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Qualitative Research – Methods, Analysis Types and Guide

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Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is a type of research methodology that focuses on exploring and understanding people’s beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and experiences through the collection and analysis of non-numerical data. It seeks to answer research questions through the examination of subjective data, such as interviews, focus groups, observations, and textual analysis.

Qualitative research aims to uncover the meaning and significance of social phenomena, and it typically involves a more flexible and iterative approach to data collection and analysis compared to quantitative research. Qualitative research is often used in fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and education.

Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative Research Methods are as follows:

One-to-One Interview

This method involves conducting an interview with a single participant to gain a detailed understanding of their experiences, attitudes, and beliefs. One-to-one interviews can be conducted in-person, over the phone, or through video conferencing. The interviewer typically uses open-ended questions to encourage the participant to share their thoughts and feelings. One-to-one interviews are useful for gaining detailed insights into individual experiences.

Focus Groups

This method involves bringing together a group of people to discuss a specific topic in a structured setting. The focus group is led by a moderator who guides the discussion and encourages participants to share their thoughts and opinions. Focus groups are useful for generating ideas and insights, exploring social norms and attitudes, and understanding group dynamics.

Ethnographic Studies

This method involves immersing oneself in a culture or community to gain a deep understanding of its norms, beliefs, and practices. Ethnographic studies typically involve long-term fieldwork and observation, as well as interviews and document analysis. Ethnographic studies are useful for understanding the cultural context of social phenomena and for gaining a holistic understanding of complex social processes.

Text Analysis

This method involves analyzing written or spoken language to identify patterns and themes. Text analysis can be quantitative or qualitative. Qualitative text analysis involves close reading and interpretation of texts to identify recurring themes, concepts, and patterns. Text analysis is useful for understanding media messages, public discourse, and cultural trends.

This method involves an in-depth examination of a single person, group, or event to gain an understanding of complex phenomena. Case studies typically involve a combination of data collection methods, such as interviews, observations, and document analysis, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the case. Case studies are useful for exploring unique or rare cases, and for generating hypotheses for further research.

Process of Observation

This method involves systematically observing and recording behaviors and interactions in natural settings. The observer may take notes, use audio or video recordings, or use other methods to document what they see. Process of observation is useful for understanding social interactions, cultural practices, and the context in which behaviors occur.

Record Keeping

This method involves keeping detailed records of observations, interviews, and other data collected during the research process. Record keeping is essential for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the data, and for providing a basis for analysis and interpretation.

This method involves collecting data from a large sample of participants through a structured questionnaire. Surveys can be conducted in person, over the phone, through mail, or online. Surveys are useful for collecting data on attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, and for identifying patterns and trends in a population.

Qualitative data analysis is a process of turning unstructured data into meaningful insights. It involves extracting and organizing information from sources like interviews, focus groups, and surveys. The goal is to understand people’s attitudes, behaviors, and motivations

Qualitative Research Analysis Methods

Qualitative Research analysis methods involve a systematic approach to interpreting and making sense of the data collected in qualitative research. Here are some common qualitative data analysis methods:

Thematic Analysis

This method involves identifying patterns or themes in the data that are relevant to the research question. The researcher reviews the data, identifies keywords or phrases, and groups them into categories or themes. Thematic analysis is useful for identifying patterns across multiple data sources and for generating new insights into the research topic.

Content Analysis

This method involves analyzing the content of written or spoken language to identify key themes or concepts. Content analysis can be quantitative or qualitative. Qualitative content analysis involves close reading and interpretation of texts to identify recurring themes, concepts, and patterns. Content analysis is useful for identifying patterns in media messages, public discourse, and cultural trends.

Discourse Analysis

This method involves analyzing language to understand how it constructs meaning and shapes social interactions. Discourse analysis can involve a variety of methods, such as conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, and narrative analysis. Discourse analysis is useful for understanding how language shapes social interactions, cultural norms, and power relationships.

Grounded Theory Analysis

This method involves developing a theory or explanation based on the data collected. Grounded theory analysis starts with the data and uses an iterative process of coding and analysis to identify patterns and themes in the data. The theory or explanation that emerges is grounded in the data, rather than preconceived hypotheses. Grounded theory analysis is useful for understanding complex social phenomena and for generating new theoretical insights.

Narrative Analysis

This method involves analyzing the stories or narratives that participants share to gain insights into their experiences, attitudes, and beliefs. Narrative analysis can involve a variety of methods, such as structural analysis, thematic analysis, and discourse analysis. Narrative analysis is useful for understanding how individuals construct their identities, make sense of their experiences, and communicate their values and beliefs.

Phenomenological Analysis

This method involves analyzing how individuals make sense of their experiences and the meanings they attach to them. Phenomenological analysis typically involves in-depth interviews with participants to explore their experiences in detail. Phenomenological analysis is useful for understanding subjective experiences and for developing a rich understanding of human consciousness.

Comparative Analysis

This method involves comparing and contrasting data across different cases or groups to identify similarities and differences. Comparative analysis can be used to identify patterns or themes that are common across multiple cases, as well as to identify unique or distinctive features of individual cases. Comparative analysis is useful for understanding how social phenomena vary across different contexts and groups.

