An interview is a discussion with someone in which you try to get information from them. There are three basic sub-types of interview: structured interviews, unstructured interviews and semi-structured interviews. Incidentally, " respondent " and " informant " are words that are sometimes used instead of " interviewee " .
A great deal is provided by this personal contact: you are another human being and interviewees will respond to you, in bodily presence, in an entirely different way from the way that they would have reacted to questionnaires that came through their letterboxes or to emails. Most people want to help and give their opinions, and they will usually be energized to help by your physical presence.
If you take the trouble to schedule a visit, you can be more or less guaranteed of a response. Most importantly, though, you will be able to relate to interviewees while you are talking to them. You will be able to watch their behaviour which will give you important clues about how they feel about a topic. Because of the primacy of the personal contact, your appearance and tone are important—how do you want to be seen? As " one of us " ? As a person in authority? As an observer? …Or what? However you decide to present yourself, it is good practice of course to try to put the interviewee at ease before the interview begins — to talk about the weather, about your journey, about anything that will break the ice.
A. This is a ready-made support for you.
B. Its nature varies with the nature of the interviews.
C. You will be able to hear and understand what they are saying.
D. Your decision should influence the way that you look, sound and behave.
E. The information may be facts or opinions or attitudes or any combination of these.
F. Each involves the interviewer in fact-to-face contact or telephone contact with another person.
G. You will be using these clues to make informed guesses about what the interviewees might really mean.
