstance, or habit relevant to the research issue(s) at hand are led in a discussion by a modulator. The focus group discussions often include between two to ten respondents, and are often held face to face. They can also be conducted remotely through videoconferencing, teleconferencing, or

In order to gather a lot of data, a focus group is recommended. According to Howitt D. (2013), an optimal focus group consists of six to ten participants (Howitt, 2013; Morgan, 1997). The fact that an experienced interviewer conducted the interview led to good control and desired data(Morgan, 1996). Furthermore, a thematic analysis provided a systematic overview of the results.

The focus group interviews were located in a classroom in Rowland Hall, on the campus of the University of California, Irvine. There were four students and a moderator in an empty classroom. They were strategically placed in a circle, so the participants could all see each other. The students being seated in a circle made it the prime environment for open dialogue. This particular classroom was chosen because it was convenient to all the participants in the study due to its proximity to the classes on campus. The classroom was very quiet and there were no interruptions while the focus group interviews were in session. The time was not shown so the participants could not be distracted and they can focus on the questions being asked. The only

Bloor, Michael, Jane Frankland, Michelle Thomas, and Kate Robson. (2001). Focus Groups in Social Research.

What is a focus group? A focus group “is a panel of 6 to 10 participants led by a trained moderator, who meet for 90 minutes to two hours” (Cooper& Schindler, 2014). The focus group we conducted had 8 participants, who were willing to answer questions and discuss the different aspects of adding a salon into their local Target store. Before starting the focus group, all 8 participants knew the background of the discussion. To start off the focus group we did an introduction. The introduction questions included which age bracket they were in, where they were from, what best described their work experience and what best describes their income level.

The order of these question differed slightly depending on how the interview went. Because of the semi-structured nature of the interviews the informants had the opportunity to express their views in their own terms. In addition to one-to-one interviews, two focus group interviews were conducted. According to Frey and Fontana (1991) focus group interviews include multiple people who have gathered at a centralised location to respond to questions posed by the moderator. In addition, Frey and Fontana (1991) argue that it is a qualitative research technique that is particularly useful when trying to obtain phenomenological data and should be utilised along with other techniques of interviewing and observation. The two focus group interviews conducted

To comprehend why focus groups are famous, and where they are suitably utilized, we investigated a portion of the suppositions that underlie the utilization of focus groups as a method for information accumulation. In particular, we needed to see whether there is a "group contrast" in the sort of reactions a group interview produces compared and an individual interview. We additionally examined a few contrasts amongst the group and individual interview members, as far as

Whereas a structured interview follows a standardised format, in an unstructured interview the interviewer has complete freedom to vary the interview. Supporters argue that this brings a number of important advantages. Such as, rapport and sensitivity, the interviewee's views are clearer, the ability to check understanding, flexibility and the ability for the interviewer to explore unfamiliar topics. However, there are multiple disadvantages to using unstructured interviews in sociological research. Such as, practical problems, which include, time and sample size, training, and interpersonal skills, there are also issues with representativeness, reliability, quantification and validity.

This is an interview that focuses on a particular topic, issue, product or service amongst a group of participants who have common characteristics that relate to the topic. The participants are encouraged to discuss the topic at length and while giving their opinions in order to reach a conclusion by the time the interview process is over. These discussions are carried out several times with the same participants so that trends and patterns can be identified when data is being analysed.

The use of focus groups as a qualitative and interpretive method of enquiry comprises of a number of strengths and weaknesses.

The next step is to meet with the participants separated by individual departments to share and discuss the analyzed data. By meeting in this manner aids the researcher in pinpointing exactly where the internal problems lie (Cooper & Schindler, 2010). The researcher acknowledges that the focus groups comprised a total of 90 participants.

Some of the studies used as a basis for research in this paper used a qualitative method this was the case in the study conducted by Bennett et al. (2006) a focus group gathered on six separate occasions each time one investigator would facilitate discussions while others audiotaped the dialogue and general observations. This is a qualitative method and researcher attempt to understand the importance of what the participants have stated all while looking for themes or patterns in experience then analyze the data ways that preserve the percipients meaning of words, phrases, and actions (Houser, 2008c). Hall et al. (2010) and Verweij, Smeulers, Maaskant and Vermeulen (2014) each used focus groups one of which utilizing specific questions whiles other allowed discussion topics derived from the direct observations. Other studies used as

The method of data collection I’ve chosen to proceed in this investigation is interview. The reason for choosing this method is because of the features of a semi-structured interview, it includes a list of predetermined questions that will be use to refine the topic of the interview for which it will also helps to provide the interviewee with some guidance of what to talk about, enabling the interviewers and the respondent to diverge and elaborate in order to pursue an idea or response in greater depth and details beside of answering directly to what they are required to answer by the predetermined questions.(Britten N, 1999)