Applications of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research has many applications across different fields and industries. Here are some examples of how qualitative research is used:

• Market Research: Qualitative research is often used in market research to understand consumer attitudes, behaviors, and preferences. Researchers conduct focus groups and one-on-one interviews with consumers to gather insights into their experiences and perceptions of products and services.
• Health Care: Qualitative research is used in health care to explore patient experiences and perspectives on health and illness. Researchers conduct in-depth interviews with patients and their families to gather information on their experiences with different health care providers and treatments.
• Education: Qualitative research is used in education to understand student experiences and to develop effective teaching strategies. Researchers conduct classroom observations and interviews with students and teachers to gather insights into classroom dynamics and instructional practices.
• Social Work : Qualitative research is used in social work to explore social problems and to develop interventions to address them. Researchers conduct in-depth interviews with individuals and families to understand their experiences with poverty, discrimination, and other social problems.
• Anthropology : Qualitative research is used in anthropology to understand different cultures and societies. Researchers conduct ethnographic studies and observe and interview members of different cultural groups to gain insights into their beliefs, practices, and social structures.
• Psychology : Qualitative research is used in psychology to understand human behavior and mental processes. Researchers conduct in-depth interviews with individuals to explore their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
• Public Policy : Qualitative research is used in public policy to explore public attitudes and to inform policy decisions. Researchers conduct focus groups and one-on-one interviews with members of the public to gather insights into their perspectives on different policy issues.

How to Conduct Qualitative Research

Here are some general steps for conducting qualitative research:

• Identify your research question: Qualitative research starts with a research question or set of questions that you want to explore. This question should be focused and specific, but also broad enough to allow for exploration and discovery.
• Select your research design: There are different types of qualitative research designs, including ethnography, case study, grounded theory, and phenomenology. You should select a design that aligns with your research question and that will allow you to gather the data you need to answer your research question.
• Recruit participants: Once you have your research question and design, you need to recruit participants. The number of participants you need will depend on your research design and the scope of your research. You can recruit participants through advertisements, social media, or through personal networks.
• Collect data: There are different methods for collecting qualitative data, including interviews, focus groups, observation, and document analysis. You should select the method or methods that align with your research design and that will allow you to gather the data you need to answer your research question.
• Analyze data: Once you have collected your data, you need to analyze it. This involves reviewing your data, identifying patterns and themes, and developing codes to organize your data. You can use different software programs to help you analyze your data, or you can do it manually.
• Interpret data: Once you have analyzed your data, you need to interpret it. This involves making sense of the patterns and themes you have identified, and developing insights and conclusions that answer your research question. You should be guided by your research question and use your data to support your conclusions.
• Communicate results: Once you have interpreted your data, you need to communicate your results. This can be done through academic papers, presentations, or reports. You should be clear and concise in your communication, and use examples and quotes from your data to support your findings.

Examples of Qualitative Research

Here are some real-time examples of qualitative research:

• Customer Feedback: A company may conduct qualitative research to understand the feedback and experiences of its customers. This may involve conducting focus groups or one-on-one interviews with customers to gather insights into their attitudes, behaviors, and preferences.
• Healthcare : A healthcare provider may conduct qualitative research to explore patient experiences and perspectives on health and illness. This may involve conducting in-depth interviews with patients and their families to gather information on their experiences with different health care providers and treatments.
• Education : An educational institution may conduct qualitative research to understand student experiences and to develop effective teaching strategies. This may involve conducting classroom observations and interviews with students and teachers to gather insights into classroom dynamics and instructional practices.
• Social Work: A social worker may conduct qualitative research to explore social problems and to develop interventions to address them. This may involve conducting in-depth interviews with individuals and families to understand their experiences with poverty, discrimination, and other social problems.
• Anthropology : An anthropologist may conduct qualitative research to understand different cultures and societies. This may involve conducting ethnographic studies and observing and interviewing members of different cultural groups to gain insights into their beliefs, practices, and social structures.
• Psychology : A psychologist may conduct qualitative research to understand human behavior and mental processes. This may involve conducting in-depth interviews with individuals to explore their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
• Public Policy: A government agency or non-profit organization may conduct qualitative research to explore public attitudes and to inform policy decisions. This may involve conducting focus groups and one-on-one interviews with members of the public to gather insights into their perspectives on different policy issues.

Purpose of Qualitative Research

The purpose of qualitative research is to explore and understand the subjective experiences, behaviors, and perspectives of individuals or groups in a particular context. Unlike quantitative research, which focuses on numerical data and statistical analysis, qualitative research aims to provide in-depth, descriptive information that can help researchers develop insights and theories about complex social phenomena.

Qualitative research can serve multiple purposes, including:

• Exploring new or emerging phenomena : Qualitative research can be useful for exploring new or emerging phenomena, such as new technologies or social trends. This type of research can help researchers develop a deeper understanding of these phenomena and identify potential areas for further study.
• Understanding complex social phenomena : Qualitative research can be useful for exploring complex social phenomena, such as cultural beliefs, social norms, or political processes. This type of research can help researchers develop a more nuanced understanding of these phenomena and identify factors that may influence them.
• Generating new theories or hypotheses: Qualitative research can be useful for generating new theories or hypotheses about social phenomena. By gathering rich, detailed data about individuals’ experiences and perspectives, researchers can develop insights that may challenge existing theories or lead to new lines of inquiry.
• Providing context for quantitative data: Qualitative research can be useful for providing context for quantitative data. By gathering qualitative data alongside quantitative data, researchers can develop a more complete understanding of complex social phenomena and identify potential explanations for quantitative findings.

When to use Qualitative Research

Here are some situations where qualitative research may be appropriate:

• Exploring a new area: If little is known about a particular topic, qualitative research can help to identify key issues, generate hypotheses, and develop new theories.
• Understanding complex phenomena: Qualitative research can be used to investigate complex social, cultural, or organizational phenomena that are difficult to measure quantitatively.
• Investigating subjective experiences: Qualitative research is particularly useful for investigating the subjective experiences of individuals or groups, such as their attitudes, beliefs, values, or emotions.
• Conducting formative research: Qualitative research can be used in the early stages of a research project to develop research questions, identify potential research participants, and refine research methods.
• Evaluating interventions or programs: Qualitative research can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions or programs by collecting data on participants’ experiences, attitudes, and behaviors.

