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An interview is a set of questions asked by one person to another. Interviews are used to gather information from an individual about his or her impressions or experiences related to a particular topic. Interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or through a video-relay service. Typically, an interview consists of a series of open-ended questions, allowing individuals to communicate their insights in their own style and time, rather than relying on fixed responses that are common to surveys. Moreover, this process creates opportunities for unexpected issues that may be valuable to your assessment to be revealed. An interview also allows for the flexibility to respond to new issues that come up.

When To Use

Interviews should be used when your collaboration needs to fully understand someone's impressions or experiences, or conduct more exploratory research.

Benefits

  • There is flexibility in the interviewing process. The interviewer can modify questions in order to gather more complete information, or in response to new issues brought up in the interview.
  • The people in the interview may develop a rapport, which ultimately results in a connection to more information at a later time.

Drawbacks

  • Interviews may be difficult to schedule, especially with very busy individuals. Interviewers may need to schedule meetings in advance, or think about back-up plans if they are not able to reach to specific persons.
  • Interviews can be time consuming to conduct.
  • Interviews may be intimidating for some respondents, especially if they do not know the interviewer. It may take time to develop a relationship with some respondents, to earn their trust which results in sharing more information.
  • Interviews are not anonymous. Some respondents may not feel comfortable being honest in their responses.
  • Information collected from interviews can be hard to analyze and compare.

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