I nterviews An interview is different from a survey in that it is always conducted in person and usually involves much fewer persons (as few as , , or , usually not much more than that). Interviews may be structured , that is, follow a pre-determined pattern of questions or unstructured , where only a set of topics is pre-decided, and the actual questions emerge as part of a conversation. Interviews may be more or less intensive , in the sense that one may interview a person for a long time ( – hours) or in repeated visits to get a really detailed version of their story. Interviews have the advantage of being flexible in that promising topics may be pursued in greater detail, questions may be refined or modified along the way, and clarifications may be sought.
The disadvantage of the interview method is that it cannot cover a large number of people and is limited to presenting the views of a select group of individuals.