Characteristics of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is characterized by several key features, including:

• Focus on subjective experience: Qualitative research is concerned with understanding the subjective experiences, beliefs, and perspectives of individuals or groups in a particular context. Researchers aim to explore the meanings that people attach to their experiences and to understand the social and cultural factors that shape these meanings.
• Use of open-ended questions: Qualitative research relies on open-ended questions that allow participants to provide detailed, in-depth responses. Researchers seek to elicit rich, descriptive data that can provide insights into participants’ experiences and perspectives.
• Sampling-based on purpose and diversity: Qualitative research often involves purposive sampling, in which participants are selected based on specific criteria related to the research question. Researchers may also seek to include participants with diverse experiences and perspectives to capture a range of viewpoints.
• Data collection through multiple methods: Qualitative research typically involves the use of multiple data collection methods, such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and observation. This allows researchers to gather rich, detailed data from multiple sources, which can provide a more complete picture of participants’ experiences and perspectives.
• Inductive data analysis: Qualitative research relies on inductive data analysis, in which researchers develop theories and insights based on the data rather than testing pre-existing hypotheses. Researchers use coding and thematic analysis to identify patterns and themes in the data and to develop theories and explanations based on these patterns.
• Emphasis on researcher reflexivity: Qualitative research recognizes the importance of the researcher’s role in shaping the research process and outcomes. Researchers are encouraged to reflect on their own biases and assumptions and to be transparent about their role in the research process.

Advantages of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research offers several advantages over other research methods, including:

• Depth and detail: Qualitative research allows researchers to gather rich, detailed data that provides a deeper understanding of complex social phenomena. Through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and observation, researchers can gather detailed information about participants’ experiences and perspectives that may be missed by other research methods.
• Flexibility : Qualitative research is a flexible approach that allows researchers to adapt their methods to the research question and context. Researchers can adjust their research methods in real-time to gather more information or explore unexpected findings.
• Contextual understanding: Qualitative research is well-suited to exploring the social and cultural context in which individuals or groups are situated. Researchers can gather information about cultural norms, social structures, and historical events that may influence participants’ experiences and perspectives.
• Participant perspective : Qualitative research prioritizes the perspective of participants, allowing researchers to explore subjective experiences and understand the meanings that participants attach to their experiences.
• Theory development: Qualitative research can contribute to the development of new theories and insights about complex social phenomena. By gathering rich, detailed data and using inductive data analysis, researchers can develop new theories and explanations that may challenge existing understandings.
• Validity : Qualitative research can offer high validity by using multiple data collection methods, purposive and diverse sampling, and researcher reflexivity. This can help ensure that findings are credible and trustworthy.

Limitations of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research also has some limitations, including:

• Subjectivity : Qualitative research relies on the subjective interpretation of researchers, which can introduce bias into the research process. The researcher’s perspective, beliefs, and experiences can influence the way data is collected, analyzed, and interpreted.
• Limited generalizability: Qualitative research typically involves small, purposive samples that may not be representative of larger populations. This limits the generalizability of findings to other contexts or populations.
• Time-consuming: Qualitative research can be a time-consuming process, requiring significant resources for data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
• Resource-intensive: Qualitative research may require more resources than other research methods, including specialized training for researchers, specialized software for data analysis, and transcription services.
• Limited reliability: Qualitative research may be less reliable than quantitative research, as it relies on the subjective interpretation of researchers. This can make it difficult to replicate findings or compare results across different studies.
• Ethics and confidentiality: Qualitative research involves collecting sensitive information from participants, which raises ethical concerns about confidentiality and informed consent. Researchers must take care to protect the privacy and confidentiality of participants and obtain informed consent.

Also see Research Methods

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In-Depth Interviews for Qualitative Analysis

This is part of our Practical Guide to Qualitative Content Analysis | Start a Free Trial of Delve | Take Our Free Online Qualitative Data Analysis Course

In-depth interviews in qualitative research often play a central role in the process of understanding human behaviors and experiences. These conversations are personal and thorough, geared towards uncovering an individual's experiences, perspectives, and emotions.

This article covers in-depth interviews in qualitative research, offers a step–by–step guide, and highlights tips and tools that can help organize the overall process.

Understanding In-Depth Interviews in Qualitative Research

In-depth interviews in research are open-ended talks with individual group members to discover new insights and grasp the group's social dynamics. Unlike casual chats with a friend or therapy sessions, these conversations aim to produce knowledge about a specific topic from the perspective of a particular group. 

Kvale & Brinkmann (2009) explain in-depth interviews as a distinct type of conversation – a “research conversation” about a general topic – governed by its own set of rules and guidelines. Zhang & Wildemuth (2009) emphasize their role in capturing people’s experiences “without imposing any a-priori categorization that may limit the field of inquiry.” [1,2]

Central to understanding personal experiences is grasping the language and beliefs of the people you are interviewing. Setting up a comfortable interview environment and building rapport are also inherent in making participants feel comfortable sharing genuine, insightful stories.

You don’t begin with set theories or questions in conducting these interviews. Rather, you allow the conversation's natural progression to bring new details to light. This flexible method helps you tune into the interviewee's narrative, discovering unforeseen themes and deeper perspectives.

Zhang & Wildemuth note that terms like unstructured, nonstandardized, and ethnographic interviews are often used interchangeably with in-depth interviews, all highlighting the same goal: understanding a topic through the interviewee’s perspective with an open-ended format.

Key Features of In-Depth Interviews

Rich, Detailed Data : They capture the nuances of personal experiences and attitudes.

Flexibility : Adapting to the respondent's narrative, in-depth interviews can uncover unexpected themes and insights.

Emotional Depth : Going beyond factual responses, they explore the emotional and psychological dimensions of the subject matter.

