preview

Advantages And Disadvantages Of In Depth Interviews

Decent Essays

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS

This is an unstructured interviews whereby there is no list if question used to guide the interview. The interviewee is basically given the opportunity to talk freely about his/her opinions in relation to topic at hand. This method is often used to collect data that is analysed qualitatively. The data collected is likely to be used to answer and understand the question Who? What? and more so How?

The advantages of this method include;

I. It is more detailed information than other data collection methods, such as surveys because the respondent is free to express him/herself.

II. It gives an interviewee a relaxed atmosphere to answer the questions thus not feeling uncomfortable or under pressure.

The limitations for this method include;

I. It is not standardised thus it may be bring about …show more content…

An interviewer is never assured of valid information.

V. It is time-consuming because of the time it takes to conduct interviews, review them, and analyse the results.

VI. It is costly to get a well-trained interviewer who will know how to carry out the interview in order to get the most detailed and rich data.

In-depth interviews are useful when you want detailed information about a person’s thoughts and behaviours or when you want to explore new issues in depth. They are can also be used to provide context to build up on other data, offering a more solid base on the topic.

B) FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS

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 advantages of this method

Get Access