Facts About Interview
An interview is a conversation between two or more people (the interviewer and the interviewee) where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee. Interviews can be divided into two basic types,
(1) Interviews of Assessment
(2) Interviews for Information
(2) Interviews for Information
Assessment
The most common type of interview for assessment is a job interview between an employer and an applicant. The goal of such an interview is to assess a potential employee to see if he/she has the social skills and intelligence suitable for the workplace. Similar interviews are also used for admissions to schools, allotment of grants, and other areas.
In most developed countries, rules and regulations govern what can be asked in these interviews. Highly personal questions and those unrelated to the job at hand are forbidden, as are questions which invite discrimination. However some interviewers tend to ask such questions in order to see how the interviewee reacts and if he/she is able to elegantly avert the question then he scores high in the interview.
Information
The second type of interviews are those seeking to gather information about a subject. These types of interviews are central to the practices of journalism and instructional design. Such interviews are also important to any non-fiction writer or researcher. In general the quotes and information gathered in these interviews are used in a publication or edited for broadcast.
Such interviews occur only because the subjects have some interest in being interviewed. There are four main reasons why subjects agree to be interviewed:
1) Ego: The desire to be on television and to have one’s opinions aired is a strong one-to-many. Many people enjoy talking about themselves and their lives.
2) Publicity: Politicians and celebrities are dependent on publicity for their success and an interview is free advertising. As such many subjects insist upon prominent mentions of their latest book or movie in the interview. Such promotional interviews are frequently required by contracts.
3) Money: The issue of whether reporters should pay for interviews is a controversial one. Pundits and experts are almost always paid, and this is often an important source of income to them. Most media outlets have rules against paying eyewitnesses for interviews, in part because this only encourages the fabrication of fraudulent stories in the hopes of being paid. A major exception to this are some tabloids, especially British tabloids. Other media outlets often wine and dine to sought after subjects and give them other such perks.
4) Helpfulness: Many subjects agree to an interview simply to help the reporter. This is true of most eyewitnesses and help explain why many famous individuals agree to grant interviews for items such as school papers.
2) Publicity: Politicians and celebrities are dependent on publicity for their success and an interview is free advertising. As such many subjects insist upon prominent mentions of their latest book or movie in the interview. Such promotional interviews are frequently required by contracts.
3) Money: The issue of whether reporters should pay for interviews is a controversial one. Pundits and experts are almost always paid, and this is often an important source of income to them. Most media outlets have rules against paying eyewitnesses for interviews, in part because this only encourages the fabrication of fraudulent stories in the hopes of being paid. A major exception to this are some tabloids, especially British tabloids. Other media outlets often wine and dine to sought after subjects and give them other such perks.
4) Helpfulness: Many subjects agree to an interview simply to help the reporter. This is true of most eyewitnesses and help explain why many famous individuals agree to grant interviews for items such as school papers.
Structured interviews
A structured interview is essentially a questionnaire which is mediated or administered by a researcher. This type of interview is used for a variety of reasons but can often be used to increase response rates and the quality of answers for questionnaire style research. These kinds of interviews can be challenging as they require a personal sensitivity and adaptability as well as the ability to stay within the bounds of the designed protocol.
Semi-structured interviews
Semi Structured Interviews is perhaps the most commonly used interview technique in qualitative social research, the researcher will want to know certain information which can be compared and contrasted with information from other interviews, the researcher may produce an interview schedule which is a list of questions the researcher will want to find out from the interviewee.
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