When to Use In-Depth Interviews

In-depth interviews are great for exploring how people seek and use information. They're especially useful for identifying patterns, developing models, or gaining insights into how individual experiences can reflect broader, collective trends.

In-depth interviews are used with various qualitative research methodologies, including:

Grounded Theory : In-depth interviews help in developing or refining theories based on real-world observations and experiences.

Ethnographic Research : In ethnographic studies, these interviews provide deep personal insights that complement observational data, offering a holistic view of the cultural or social context being studied.

Case Studies : They allow for a detailed examination of individual cases, enriching the analysis with personal narratives and experiences.

Framing the Process of In-Depth Interviews in Research

Let’s go back to the work of Kvale and Brinkmann, widely known for their influential work on conducting and analyzing in-depth interviews. From the role of the interviewer to conducting data analysis, we've distilled some of the key insights from their book on how to frame and approach the interview process:

The Interviewer’s Role : Think of yourself as a 'miner', extracting valuable information, and as a 'traveler', who journeys through the narratives of your interview participants.

The Purpose of Interviews : Your goal is to create meaning from the interviewees' stories, not just data collection. Interpretation is key to capturing the lived experience.

Ethical Standards : Prioritize ethical standards like informed consent and confidentiality. Respect for the interviewee's story underpins the integrity of your research.

Interviewing Skills : Develop the craft of interviewing with close listening, nuanced questioning, and rapport-building to foster a rich, open dialogue.

Data Analysis : Go through the iterative qualitative analysis process, applying coding by hand or with software like Delve to turn your interview data into clear insights.

As you think about your in-depth interviews, Kvale and Brinkmann provide a helpful heuristic for a structured process yet open to the complexities of human experience. 

Comparing In-Depth Interviews vs. Semi-Structured Interviews

Your interview approach can vary based on your conversation goals. Two options are in-depth interviews and semi-structured interviews . This section outlines some of the differences between these interview styles, which can help you choose the right method for your study.

In-depth interviews are useful when you need the full story. They are rich with personal context about complex issues or brand-new topics where you’re not just after what people think but why they think it. With their minimal structure and high adaptability, in-depth interviews are also great for delving into sensitive topics where the depth of personal insight is paramount.

In an ideal in-depth interview, you let the conversation flow naturally, asking spontaneous questions based on your interviewee’s story. While it’s flexible, having a loose ‘agenda’ helps guide the discussion and keep it on track. This isn't a strict script but a flexible outline of topics to touch upon and is adaptable based on the conversation. [3,4,5]

Semi-structured interviews , on the other hand, offer a blend of guidance and flexibility. These are ideal when you’ve got a clear objective and need solid, comparable insights across the board. You generally start with the same list of questions to ask each interviewee. They give you enough flexibility to dig deeper but keep things on track to meet your goals.

Regardless of the interview style you choose, each method is designed to help you unravel the complexities of human experiences through slightly different conversation styles.

In-Depth Interviews vs. Focus Groups

While both in-depth interviews and focus groups are qualitative research methods used to gather detailed insights, they serve different purposes and have distinct characteristics. This section quickly compares what to expect from in-depth interviews research in comparison to focus groups.

In-Depth Interviews:

Individual Sessions : Conducted one-on-one, allowing for a deep dive into the personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings of a participant.

Privacy : Offers a private setting that can encourage participants to open up more than they might in a group.

Flexibility : Highly flexible, with the interviewer able to adjust questions based on the participant's responses.

Depth of Data : Provides rich, detailed data from an individual's perspective, enabling a deep understanding of personal narratives.

Focus Groups:

Group Discussions : Involves a small group of participants discussing a topic, guided by a moderator.

Interaction : The group setting allows participants to interact, generating a broad range of views and stimulating discussions that might not arise in one-on-one interviews.

Dynamics : The social dynamics of a focus group can influence participants' responses, which can be both a source of rich data and a potential bias.

Efficiency : Can be more time and cost-efficient than conducting multiple in-depth interviews, as they gather perspectives from several participants simultaneously.

Key Differences:

Setting : In-depth interviews are more private and personal, while focus groups leverage the dynamics of group interaction.

Data Type : In-depth interviews often yield deep, nuanced insights into individual experiences, whereas focus groups offer a broader view of collective perceptions and social dynamics.

Influence on Responses : The presence of others in focus groups can affect participants' willingness to share, which is less of a concern in the one-on-one setting of in-depth interviews.

Both methods have their place in qualitative research, and the choice between them depends on the research goals, the nature of the topic, and the type of data needed.

Advantages and Disadvantages of In-Depth Interviews

In-depth interviews offer unique insights into participants' experiences, thoughts, and feelings. However, like any research method, they come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of In-Depth Interviews:

Rich, Detailed Data : In-depth interviews provide a depth of understanding that surveys or questionnaires can't match. They allow participants to share their stories in their own words, offering nuanced insights into their experiences.

Flexibility : The open-ended nature of these interviews lets you explore topics as they arise during the conversation, leading to unexpected discoveries.

Personal Connection : You can gain trust by building rapport with participants and encouraging more open and honest responses. This connection often leads to more meaningful data.

Contextual Understanding : These interviews provide context for participants' behaviors and attitudes, helping you understand the 'why' behind their responses.

Disadvantages of In-Depth Interviews:

Time-Consuming : Conducting and transcribing in-depth interviews can be very time-intensive. The detailed analysis required to interpret the data also adds to the overall time commitment.

Cost : Given the time and resources needed for in-depth interviews, they can be more costly than other data collection methods.

Limited Generalizability : Because in-depth interviews usually involve a smaller sample size, it's challenging to generalize findings to a larger population.

Participant’s Reluctance : Some participants may be hesitant to share personal information or be unable to articulate their feelings clearly, affecting the quality of data collected.

Balancing these advantages and disadvantages is crucial for effectively using in-depth interviews in research.

