Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
7.1.2.1 Personal Interview
In a personal interview method of data collection,
a researcher or an interviewer generally asks some
questions and notes down the respondent's
responses, while in a direct personal interview
method, an interviewer collects the information
directly from the respondent. This is compara-
tively easy, and data collection takes place then
and there. But, in some cases, it may not be
possible to contact directly the person concerned
due to various reasons; in such cases, indirect oral
examinations can be conducted and of course
followed by cross-examinations from other
persons who have sufficient knowledge about the
problem under investigation. An indirect method
of interview is mostly useful if respondents are
high profile in nature or are members of the com-
mission and committee appointed by the govern-
ment for specific investigations.
A personal interview can again be
interview
.Ina
focus interview methods, an interviewer is free
to design and prepare a sequence of questions.
Mostly this is a conversation-based interview in
which an interviewer concentrates in getting infor-
mation from the respondent about the subject in
which the respondent has enough experience.
Clinical interview is concerned with the recording
of information about the feelings and opinions of
individuals about their experiences in their own
lives, whereas in a nondirective interviewmethod,
information on a particular aspect is recorded
from the respondents. In this method, the work
of an interviewer is to stimulate the respondent to
go on talking about his/her feelings, beliefs, and
experiences on a particular aspect.
, and (c)
nondirective interviews
Merits and Demerits of Personal Interview
Though a personal interview is an excellent
method of data collection, particularly in the
field of social studies and behavioral sciences, it
has certain advantages and weaknesses. There is a
saying that “if there is a challenge, then face it.”
A personal interview method of data collection is
such an activity which inspires researchers not
only face the challenges of solving burning prob-
lem of the society but also collect the information
for the purpose. Though a personal interview
method is a challenging task to an interviewer or
a researcher, it has still the following advantages:
1. More and more information at a greater depth
could be obtained.
2. By overcoming the resistance, if any, during
the recording of information, an interviewer
or researcher can lead to yield a perfect infor-
mation bank.
3. Flexibility is the beauty of a personal inter-
view method.
4. The factors of nonresponse, nonreturned, and
ill response can be minimized.
5. Because of greater interactions, an inter-
viewer develops a greater confidence on
human behavior.
6. With the help of charisma, greater acceptabil-
ity, and capability, newer dimension of
research may also be worked out.
structured
and
. As usual, a structured personal
interview is concerned with the use of a set of
predetermined questions with standardized tech-
nique of data recording. These are mostly useful
in descriptive and experimental type of research
studies. An unstructured personal interview
method is characterized by a freestyle approach
of an investigator for getting the answers to
questions as per situations the investigator finds
them suitable. In this process, the investigator has
a greater freedom to include and exclude some of
the answers and also to inquire some relevant
supplementary questions if he/she found them
suitable. The unstructured personal interview
method depends greatly on the capability of an
interviewer for its success. In an exploratory type
of research or a formulative type of studies, an
unstructured personal interview is mostly useful.
Interview is a method of exposing the hidden
factors at the heart of the respondent. The skill
and capability of an interviewer greatly
influence the outcome of an interview. In many
of the situations, a specific and skilled interviewer
is required to conduct the process. As such
interviews can further be classified into three
categories:
unstructured
(a)
focus
interview
,(b)
clinical
