The life history interviews ran for 40 – 60 minutes. The timing for sessions 2 and 3 is not provided.
Interviews are the most common data collection technique in qualitative research. There are four main types of interviews; the one you choose will depend on your research question, aims and objectives. It is important to formulate open-ended interview questions that are understandable and easy for participants to answer. Key considerations in setting up the interview will enhance the quality of the data obtained and the experience of the interview for the participant and the researcher.
Qualitative Research – a practical guide for health and social care researchers and practitioners Copyright © 2023 by Danielle Berkovic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
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Learning objectives.
Knowing how to create and conduct a good interview is an essential skill. Interviews are used by market researchers to learn how to sell their products, and journalists use interviews to get information from a whole host of people from VIPs to random people on the street. Police use interviews to investigate crimes.
In social science, interviews are a method of data collection that involves two or more people exchanging information through a series of questions and answers. The questions are designed by the researcher to elicit information from interview participants on a specific topic or set of topics. These topics are informed by the research questions. Typically, interviews involve an in-person meeting between two people—an interviewer and an interviewee — but interviews need not be limited to two people, nor must they occur in-person.
The question of when to conduct an interview might be on your mind. Interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information. They also have an advantage over surveys—they can change as you learn more information. In a survey, you cannot change what questions you ask if a participant’s response sparks some follow-up question in your mind. All participants must get the same questions. The questions you decided to put on your survey during the design stage determine what data you get. In an interview, however, you can follow up on new and unexpected topics that emerge during the conversation. Trusting in emergence and learning from participants are hallmarks of qualitative research. In this way, interviews are a useful method to use when you want to know the story behind the responses you might receive in a written survey.
Interviews are also useful when the topic you are studying is rather complex, requires lengthy explanation, or needs a dialogue between two people to thoroughly investigate. Also, if people will describe the process by which a phenomenon occurs, like how a person makes a decision, then interviews may be the best method for you. For example, you could use interviews to gather data about how people reach the decision not to have children and how others in their lives have responded to that decision. To understand these “how’s” you would need to have some back-and-forth dialogue with respondents. When they begin to tell you their story, inevitably new questions that hadn’t occurred to you from prior interviews would come up because each person’s story is unique. Also, because the process of choosing not to have children is complex for many people, describing that process by responding to closed-ended questions on a survey wouldn’t work particularly well.
Interview research is especially useful when:
Qualitative interviews are sometimes called intensive or in-depth interviews. These interviews are semi-structured ; the researcher has a particular topic about which she would like to hear from the respondent, but questions are open-ended and may not be asked in exactly the same way or in exactly the same order to each and every respondent. For in-depth interviews , the primary aim is to hear from respondents about what they think is important about the topic at hand and to hear it in their own words. In this section, we’ll take a look at how to conduct qualitative interviews, analyze interview data, and identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of this method.
Qualitative interviews might feel more like a conversation than an interview to respondents, but the researcher is in fact usually guiding the conversation with the goal in mind of gathering specific information from a respondent. Qualitative interviews use open-ended questions, which are questions that a researcher poses but does not provide answer options for. Open-ended questions are more demanding of participants than closed-ended questions because they require participants to come up with their own words, phrases, or sentences to respond.
In a qualitative interview, the researcher usually develops an interview guide in advance to refer to during the interview (or memorizes in advance of the interview). An interview guide is a list of questions or topics that the interviewer hopes to cover during the course of an interview. It is called a guide because it is simply that—it is used to guide the interviewer, but it is not set in stone. Think of an interview guide like an agenda for the day or a to-do list—both probably contain all the items you hope to check off or accomplish, though it probably won’t be the end of the world if you don’t accomplish everything on the list or if you don’t accomplish it in the exact order that you have it written down. Perhaps new events will come up that cause you to rearrange your schedule just a bit, or perhaps you simply won’t get to everything on the list.
Interview guides should outline issues that a researcher feels are likely to be important. Because participants are asked to provide answers in their own words and to raise points they believe are important, each interview is likely to flow a little differently. While the opening question in an in-depth interview may be the same across all interviews, from that point on, what the participant says will shape how the interview proceeds. Sometimes participants answer a question on the interview guide before it is asked. When the interviewer comes to that question later on in the interview, it’s a good idea to acknowledge that they already addressed part of this question and ask them if they have anything to add to their response. All of this uncertainty can make in-depth interviewing exciting and rather challenging. It takes a skilled interviewer to be able to ask questions; listen to respondents; and pick up on cues about when to follow up, when to move on, and when to simply let the participant speak without guidance or interruption.
As we’ve discussed, interview guides can list topics or questions. The specific format of an interview guide might depend on your style, experience, and comfort level as an interviewer or with your topic. Figure 9.1 provides an example of an interview guide for a study of how young people experience workplace sexual harassment. The guide is topic-based, rather than a list of specific questions. The ordering of the topics is important, though how each comes up during the interview may vary.
For interview guides that use questions, there can also be specific words or phrases for follow-up in case the participant does not mention those topics in their responses. These probes , as well as the questions are written out in the interview guide, but may not always be used. Figure 9.2 provides an example of an interview guide that uses questions rather than topics.