An In-Depth Interview Guide

Let's create a cohesive guide with a pre-interview phase that leads into the linear steps of the interview and reporting process itself. Think of it as an in-depth interview protocol that synthesizes the more administrative focus of Zhang & Wildemuth’s suggestions with the practical steps laid out by Kvale & Brinkmann. 

Pre-Interview Phase

Before diving into the interviews, you need to lay the groundwork. Zhang & Wildemuth offer a few suggestions for how to approach the preparation process:

Accessing the Setting : Your first task is to navigate into the research setting. Are interviewees coming to you or vice versa? This might involve overcoming barriers, whether they're political, legal, or cultural. It's about getting your foot in the door and being accepted into the space where your research will unfold.

Understanding Language and Culture : Spend time understanding your interviewees' language and cultural context. It's not just about the words they use but aiming to interpret the meanings and experiences behind them accurately.

Deciding on Presentation : How you present yourself in this setting is crucial. You're there to learn, to absorb, and to understand. This requires a balance between being a professional researcher who stands apart and a receptive listener who blends in.

Choosing Interviewees : Choose your interviewees wisely. They should not only be willing to share their stories but also be insightful about the nuances of the setting.

Building Trust and Rapport : Before any real interviewing begins, focus on building a relationship of trust with your informants. From understanding language to how you dress, this rapport is what will open doors to deeper, more honest conversations

Ethical Considerations : Adhere to international and national ethical research standards. Obtain approval from ethical research committees if required, ensuring all research is conducted responsibly.

These aren’t linear suggestions. Try to keep them in mind as you sit down with participants. Once you've laid this foundation, you're ready to begin the formal interview process.

Interview, Analysis & Reporting

Kvale and Brinkmann outline a seven-stage process for conducting in-depth interviews, which includes thematizing, designing, interviewing, transcribing, analyzing, verifying, and reporting.

Here's an overview of their approach to in-depth interviews, as discussed in their work:

1. Thematizing : Start with a broad idea of what your study is about. The preparation phase above is a good primer to get you thinking about thematic elements to investigate further. This isn't set in stone – think of it more as setting the direction. Your aim here is to sketch out the purpose and goals, but be open to refining them as you delve deeper. 

2. Designing : Now, plan how your interviews will unfold. Decide how many people you'll talk to and who they should be. You need a general idea of where you're headed, but can expect that the path might change as you go. Having a rough agenda can help to make sure your interviews really get to the core of your research question.

3. Interviewing : Before you begin with each interviewee, explain the study's purpose, why they were chosen, and the expected duration of the interview.

Then, start your interviews with your rough agenda in hand, but stay flexible and open to wherever the conversation goes; often, the most valuable insights come from spontaneous conversation. Record everything (with permission) and watch for non-verbal cues—they're revealing.

Opt for audio recording over note-taking to maintain the conversation’s flow. If note-taking is necessary (e.g., capturing non-verbal cues), do it discreetly and follow up with detailed notes after the interview is finished. 

4. Transcribing : After the interview, get all your insights down on paper (or screen). Do this quickly while it's all fresh in your mind. If the interview was recorded, it needs to be transcribed . Accuracy is key here – you want to capture the exact words and the tone behind them. This transcript is like your raw data, so handle it with care.

5. Analyzing : Now, it’s time to make sense of the data. Go through your transcripts line by line, looking for patterns or themes that stand out. This is where you start making sense of all that raw data, piecing together the story it tells. It can help to return to step 1 to compare your initial thematization ideas with where you are now. 

Use coding to organize the data and interpret the meanings behind responses. You can do this manually by hand or streamline the process with qualitative data analysis tools like Delve .

6. Verifying : Double-check your findings. Are they consistent? Do they hold up against existing research? This is about making sure your conclusions are solid and reliable. Sharing your findings with a peer-debriefer (with experience in conducting research similar to yours) can provide additional feedback, perspectives or potential corrections. 

7. Reporting : Finally, share what you’ve found. Put together a report that’s right for your audience and send a copy to your interviewees. Remember to sprinkle in some direct quotes from your interviews – they add flavor and authenticity to your findings.

From before interviews ever begin to final reporting, you now have a full toolkit for navigating in-depth interviews from start to finish.

Tips & Skills: Crafting In-Depth Interview Questions

Creating effective in-depth interview questions unlocks the rich, detailed insights that this qualitative research method is known for. You aim for questions designed to encourage participants to share personal narratives about their experiences, perspectives, and emotions.

Key Considerations:

Open-Ended : Questions should be open-ended to allow participants the freedom to express themselves fully without being restricted to yes/no answers.

Exploratory : Aim to explore the 'how' and 'why' behind participants' thoughts and behaviors to understand their experiences better.

Non-Leading : Ensure questions are neutral and non-leading, avoiding any assumptions that could influence the participant's responses.

Adaptable : While having a set of core questions is important, be prepared to adapt and follow up based on the conversation's flow to explore unexpected areas.

In-Depth Interview Sample Questions:

"Can you describe a recent experience that stood out to you regarding [topic]?"

"How did that experience make you feel, and why?"

"What challenges have you faced in [context], and how did you address them?"

"Can you walk me through the decision-making process you went through for [specific decision]?"

These questions are just a starting point. The art of in-depth interviewing lies in how you use these questions to facilitate a conversation that reveals the complexities of human experience, making each interview a unique journey into your participant's world.

In-Depth Interview Template

Use the tips and skills in this template to ensure each in-depth interview is as revealing, efficient, and insightful as possible.

The Role of Delve Software in Enhancing In-Depth Interviews

Delve software facilitates the in-depth interview process by:

Streamlining Data Management : Organizes and stores transcripts for easy access.

Enhancing Analysis : Offers tools for coding and identifying patterns quickly.

