Evalguide - Evaluationsmethoden

The interview is a popular method of recording qualitative data in social sciences. It is an oral survey of people about a specific subject. The interview is frequently used if too little is known about the variables to be studied, or if it is necessary to delve into certain aspects by probing. Like the questionnaire, the interview also comprises various items (questions) and there are different degrees of standardisation:

Standardised interviews
The method of conducting standardised interviews is stipulated precisely. Such interviews are primarily suited ti clearly defined subject areas.
Standardisation in interviews means specifically that ... (cf. Grund, Grote & Windlinger, 2003)

an interview should be conducted with an interview guide which specifies the questions (wording and order) and partially also the answer options;

the situation should be always the same - this means that the interviews should ideally take place in the same room, the same interviewer should pose the questions, and the interviews should use the same communication channel (for example, not conducting half of the interviews as telephone interviews and the other half as face-to-face interviews);

the process of the interviews should be always the same - this means that the stages (e.g. introduction, questions on the part of the interviewee, interview, queries, conclusion) should always be in the same order and the interviewer should behave, if possible, in the same way towards different interview partners;

the analysis of the interviews should be always the same - this means that the recording of the interview should not differ from one interview to another (for example, not recording one on videotape and another time taking notes), and also the analysis should occur in a standardised way as far as possible.

Semi-standardised interviews
In semi-standardised interviews, the way how the discussion should be held is specified by a more-or-less strict set of interview guidelines. Both closed and open questions can be posed.

Non-standardised interviews
In non-standardised interviews, just a subject-related framework is provided. The interviewer is free with respect to the formulation and the sequence of questions, and he or she can follow up the answers of the interview partner. Open questions are used in these kind of interviews.

The more standardised the oral survey, the more comparable the results are

that are received from different participants in the survey;
if different interviewers conduct the survey.

Required resources
Data collection and analysis of interviews can be very time-consuming, especially if large numbers of people are surveyed, if the interviews last a long time, and if the answers are to be recorded and transcribed (written verbatim) for a detailed content analysis. However, it is always necessary to develop a scheme according to which the interview protocols are interpreted using a (content) analysis.

Advantages
An interview is most suitable if the number of people to be surveyed is small. An interview also has the advantage of permitting and recording questions if there are ambiguous statements and or different individual impressions, and - this is what sets interviews apart from questionnaires. Interviews provide a great amount of qualitative data.

Disadvantages
One disadvantage of interviews can be interviewer effects, meaning that the (outer) characteristics of the interviewer (e.g. age, sex, appearance) can influence the response behaviour.