As you might have guessed, interview guides do not appear out of thin air. They are the result of thoughtful and careful work on the part of a researcher. As you can see in both of the preceding guides, the topics and questions have been organized thematically and in the order in which they are likely to proceed (though keep in mind that the flow of a qualitative interview is in part determined by what a respondent has to say). Sometimes qualitative interviewers may create two versions of the interview guide: one version contains a very brief outline of the interview, perhaps with just topic headings, and another version contains detailed questions underneath each topic heading. In this case, the researcher might use the very detailed guide to prepare and practice in advance of actually conducting interviews and then just bring the brief outline to the interview. Bringing an outline, as opposed to a very long list of detailed questions, to an interview encourages the researcher to actually listen to what a participant is saying. An overly detailed interview guide can be difficult to navigate during an interview and could give respondents the mis-impression the interviewer is more interested in the questions than in the participant’s answers.
Constructing an interview guide often begins with brainstorming. There are no rules at the brainstorming stage—simply list all the topics and questions that come to mind when you think about your research question. Once you’ve got a pretty good list, you can begin to pare it down by cutting questions and topics that seem redundant and group similar questions and topics together. If you haven’t done so yet, you may also want to come up with question and topic headings for your grouped categories. You should also consult the scholarly literature to find out what kinds of questions other interviewers have asked in studies of similar topics and what theory indicates might be important. As with quantitative survey research, it is best not to place very sensitive or potentially controversial questions at the very beginning of your qualitative interview guide. You need to give participants the opportunity to warm up to the interview and to feel comfortable talking with you. Finally, get some feedback on your interview guide. Ask your friends, other researchers, and your professors for some guidance and suggestions once you’ve come up with what you think is a strong guide. Chances are they’ll catch a few things you hadn’t noticed. Once you begin your interviews, your participants may also suggest revisions or improvements.
In terms of the specific questions you include in your guide, there are a few guidelines worth noting. First, avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. Try to rephrase your questions in a way that invites longer responses from your interviewees. If you choose to include yes or no questions, be sure to include follow-up questions. Remember, one of the benefits of qualitative interviews is that you can ask participants for more information—be sure to do so. While it is a good idea to ask follow-up questions, try to avoid asking “why” as your follow-up question, as this particular question can come off as confrontational, even if that is not your intent. Often people won’t know how to respond to “why,” perhaps because they don’t even know why themselves. Instead of asking “why,” you say something like, “Could you tell me a little more about that?” This allows participants to explain themselves further without feeling that they’re being doubted or questioned in a hostile way.
Also, try to avoid phrasing your questions in a leading way. For example, rather than asking, “Don’t you think most people who don’t want to have children are selfish?” you could ask, “What comes to mind for you when you hear someone doesn’t want to have children?” Finally, remember to keep most, if not all, of your questions open-ended. The key to a successful qualitative interview is giving participants the opportunity to share information in their own words and in their own way. Documenting the decisions made along the way regarding which questions are used, thrown out, or revised can help a researcher remember the thought process behind the interview guide when she is analyzing the data. Additionally, it promotes the rigor of the qualitative project as a whole, ensuring the researcher is proceeding in a reflective and deliberate manner that can be checked by others reviewing her study.
Even after the interview guide is constructed, the interviewer is not yet ready to begin conducting interviews. The researcher has to decide how to collect and maintain the information that is provided by participants. Researchers keep field notes or written recordings produced by the researcher during the data collection process. Field notes can be taken before, during, or after interviews. Field notes help researchers document what they observe, and in so doing, they form the first step of data analysis. Field notes may contain many things—observations of body language or environment, reflections on whether interview questions are working well, and connections between ideas that participants share.
Unfortunately, even the most diligent researcher cannot write down everything that is seen or heard during an interview. In particular, it is difficult for a researcher to be truly present and observant if she is also writing down everything the participant is saying. For this reason, it is quite common for interviewers to create audio recordings of the interviews they conduct. Recording interviews allows the researcher to focus on the interaction with the interview participant.
Of course, not all participants will feel comfortable being recorded and sometimes even the interviewer may feel that the subject is so sensitive that recording would be inappropriate. If this is the case, it is up to the researcher to balance excellent note-taking with exceptional question-asking and even better listening.
Whether you will be recording your interviews or not (and especially if not), practicing the interview in advance is crucial. Ideally, you’ll find a friend or two willing to participate in a couple of trial runs with you. Even better, find a friend or two who are similar in at least some ways to your sample. They can give you the best feedback on your questions and your interview demeanor.
Another issue interviewers face is documenting the decisions made during the data collection process. Qualitative research is open to new ideas that emerge through the data collection process. For example, a participant might suggest a new concept you hadn’t thought of before or define a concept in a new way. This may lead you to create new questions or ask questions in a different way to future participants. These processes should be documented in a process called journaling or memoing. Journal entries are notes to yourself about reflections or methodological decisions that emerge during the data collection process. Documenting these are important, as you’d be surprised how quickly you can forget what happened. Journaling makes sure that when it comes time to analyze your data, you remember how, when, and why certain changes were made. The discipline of journaling in qualitative research helps to ensure the rigor of the research process—that is its trustworthiness and authenticity which we will discuss later in this chapter.