Focusing on Insights : Frees up time to concentrate on extracting meaningful insights.

With Delve, handling qualitative data becomes more efficient, letting researchers dive deeper into their analysis and uncover impactful findings.

Wrapping Up

In-depth interviews are a cornerstone of qualitative research, especially in approaches like grounded theory and ethnography where understanding the nuances of personal experiences and cultural contexts is key to developing rich, grounded theories.

By using QDA coding tools like Delve , handling the wealth of data from these interviews is much easier, allowing you to focus on what really matters—the in-depth insights.

References:

Zhang, Y., & Wildemuth, B. M. (2009). Unstructured Interviews : Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library Science. Exeter: Libraries Unlimited.

Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2018). Doing interviews . SAGE Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529716665

Minichiello, V., Aroni, R., Timewell, E., & Alexander, L. (1990). In-Depth Interviewing: Researching People. Hong Kong: Longman Cheshire

Briggs, C. (2000). Interview. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9(1-2), 137-140.

McCann T, Clark E. Using unstructured interviews with participants who have schizophrenia. Nurse Res . 2005;13(1):7-18. doi: 10.7748/nr2005.07.13.1.7.c5996 .

Cite This Article

Delve, Ho, L., & Limpaecher, A. (2024c, Feb 5). In-Depth Interviews for Qualitative Analysis https://delvetool.com/blog/in-depth-interviews

Introduction to Research Methods

6 qualitative research and interviews.

So we’ve described doing a survey and collecting quantitative data. But not all questions can best be answered by a survey. A survey is great for understanding what people think (for example), but not why they think what they do. If your research is intending to understand the underlying motivations or reasons behind peoples actions, or to build a deeper understanding on the background of a subject, an interview may be the more appropriate data collection method.

Interviews are a method of data collection that consist of two or more people exchanging information through a structured process of questions and answers. Questions are designed by the researcher to thoughtfully collect in-depth information on a topic or set of topics as related to the central research question. Interviews typically occur in-person, although good interviews can also be conducted remotely via the phone or video conferencing. Unlike surveys, interviews give the opportunity to ask follow-up questions and thoughtfully engage with participants on the spot (rather than the anonymous and impartial format of survey research).

And surveys can be used in qualitative or quantitative research – though they’re more typically a qualitative technique. In-depth interviews , containing open-ended questions and structured by an interview guide . One can also do a standardized interview with closed-ended questions (i.e. answer options) that are structured by an interview schedule as part of quantitative research. While these are called interviews they’re far closer to surveys, so we wont cover them again in this chapter. The terms used for in-depth interviews we’ll cover in the next section.

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 to hear as much as possible in the person’s own voice, to collect new information and ideas, and to achieve a level of depth not possible in surveys or most other forms of data collection.

Typically, an interview guide is used to create a soft structure for the conversation and is an important preparation tool for the researcher. You can not go into an interview unprepared and just “wing it”; what the interview guide allows you to do is map out a framework, order of topics, and may include specific questions to use during the interview. Generally, the interview guide is thought of as just that — a guide to use in order to keep the interview focused. It is not set in stone and a skilled researcher can change the order of questions or topics in an interviews based on the organic conversation flow.

Depending on the experience and skill level of the researcher, an interview guide can be as simple as a list of topics to cover. However, for consistency and quality of research, the interviewer may want to take the time to at least practice writing out questions in advance to ensure that phrasing and word choices are as clear, objective, and focused as possible. It’s worth remembering that working out the wording of questions in advance allows researchers to ensure more consistency across interview. The interview guide below, taken from the wonderful and free textbook Principles of Sociological Inquiry , shows an interview guide that just has topics.

Alternatively, you can use a more detailed guide that lists out possible questions, as shown below. A more detailed guide is probably better for an interviewer that has less experience, or is just beginning to work on a given topic.

The purpose of an interview guide is to help ask effective questions and to support the process of acquiring the best possible data for your research. Topics and questions should be organized thematically, and in a natural progression that will allow the conversation to flow and deepen throughout the course of the interview. Often, researchers will attempt to memorize or partially memorize the interview guide, in order to be more fully present with the participant during the conversation.

6.2 Asking good Questions

Remember, the purposes of interviews is to go more in-depth with an individual than is possible with a generalized survey. For this reason, it is important to use the guide as a starting point but not to be overly tethered to it during the actual interview process. You may get stuck when respondents give you shorter answers than you expect, or don’t provide the type of depth that you need for your research. Often, you may want to probe for more specifics. Think about using follow up questions like “How does/did that affect you?” or “How does X make you feel?” and “Tell me about a time where X…”

For example, if I was researching the relationship between pets and mental health, some strong open-ended questions might be: * How does your pet typically make you feel when you wake up in the morning? * How does your pet generally affect your mood when you arrive home in the evening? * Tell me about a time when your pet had a significant impact on your emotional state.

Questions framed in this manner leave plenty of room for the respondent to answer in their own words, as opposed to leading and/or truncated questions, such as: * Does being with your pet make you happy? * After a bad day, how much does seeing your pet improve your mood? * Tell me about how important your pet is to your mental health.

These questions assume outcomes and will not result in high quality research. Researchers should always avoid asking leading questions that give away an expected answer or suggest particular responses. For instance, if I ask “we need to spend more on public schools, don’t you think?” the respondent is more likely to agree regardless of their own thoughts. Some wont, but humans generally have a strong natural desire to be agreeable. That’s why leaving your questions neutral and open so that respondents can speak to their experiences and views is critical.

6.3 Analyzing Interview Data

Writing good questions and interviewing respondents are just the first steps of the interview process. After these stages, the researcher still has a lot of work to do to collect usable data from the interview. The researcher must spend time coding and analyzing the interview to retrieve this data. Just doing an interview wont produce data. Think about how many conversations you have everyday, and none of those are leaving you swimming in data.

