Use Interviews for Research

Methods can vary widely.  Different disciplines have adapted guidelines, terminology and practices for their field.  Below find the general research types with common interview methods.  Included are select VCU research examples.

Quantitative Research Interviews - Standardized Structure

• Survey - data collection tool for gather information from a group of individuals. Data can be factual or opinions. Administration options includes structured interview or participant/respondent completing survey on their own.  
  • Questionnaire (face-to-face or telephone) - structured questions for individuals to obtain information
  • Market survey
  • Legacies of War - interview video by the VCU Student Chapter
  • Six Points at Highland Park Commercial Revitalization Appendix - Urban studies class mixed method research including market survey and interviews

Qualitative Research Interviews - Conversational Structure

• In-Depth- Interview (IDI) - Semi-structured or unstructured interviews of individuals, where the interview focuses on the experience of the interviewee/respondent. Interviewer knowledge and skill required.​
  • Small-Area Life Expectancy: A Comparison of Methods, Relationship to Neighborhood Sociodemographic Factors & Outlier Analysis - mixed-method research including key informant interviews
  • Celebrity / Entertainment / Elite Interview - variable standards for recording context of interview itself, requires the interviewer to have pre-researched interviewee.
    • Stars for Freedom by Emilie Raymond
  • Author Interview - similar to elite interview
  • Case Study - Intensive study of one person's history and current situation; health sciences
     
• Ethnographic Interview / Ethnography - unbiased, informal, unstructured cross-cultural explorations of the moment to clarify local knowledge or gain an understanding of a culture of sub-culture. Observation and field notes add context to the interview process. 
  • Fieldnotes for Anthropology with Music - also follow the link to the video interview
  • Our Neighbours' Understanding of Art
     
• Empathetic / Feminist - balances the power between the interviewer/interviewee, may be collaborative structure; interviewee may recognized bias for interview group; often used for gathering life experience and with sensitive topics
   
• Postmodern Interview - interviewer co-constructs meaning of experiences the interviewee shares.  
  • Critical Interviewing - accounting for social, cultural, and economic influences reported by the interviewee
  • Active Interview
     
• Focus / Delphi Group - semi-structured interview of a small group with shared experience or characteristics, with a facilitator; efficiently get consensus feedback on issues; may produce enriched data due to group dynamics
  • Brainstorming - Unstructured discussion to generate ideas for detailed examination later
  • Developing a Hybrid Model to Predict Student First-Year Retention and Academic Success in STEM Disciplines Using Neural Networks
  • The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Nurse Anesthesia Community in New Orleans - features focus groups with two different methodologies
     
• Oral History / Life Story - record and interpret firsthand testimony to an event or community, or to document personal life experience. 
  • Oral History Association
  • VCU Oral History Archive - VCU Libraries
  • Remembering the Rosenwald Schools
  • Made in Church Hill - Oral histories used in an art exhibition with photos and audio
     
• Narrative Inquiry - gathering of stories focusing on the meanings that interviewees ascribe to their experiences