As we’ve mentioned in this section, qualitative interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information. Any topic can be explored in much more depth with interviews than with almost any other method. Not only are participants given the opportunity to elaborate in a way that is not possible with other methods such as survey research, but they also are able share information with researchers in their own words and from their own perspectives. Whereas, quantitative research asks participants to fit their perspectives into the limited response options provided by the researcher. And because qualitative interviews are designed to elicit detailed information, they are especially useful when a researcher’s aim is to study social processes or the “how” of various phenomena. Yet another, and sometimes overlooked, benefit of in-person qualitative interviews is that researchers can make observations beyond those that a respondent is orally reporting. A respondent’s body language, and even their choice of time and location for the interview, might provide a researcher with useful data.
Of course, all these benefits come with some drawbacks. As with quantitative survey research, qualitative interviews rely on respondents’ ability to accurately and honestly recall specific details about their lives, circumstances, thoughts, opinions, or behaviors. Further, as you may have already guessed, qualitative interviewing is time-intensive and can be quite expensive. Creating an interview guide, identifying a sample, and conducting interviews are just the beginning. Writing out what was said in interviews and analyzing the qualitative interview data are time consuming processes. Keep in mind you are also asking for more of participants’ time than if you’d simply mailed them a questionnaire containing closed-ended questions. Conducting qualitative interviews is not only labor-intensive but can also be emotionally taxing. Seeing and hearing the impact that social problems have on respondents is difficult. Researchers embarking on a qualitative interview project should keep in mind their own abilities to receive stories that may be difficult to hear.
interview restaurant a pair by alda2 CC-0
questions by geralt CC-0
Figure 9.1 is copied from Blackstone, A. (2012) Principles of sociological inquiry: Qualitative and quantitative methods. Saylor Foundation. Retrieved from: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-sociological-inquiry-qualitative-and-quantitative-methods/ Shared under CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 License
writing by StockSnap CC-0
Foundations of Social Work Research Copyright © 2020 by Rebecca L. Mauldin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
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Methodology
Published on March 10, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on June 22, 2023.
An interview is a qualitative research method that relies on asking questions in order to collect data . Interviews involve two or more people, one of whom is the interviewer asking the questions.
There are several types of interviews, often differentiated by their level of structure.
Interviews are commonly used in market research, social science, and ethnographic research .
What is a structured interview, what is a semi-structured interview, what is an unstructured interview, what is a focus group, examples of interview questions, advantages and disadvantages of interviews, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about types of interviews.
Structured interviews have predetermined questions in a set order. They are often closed-ended, featuring dichotomous (yes/no) or multiple-choice questions. While open-ended structured interviews exist, they are much less common. The types of questions asked make structured interviews a predominantly quantitative tool.
Asking set questions in a set order can help you see patterns among responses, and it allows you to easily compare responses between participants while keeping other factors constant. This can mitigate research biases and lead to higher reliability and validity. However, structured interviews can be overly formal, as well as limited in scope and flexibility.
Semi-structured interviews are a blend of structured and unstructured interviews. While the interviewer has a general plan for what they want to ask, the questions do not have to follow a particular phrasing or order.
Semi-structured interviews are often open-ended, allowing for flexibility, but follow a predetermined thematic framework, giving a sense of order. For this reason, they are often considered “the best of both worlds.”
However, if the questions differ substantially between participants, it can be challenging to look for patterns, lessening the generalizability and validity of your results.
An unstructured interview is the most flexible type of interview. The questions and the order in which they are asked are not set. Instead, the interview can proceed more spontaneously, based on the participant’s previous answers.
Unstructured interviews are by definition open-ended. This flexibility can help you gather detailed information on your topic, while still allowing you to observe patterns between participants.
However, so much flexibility means that they can be very challenging to conduct properly. You must be very careful not to ask leading questions, as biased responses can lead to lower reliability or even invalidate your research.
A focus group brings together a group of participants to answer questions on a topic of interest in a moderated setting. Focus groups are qualitative in nature and often study the group’s dynamic and body language in addition to their answers. Responses can guide future research on consumer products and services, human behavior, or controversial topics.
Focus groups can provide more nuanced and unfiltered feedback than individual interviews and are easier to organize than experiments or large surveys . However, their small size leads to low external validity and the temptation as a researcher to “cherry-pick” responses that fit your hypotheses.
Depending on the type of interview you are conducting, your questions will differ in style, phrasing, and intention. Structured interview questions are set and precise, while the other types of interviews allow for more open-endedness and flexibility.
Here are some examples.
Interviews are a great research tool. They allow you to gather rich information and draw more detailed conclusions than other research methods, taking into consideration nonverbal cues, off-the-cuff reactions, and emotional responses.
However, they can also be time-consuming and deceptively challenging to conduct properly. Smaller sample sizes can cause their validity and reliability to suffer, and there is an inherent risk of interviewer effect arising from accidentally leading questions.
Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each type of interview that can help you decide if you’d like to utilize this research method.