Hopefully you can record your interviews. Recording your interviews will allow you the opportunity to transcribe them word for word later. If you can’t record the interview you’ll need to take detailed notes so that you can reconstruct what you heard later. Do not trust yourself to “just remember” the conversation. You’re collecting data, precious data that you’re spending time and energy to collect. Treat it as important and valuable. Remember our description of the methodology section from Chapter 2, you need to maintain a chain of custody on your data. If you just remembered the interview, you could be accused of making up the results. Your interview notes and the recording become part of that chain of custody to prove to others that your interviews were real and that your results are accurate.

Assuming you recorded your interview, the first step in the analysis process is transcribing the interview. A transcription is a written record of every word in an interview. Transcriptions can either be completed by the researcher or by a hired worker, though it is good practice for the researcher to transcribe the interview him or herself. Researchers should keep the following points in mind regarding transcriptions: * The interview should take place in a quiet location with minimal background noise to produce a clear recording; * Transcribing interviews is a time-consuming process and may take two to three times longer than the actual interview; * Transcriptions provide a more precise record of the interview than hand written notes and allow the interviewer to focus during the interview.

After transcribing the interview, the next step is to analyze the responses. Coding is the main form of analysis used for interviews and involves studying a transcription to identify important themes. These themes are categorized into codes, which are words or phrases that denote an idea.

You’ll typically being with several codes in mind that are generated by key ideas you week seeking in the questions, but you can also being by using open coding to understand the results. An open coding process involves reading through the transcript multiple times and paying close attention to each line of the text to discover noteworthy concepts. During the open coding process, the researcher keeps an open mind to find any codes that may be relevant to the research topic.

After the open coding process is complete, focused coding can begin. Focused coding takes a closer look at the notes compiled during the open coding stage to merge common codes and define what the codes mean in the context of the research project.

Imagine a researcher is conducting interviews to learn about various people’s experiences of childhood in New Orleans. The following example shows several codes that this researcher extrapolated from an interview with one of their subjects.

6.4 Using interview data

The next chapter will address ways to identify people to interview, but most of the remainder of the book will address how to analyze quantitative data. That shouldn’t be taken as a sign that quantitative data is better, or that it’s easier to use interview data. Because in an interview the researcher must interpret the words of others it is often more challenging to identify your findings and clearly answer your research question. However, quantitative data is more common, and there are more different things you can do with it, so we spend a lot of the textbook focusing on it.

I’ll work through one more example of using interview data though. It takes a lot of practice to be a good and skilled interviewer. What I show below is a brief excerpt of an interview I did, and how that data was used in a resulting paper I wrote. These aren’t the only way you can use interview data, but it’s an example of what the intermediary and final product might look like.

The overall project these are drawn from was concerned with minor league baseball stadiums, but the specific part I’m pulling from here was studying the decline and rejuvenation of downtown around those stadiums in several cities. You’ll see that I’m using the words of the respondent fairly directly, because that’s my data. But I’m not just relying on one respondent and trusting them, I did a few dozen interviews in order to understand the commonalities in people’s perspectives to build a narrative around my research question.

Excerpt from Notes

Excerpt from Resulting Paper

How many interviews are necessary? It actually doesn’t take many. What you want to observe in your interviews is theoretical saturation , where the codes you use in the transcript begin to appear across conversations and groups. If different people disagree that’s fine, but what you want to understand is the commonalities across peoples perspectives. Most research on the subject says that with 8 interviews you’ll typically start to see a decline in new information gathered. That doesn’t mean you won’t get new words , but you’ll stop hearing completely unique perspectives or gain novel insights. At that point, where you’ve ‘heard it all before’ you can stop, because you’ve probably identified the answer to the questions you were trying to research.

6.5 Ensuring Anonymity

One significant ethical concern with interviews, that also applies to surveys, is making sure that respondents maintain anonymity. In either form of data collection you may be asking respondents deeply personal questions, that if exposed may cause legal, personal, or professional harm. Notice that in the excerpt of the paper above the respondents are only identified by an id I assigned (Louisville D) and their career, rather than their name. I can only include the excerpt of the interview notes above because there are no details that might lead to them being identified.

You may want to report details about a person to contextualize the data you gathered, but you should always ensure that no one can be identified from your research. For instance, if you were doing research on racism at large companies, you may want to preface people’s comments by their race, as there is a good chance that white and minority employees would feel differently about the issues. However, if you preface someones comments by saying they’re a minority manager, that may violate their anonymity. Even if you don’t state what company you did interviews with, that may be enough detail for their co-workers to identify them if there are few minority managers at the company. As such, always think long and hard about whether there is any way that the participation of respondents may be exposed.

6.6 Why not both?

We’ve discussed surveys and interviews as different methods the last two chapters, but they can also complement each other.

For instance, let’s say you’re curious to study people who change opinions on abortion, either going from support to opposition or vice versa. You could use a survey to understand the prevalence of changing opinions, i.e. what percentage of people in your city have changed their views. That would help to establish whether this is a prominent issue, or whether it’s a rare phenomenon. But it would be difficult to understand from the survey what makes people change their views. You could add an open ended question for anyone that said they changed their opinion, but many people won’t respond and few will provide the level of detail necessary to understand their motivations. Interviews with people that have changed their opinions would give you an opportunity to explore how their experiences and beliefs have changed in combination with their views towards abortion.