Type of interview | Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|---|
Structured interview | ||
Semi-structured interview | , , , and | |
Unstructured interview | , , , and | |
Focus group | , , and , since there are multiple people present |
If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
Research bias
The four most common types of interviews are:
The interviewer effect is a type of bias that emerges when a characteristic of an interviewer (race, age, gender identity, etc.) influences the responses given by the interviewee.
There is a risk of an interviewer effect in all types of interviews , but it can be mitigated by writing really high-quality interview questions.
Social desirability bias is the tendency for interview participants to give responses that will be viewed favorably by the interviewer or other participants. It occurs in all types of interviews and surveys , but is most common in semi-structured interviews , unstructured interviews , and focus groups .
Social desirability bias can be mitigated by ensuring participants feel at ease and comfortable sharing their views. Make sure to pay attention to your own body language and any physical or verbal cues, such as nodding or widening your eyes.
This type of bias can also occur in observations if the participants know they’re being observed. They might alter their behavior accordingly.
A focus group is a research method that brings together a small group of people to answer questions in a moderated setting. The group is chosen due to predefined demographic traits, and the questions are designed to shed light on a topic of interest. It is one of 4 types of interviews .
Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.
Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.
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Research, Record, and Transcribe Better
Updated on: June 22, 2024
A qualitative research interview is an invaluable tool for researchers. Whether one’s studying social phenomena, exploring personal narratives, or investigating complex issues, interviews offer a means to gain unique insights.
“The quality of the data collected in a qualitative research interview is highly dependent on the quality and appropriateness of the questions asked.”
But how do you prepare the right questions to ensure your interviews yield rich data? In this guide, we’ll explore the types of qualitative research interviews and provide tips for crafting effective questions.
Table of Contents
Before diving into question preparation, it’s important to select the type of qualitative research interview that’s best suited for the study at hand.
There are three types of qualitative research interviews:
Structured interviews involve asking the same set of pre-written questions to every participant. This approach ensures consistency, making it easier to compare data between participants or groups later.
When conducting structured interviews, keep these guidelines in mind:
Question : Thinking back to your childhood days in Chelsea, can you remember what kind of local music was popular at the time?
Structured interviews are ideal when you need uniform data collection across all participants. They are common in large-scale studies or when comparing responses quantitatively.
Read more: Advantages & Disadvantages of Structured Interviews
The second type of qualitative interviews are semi-structured interviews. In these interviews, the interview guide outlines the topics to be explored, but the actual questions are not pre-written.
This approach allows interviewers the freedom to phrase questions spontaneously and explore topics in more depth.
Question : What problems did the participant face growing up in the community?
Semi-structured interviews strike a balance between flexibility and structure. They offer a framework within which interviewers can adapt questions to participants’ responses, making them suitable for in-depth exploration.
In unstructured interviews, often referred to as informal conversational interviews , are characterized by a lack of formal guidelines, predefined questions, or sequencing.
Questions emerge during the interview based on the conversation’s flow and the interviewee’s observations. Consequently, each unstructured interview is unique, and questions may evolve over time.
Unstructured interviews are highly exploratory and can lead to unexpected insights. They are particularly valuable when studying complex or novel phenomena where predefined questions may limit understanding.
Once you’ve chosen the type of interview that suits your research study, the next step is to decide what information you need to collect.
Patton’s six types of questions offer a framework for shaping your inquiries:
Based on these categories, create a list of the specific information you aim to collect through the interview. This step ensures that your questions align with your research objectives.
After deciding the type of interview and nature of information you’d like to gather, the next step is to write the actual questions.
Open-ended questions are the backbone of qualitative research interviews. They encourage participants to share their experiences and thoughts in-depth, providing rich, detailed data.
Avoid ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions, as they limit responses. Instead, use open-ended questions that grant participants the freedom to express themselves. Here are some examples –
How do you feel about working at ABC Corp. during your initial years there?
Can you describe the attitudes and approach to work of the other people working with you at the time?
Tell me more about your relationship with your peers.
Read More: 100 Open-Ended Qualitative Interview Questions
Unstructured Questions allow the interviewee to guide the conversation, letting them focus on what they think is most important.
These questions make the interview longer, but also provide richer and deeper insight.
Probing questions are used to get more information about an answer or clarify something. They help interviewers dig deeper, clarify responses, and gain a more comprehensive understanding.
Tell me more about that.
And how did you feel about that?
What do you mean when you say [xxx]?
Probing questions enhance the depth and clarity of the data collected, however they should be used judiciously to avoid overwhelming participants.
As your interview approaches its conclusion, it’s beneficial to have a general last question that allows the interviewee to share any additional thoughts or opinions they feel are relevant.
For instance, you might ask:
Thank you for all that valuable information. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we end?
This open-ended question provides participants with a final opportunity to express themselves fully, ensuring that no critical insights are left unshared.
Preparing questions for qualitative research interviews requires a thoughtful approach that considers the interview type, desired information, and the balance between structured and unstructured questioning.
Here’s a great guide from the Harvard University on the subject.
Read More: How to Transcribe an Interview – A Complete Guide
hlabishi says
April 8, 2015 at 12:37 pm
I found the information valuable. It will assist me a lot with my research work.
Harpinder says
June 8, 2015 at 10:40 pm
I am going for my pilot study. Above information is really valuable for me. Thank you.
September 28, 2015 at 10:21 am
thank you for Patton’s 6 types of questions related to: 1. Behavior or experience. 2. Opinion or belief. 3. Feelings. 4. Knowledge. 5. Sensory. 6. Background or demographic. Really helpful
IBRAHIM A. ALIYU says
October 7, 2015 at 6:04 pm
Very interesting and good guides, thanks a lot
Dumisani says
July 31, 2017 at 7:55 am
Very informative. Thank you
Yongama says
June 5, 2018 at 11:57 pm
this is a good information and it helped me
Joshua Nonwo says
June 3, 2019 at 11:02 pm
vital information that really help me to do my research. thank you so much.
June 12, 2019 at 7:36 pm
Thanks a lot. Example of structured interview broadens My mind in formulating my structured research question. Indeed very helpful.
mwiine says
November 29, 2019 at 6:31 am
thanx, a lot. the information will guide me in my research.
Kayayoo isaac says
November 29, 2019 at 7:54 am
Thanks for the information, it was very much helpful to me in the area of data collection.
leslie says
December 27, 2019 at 4:29 pm
very useful thanks.
louisevbanz says
January 20, 2020 at 3:19 pm
I’d like put the writers of this in my references. May I ask who the writers are and what year was this published? Thank you very much.
Daniel says
June 1, 2020 at 6:21 pm
Thank you very much. Helpful information in my preparations for structured interviews for my research .
abby kamwana says
December 8, 2020 at 9:03 am
This is the information i was looking for thank you so much!.
Cosmas W.K. Mereku (Prof.) says
June 15, 2021 at 8:59 am
I am teaching 42 MPhil and 6 PhD postgraduate music students research methods this academic year. Your guide to qualitative research interview questions has been very useful. Because the students are in different disciplines (music education, music composition, ethnomusicology and performance), all the types of questions discussed have been very useful. Thank you very much.
Gerald Ibrahim b. says
June 16, 2021 at 12:45 pm
One of my best article ever read..thanks alot this may help me in completing my research report…
Corazon T. Balulao says
March 1, 2022 at 7:47 am
Thank you so much for sharing with us it helps me a lot doing mt basic research
antoinette says
March 28, 2022 at 7:35 am
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November 21, 2023 at 5:55 am
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Qualitative interviewing is an effective technique to quickly understand more about a target user group. It is a key skill that any aspiring user researcher should develop. It is important to carefully craft the questions to ensure the sessions run efficiently and get the desired information. This article outlines best practice tips on creating effective session guides, ensuring your questions produce great results.
A leading question guides the respondent to a desired answer by implying that there is a correct answer. People tend to provide socially desirable answers, so if you ask a question that guides them, they will likely provide one that they believe you want to hear. Leading questions can be used by people to persuade someone. They should not be used when trying to uncover new information or understand an audience. They reduce the objectivity of the session, and therefore, reduce the reliability of the results.
Example: Leading: ‘Why would you prefer to use our product?’ Better: ‘What are your thoughts about using our product?
In the leading example, it implies that the respondent prefers the product and is enquiring as to why. The respondent may list a bunch of reasons that they like the product but may leave out crucial information where they believe the product could improve. Asking about their opinions and thoughts will provide them with a platform to discuss the product freely.
Example: Leading: Would you prefer to use the product to improve efficiencies or to gain an overview? Better: Why might you use this product?
In this example, the interviewer provides two reasons why someone might use a product. The interviewer may have only considered the two reasons why someone may use the product. Simply asking why they may use the product achieves the same goal, but also allows the respondent to consider other options.
To avoid leading questions, act as if you know nothing of the topic. Note down what you would ask if you have no information at all. Keep the questions simple, neutral and free from any words with connotations or emotions. It is also best to have an independent observer assess the topic, as it is easier for them to have an unbiased opinion on the matter.
People often hold a belief that does not match with their behaviours. Using a mixture of attitudinal and behavioural questions uncovers what a person does, but also their thoughts about their actions. Attitudinal questions are used to understand their opinions and motivations. Behavioural questions are used to find out how a participant does something. It is best to utilise a mixture.
Example: Attitudinal: How often should you brush your teeth? Behavioural: How many times did you brush your teeth last week?
Try to keep all behavioural questions about the user’s past, as future behaviours are influenced by opinions and attitudes. It is best practice to repeat questions from a different angle. Don’t be afraid of users repeating themselves or going over a topic multiple times.
Open-ended questions are ones that require more than one word to answer. Closed questions result in either a yes/no situation. Open-ended questions are used to find out people’s goals, motivations and pain points. They provide an opportunity for the participant to speak freely on the topic.
Example: Yes/No: Do you like coffee? Open: What are your thoughts on coffee?
Closed questions should be avoided unless you want to either clarify to gain more context to the user’s situation. Yes/No questions close down conversations and can be considered as quantitative. The following examples are both fine to use in an interview, as they will put other details into perspective.
Context: Do you drink coffee? Clarify: You mentioned you drink coffee, correct?
When creating your questionnaire, try and stick with ‘how’, ‘why’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘where’ questions.
Sometimes interviewers get excited and want to ask multiple things at once. Double-barreled questions touch on more than one topic. This can be overwhelming to answer, and respondents may either try to answer both at once or answer only one part of the question. If you want to ask something on multiple topics, it is best to split them into two different questions.
Example: Double-barreled: What do you like about coffee and new coffee products? Better: What do you like about coffee products?
It is normal in casual conversation to ask questions in such a manner. Interviewing is best when the questions are short and to the point, focusing on one topic.
Quantitative and qualitative questions both have their own strengths and weaknesses. Quantitative questions are typically reserved for surveys but can be used in interviewing to add some context and allow the interviewer to ask more follow-up questions. They mostly uncover ‘who’ and ‘what’. Qualitative questions will provide detailed information on the topic of interest, uncovering the ‘why’ and ‘how’.
Examples of quantitative questions:
It is not immediately obvious and clear-cut the quantitative nature of these questions. You can tell through the low complexity of data gathered. If you ask these questions to participants, you will get a straightforward answer. However, the issue is that the responses are not statistically valid, and require further investigation. You can better use your time in an in-depth one on one session asking qualitative questions such as:
Examples of qualitative questions:
Shifting to why and how people do things, outlining goals, motivations, pain points and delights gives a much more in-depth perspective. These insights can be validated later through other techniques, but interviewing is the quickest and easiest way to gather them.
For qualitative interviewing, there are few clear best practices. Each interviewer has their own way of gathering information and forming questions. The tips above are there to guide you but are not definitive rules that one cannot break. I hope these help to elevate your interviewing process and gather better insights.
John started his career in market research and marketing where he constantly championed the experience of the users and customer journeys. John jumped into the profession of UX Research because of the ability to create products and understand users on a qualitative level. As an advocate of design thinking, he is constantly in touch with users, creating strategic outputs and reinforcing the business value of research.
amazing and best content and post about effective interview questions.
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Qualitative research questions help you understand consumer sentiment. They’re strategically designed to show organizations how and why people feel the way they do about a brand, product, or service. It looks beyond the numbers and is one of the most telling types of market research a company can do.
The UK Data Service describes this perfectly, saying, “The value of qualitative research is that it gives a voice to the lived experience .”
Read on to see seven use cases and 83 qualitative research questions, with the added bonus of examples that show how to get similar insights faster with Similarweb Research Intelligence.
A qualitative research question explores a topic in-depth, aiming to better understand the subject through interviews, observations, and other non-numerical data. Qualitative research questions are open-ended, helping to uncover a target audience’s opinions, beliefs, and motivations.
Choosing the right qualitative research questions can be incremental to the success of your research and the findings you uncover. Here’s my six-step process for choosing the best qualitative research questions.
For a question to be considered qualitative, it usually needs to be open-ended. However, as I’ll explain, there can sometimes be a slight cross-over between quantitative and qualitative research questions.
These allow for a wide range of responses and can be formatted with multiple-choice answers or a free-text box to collect additional details. The next two types of qualitative questions are considered open questions, but each has its own style and purpose.
These ask respondents to choose from a predetermined set of responses, such as “On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with the new product?” While they’re traditionally quantitative, adding a free text box that asks for extra comments into why a specific rating was chosen will provide qualitative insights alongside their respective quantitative research question responses.
There are many applications of qualitative research and lots of ways you can put your findings to work for the success of your business. Here’s a summary of the most common use cases for qualitative questions and examples to ask.
These types of questions help you find out why customers choose products or services and what they are looking for when making a purchase.
Use these questions to reveal insights into how customers interact with a company’s products or services and how those experiences can be improved.
First, I’m going to do a website market analysis of the banking credit and lending market in the finance sector to get a clearer picture of industry benchmarks.
Here, I can view device preferences across any industry or market instantly. It shows me the device distribution for any country across any period. This clearly answers the question of how mobile dominate my target audience is , with 59.79% opting to access site via a desktop vs. 40.21% via mobile
I then use the trends section to show me the exact split between mobile and web traffic for each key player in my space. Let’s say I’m about to embark on a competitive campaign that targets customers of Chase and Bank of America ; I can see both their audiences are highly desktop dominant compared with others in their space .
Research questions like this can help you understand customer pain points and give you insights to develop products that meet those needs.
Using the market analysis element of Similarweb Digital Intelligence, I select my industry or market, which I’ve kept as banking and credit. A quick click into marketing channels shows me which channels drive the highest traffic in my market. Taking direct traffic out of the equation, for now, I can see that referrals and organic traffic are the two highest-performing channels in this market.
Similarweb allows me to view the specific referral partners and pages across these channels.
Looking closely at referrals in this market, I’ve chosen chase.com and its five closest rivals . I select referrals in the channel traffic element of marketing channels. I see that Capital One is a clear winner, gaining almost 25 million visits due to referral partnerships.
Next, I get to see exactly who is referring traffic to Capital One and the total traffic share for each referrer. I can see the growth as a percentage and how that has changed, along with an engagement score that rates the average engagement level of that audience segment. This is particularly useful when deciding on which new referral partnerships to pursue.
Once I’ve identified the channels and campaigns that yield the best results, I can then use Similarweb to dive into the various ad creatives and content that have the greatest impact.
These ads are just a few of those listed in the creatives section from my competitive website analysis of Capital One. You can filter this list by the specific campaign, publishers, and ad networks to view those that matter to you most. You can also discover video ad creatives in the same place too.
In just five minutes ⏰
Companies need to make sure pricing stays relevant and competitive. Use these questions to determine customer perceptions on pricing and develop pricing strategies to maximize profits and reduce churn.
Get Faster Answers to Qualitative Research Questions with Similarweb Today
Here, I’m using Capital One as an example site. I can see trending pages on their site showing the largest increase in page views. Other filters include campaign, best-performing, and new–each of which shows you page URLs, share of traffic, and growth as a percentage. This page is particularly useful for staying on top of trending topics , campaigns, and new content being pushed out in a market by key competitors.
It’s vital to stay in touch with changing consumer needs. These questions can also be used for new product or service development, but this time, it’s from the perspective of a product manager or development team.
Market segmentation seeks to create groups of consumers with shared characteristics. Use these questions to learn more about different customer segments and how to target them with tailored messaging.
This example shows me Bank of America’s social media distribution, with YouTube , Linkedin , and Facebook taking the top three spots, and accounting for almost 80% of traffic being driven from social media.
When doing any type of market research, it’s important to benchmark performance against industry averages and perform a social media competitive analysis to verify rival performance across the same channels.
Organizations must assess market sentiment toward other players to compete and beat rival firms. Whether you want to increase market share , challenge industry leaders , or reduce churn, understanding how people view you vs. the competition is key.
Using the audience interests element of Similarweb website analysis, you can view the cross-browsing behaviors of a website’s audience instantly. You can see a matrix that shows the percentage of visitors on a target site and any rival site they may have visited.
With the Similarweb audience overlap feature, view the cross-visitation habits of an audience across specific websites. In this example, I chose chase.com and its four closest competitors to review. For each intersection, you see the number of unique visitors and the overall proportion of each site’s audience it represents. It also shows the volume of unreached potential visitors.
Here, you can see a direct comparison of the audience loyalty represented in a bar graph. It shows a breakdown of each site’s audience based on how many other sites they have visited. Those sites with the highest loyalty show fewer additional sites visited.
From the perspective of chase.com, I can see 47% of their visitors do not visit rival sites. 33% of their audience visited 1 or more sites in this group, 14% visited 2 or more sites, 4% visited 3 or more sites, and just 0.8% viewed all sites in this comparison.
Similarweb Research Intelligence drastically improves market research efficiency and time to insight. Both of these can impact the bottom line and the pace at which organizations can adapt and flex when markets shift, and rivals change tactics.
Outdated practices, while still useful, take time . And with a quicker, more efficient way to garner similar insights, opting for the fast lane puts you at a competitive advantage.
With a birds-eye view of the actions and behaviors of companies and consumers across a market , you can answer certain research questions without the need to plan, do, and review extensive qualitative market research .
Wrapping up
Qualitative research methods have been around for centuries. From designing the questions to finding the best distribution channels, collecting and analyzing findings takes time to get the insights you need. Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence drastically improves efficiency and time to insight. Both of which impact the bottom line and the pace at which organizations can adapt and flex when markets shift.
Similarweb’s suite of digital intelligence solutions offers unbiased, accurate, honest insights you can trust for analyzing any industry, market, or audience.
Are quantitative or qualitative research questions best?
Both have their place and purpose in market research. Qualitative research questions seek to provide details, whereas quantitative market research gives you numerical statistics that are easier and quicker to analyze. You get more flexibility with qualitative questions, and they’re non-directional.
What are the advantages of qualitative research?
Qualitative research is advantageous because it allows researchers to better understand their subject matter by exploring people’s attitudes, behaviors, and motivations in a particular context. It also allows researchers to uncover new insights that may not have been discovered with quantitative research methods.
What are some of the challenges of qualitative research?
Qualitative research can be time-consuming and costly, typically involving in-depth interviews and focus groups. Additionally, there are challenges associated with the reliability and validity of the collected data, as there is no universal standard for interpreting the results.
by Liz March
Digital Research Specialist
Liz March has 15 years of experience in content creation. She enjoys the outdoors, F1, and reading, and is pursuing a BSc in Environmental Science.
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17. Describe a complex qualitative dataset you've managed and how you navigated its challenges. Managing a complex qualitative dataset requires meticulous organization, a strong grasp of research methods, and the ability to discern patterns and themes amidst a sea of words and narratives.
The Qualitative Report 2020 Volume 25, Number 9, How To Article 1, 3185-3203. Qualitative Interview Questions: Guidance for Novice Researchers. Rosanne E. Roberts. Capella University, Minneapolis ...
TIPSHEET QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWINGTIP. HEET - QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWINGQualitative interviewing provides a method for collecting rich and detailed information about how individuals experience, understand. nd explain events in their lives. This tipsheet offers an introduction to the topic and some advice on. arrying out eff.
Here's a list of five qualitative research interview questions and some sample answers to consider when practicing for your interview: 1. Define market research and explain how it works. Interviewers may ask this question to evaluate your basic understanding of research and how to gather and understand it. Market research refers to another form ...
researcher and the interview questions. The value of the data collected during a qualitative interview depends on the competence of the researcher and the strength of the interview questions. For this reason, it is important to ensure that the interview questions used by novice researchers are appropriate and
A good qualitative research question sums up your research objective. It's a way of expressing the central question of your research, identifying your particular topic and the central issue you are examining. Research questions are quite different from survey questions, questions used in focus groups or interview questions.
Related: A guide to interview methods in research (With examples) 4. Please describe in your own words what coding means in qualitative research. This question looks to explore your fundamental understanding of an important aspect of qualitative research. It relates to qualitative data analysis.
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to conduct interviews in qualitative research, broken down into three stages: 1. Before the interview. The first step in conducting a qualitative interview is determining your research question. This will help you identify the type of participants you need to recruit. Once you have your research question ...
3. People's espoused theories differ from their theories-in-practice. Get them to tell a story. Ask "how" questions not "do". Use "tell me about" and "tell me more about that". Use open-ended questions. Approach your topic sideways. Don't take the first answer as a final answer. Ask for elaboration.
As the interview progresses, avoid asking leading questions (i.e., questions that assume something about the interviewee or their response). Make sure that you speak clearly and slowly, using plain language and being ready to paraphrase questions if the person you are interviewing misunderstands.
25 examples of expertly crafted qualitative research questions. It's easy enough to cover the theory of writing a qualitative research question, but sometimes it's best if you can see the process in practice. In this section, we'll list 25 examples of B2B and B2C-related qualitative questions. Let's begin with five questions.
Limitations of Qualitative Research. Lengthy and complicated designs, which do not draw large samples. Validity of reliability of subjective data. Difficult to replicate study because of central role of the researcher and context. Data analysis and interpretation is time consuming. Subjective - open to misinterpretation.
A qualitative research interview is a one-to-one data collection session between a researcher and a participant. Interviews may be carried out face-to-face, over the phone or via video call using a service like Skype or Zoom. There are three main types of qualitative research interview - structured, unstructured or semi-structured.
6.1 Interviews. In-depth interviews allow participants to describe experiences in their own words (a primary strength of the interview format). Strong in-depth interviews will include many open-ended questions that allow participants to respond in their own words, share new ideas, and lead the conversation in different directions. The purpose of open-ended questions and in-depth interviews is ...
A Successful Interviewer is: 1. Knowledgeable: is thoroughly familiar with the focus of the interview; pilot interviews of the kind used in survey interviewing can be useful here. 2. Structuring: gives purpose for interview; rounds it off; asks whether interviewee has questions. 3. Clear: asks simple, easy, short questions; no jargon. 4. Gentle: lets people finish; gives them time to think ...
Qualitative Research 1(3):303-323. Argues for the importance of "local context" of data production (the relationship built between interviewer and interviewee, for example) in properly analyzing interview data. Weiss, Robert S. 1995. Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: Simon and Schuster.
What are interviews? An interviewing method is the most commonly used data collection technique in qualitative research. 1 The purpose of an interview is to explore the experiences, understandings, opinions and motivations of research participants. 2 Interviews are conducted one-on-one with the researcher and the participant. Interviews are most appropriate when seeking to understand a ...
Figure 9.2 provides an example of an interview guide that uses questions rather than topics. Figure 9.2 Interview guide displaying questions rather than topics. As you might have guessed, interview guides do not appear out of thin air. They are the result of thoughtful and careful work on the part of a researcher.
There are several types of interviews, often differentiated by their level of structure. Structured interviews have predetermined questions asked in a predetermined order. Unstructured interviews are more free-flowing. Semi-structured interviews fall in between. Interviews are commonly used in market research, social science, and ethnographic ...
This short video summarizes why interviews can serve as useful data in qualitative research. InterViews by Steinar Kvale Interviewing is an essential tool in qualitative research and this introduction to interviewing outlines both the theoretical underpinnings and the practical aspects of the process. After examining the role of the interview ...
Once you've chosen the type of interview that suits your research study, the next step is to decide what information you need to collect. Patton's six types of questions offer a framework for shaping your inquiries: Behavior or Experience: Explore participants' actions and experiences. Opinion or Belief: Probe participants' beliefs ...
Quantitative questions are typically reserved for surveys but can be used in interviewing to add some context and allow the interviewer to ask more follow-up questions. They mostly uncover 'who' and 'what'. Qualitative questions will provide detailed information on the topic of interest, uncovering the 'why' and 'how'.
Qualitative research questions help you understand consumer sentiment. They're strategically designed to show organizations how and why people feel the way they do about a brand, product, or service.It looks beyond the numbers and is one of the most telling types of market research a company can do.. The UK Data Service describes this perfectly, saying, "The value of qualitative research ...
Data collection at live events has used a wide variety of methods from a range of disciplines in contemporary research, but this was predominantly via quantitative or secondary research approaches (see Draper et al., 2018; Getz, 2010; Park & Park, 2017). Mair (2012) highlighted that qualitative methodologies were significantly underrepresented in high impact journals, and the event research ...