6.7 Summary

In the last two chapters we’ve discussed the two most prominent methods of data collection in the social sciences: surveys and interviews. What we haven’t discussed though is how to identify the people you’ll collect data from; that’s called a sampling strategy. In the next chapter

Research Writing and Analysis

• NVivo Group and Study Sessions
• SPSS This link opens in a new window
• Statistical Analysis Group sessions
• Using Qualtrics
• Dissertation and Data Analysis Group Sessions
• Defense Schedule - Commons Calendar This link opens in a new window
• Research Process Flow Chart
• Research Alignment This link opens in a new window
• Step 1: Seek Out Evidence
• Step 2: Explain
• Step 3: The Big Picture
• Step 4: Own It
• Step 5: Illustrate
• Annotated Bibliography
• Literature Review This link opens in a new window
• Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
• How to Synthesize and Analyze
• Synthesis and Analysis Practice
• Synthesis and Analysis Group Sessions
• Problem Statement
• Purpose Statement
• Quantitative Research Questions
• Qualitative Research Questions
• Trustworthiness of Qualitative Data
• Analysis and Coding Example- Qualitative Data
• Thematic Data Analysis in Qualitative Design
• Dissertation to Journal Article This link opens in a new window
• International Journal of Online Graduate Education (IJOGE) This link opens in a new window
• Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning (JRIT&L) This link opens in a new window

Writing a Case Study

What is a case study?

A Case study is: 

• An in-depth research design that primarily uses a qualitative methodology but sometimes​​ includes quantitative methodology.
• Used to examine an identifiable problem confirmed through research.
• Used to investigate an individual, group of people, organization, or event.
• Used to mostly answer "how" and "why" questions.

What are the different types of case studies?

Note: These are the primary case studies. As you continue to research and learn

about case studies you will begin to find a robust list of different types. 

Who are your case study participants?

What is triangulation ? 

Validity and credibility are an essential part of the case study. Therefore, the researcher should include triangulation to ensure trustworthiness while accurately reflecting what the researcher seeks to investigate.

How to write a Case Study?

When developing a case study, there are different ways you could present the information, but remember to include the five parts for your case study.

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Read our research on: Gun Policy | International Conflict | Election 2024

Regions & Countries

Part 1: in-depth analysis: research method and strategy.

To understand the nature of Twitter conversations, the Pew Research Center Internet Project joined with researchers at the Social Media Research Foundation , a group of scholars whose mission is to support the creation and application of open tools, open data, and open scholarship related to social media. The discovery of these six archetypical network structures emerged over several years as we examined thousands of Twitter networks on hundreds of topics. Some structures such as Polarized Crowds have been noted by other researchers and were anticipated in our exploration, but the other structures emerged by studying many maps. This kind of exploratory data analysis depends on effective visualization techniques. In our case, the key design advance was the Group-in-a-Box layout technique, which presents the results of clustering algorithms so as to clearly show the size of each cluster, connection density within each cluster, and the connection frequency between clusters.

As all exploratory data analysts do, we generated insights which we invite others to replicate with other tools, such as different visual layout techniques or statistical criteria. Our work is in the spirit of observational research that forms categories, like 17 th century botanists describing the variety of flowers on a newly discovered island or astronomers whose new telescopes that allow them to see different categories of galaxies. Our naming reflects conjectures about why different structures emerge. These categories and explanations are open to challenge by others who may have differing perspectives and more powerful tools.

Our tool was a software tool called NodeXL , a plug-in extension to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that enables n etwork o verview, d iscovery, and e xploration. NodeXL allows users to import network data and perform analysis and visualization of networks. NodeXL permits anyone to connect to social media services (including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Wikis, email, blogs and websites) and retrieve public data about the connections among users, pages, and documents. In the specific case of Twitter, the tool captures information about the content of each message (the “tweet”), which may contain usernames, hyperlinks and hashtags, along with information about each author’s connections to other Twitter users. In Twitter, these connections include relationships among users who follow one another, who mention one another, and reply to one another.

We performed Twitter keyword searches which returned a set of tweets that were then used as datasets for analysis. Network connections were extracted from the content of each tweet returned in Twitter Search results. A link was created for every reply or mention we observed. In addition, NodeXL captures information about the Twitter user’s connections to other Twitter members. 2  Data are also retrieved from each user’s public Twitter profile, which includes the number of tweets the user has posted, the number of other users that the user follows, and the number of other people who follow that user, among other things. Author statistics are combined with information about the connections among the people who shared the use of the same word, phrase, or term. For example, if Alice and Betty both posted a message in our dataset that includes the term “politics” and Alice follows Betty on Twitter, our data captured this relationship.

Only publicly available messages were analyzed in this study. No direct messages or other private content were collected or analyzed. Any message defined by its author as private (from, for example, “protected accounts”) was excluded from analysis.

There are clear limits to any dataset captured by NodeXL. The tweets we collect are snapshots of finite periods of conversation around a topic or phrase. The data here do not represent the sentiments of the full population of Twitter users or the larger period of discussion beyond the data collection window. Further, Twitter users are not representative of the full range of the population of the United States or even the population of the Internet or even of social media users generally. 3  Thus, we are not arguing that this analysis represents all that happens on Twitter or that it is a proxy for national sentiment on these topics. However, we believe these data sets contain useful snapshots of the structure of social media networks around topics that matter.

Taking “aerial photographs” of Twitter crowds

Our method is similar to taking aerial photographs or short videos of crowds in public spaces, particularly pictures of rallies, protests, political events, and other socially and culturally interesting phenomena. No one snapshot or video clip of a crowd completely captures the event, but taken together crowd images provide some insights into an event or gathering. Our method produces crowd photos from social media spaces; a domain that has not been widely pictured before. Like aerial crowd photographs, social media network maps show the size and structure of the crowd along with the key actors in that crowd.

These social media network maps can reveal information at the level of both individuals and groups. Social media networks often have just a few people who stand out in terms of the unique ways they connect to others. Some networks are composed of just a single group, while others are divided into sub-groups. Each group can be more or less connected to other groups. These structures tell a story about the kinds of interactions that take place in Twitter.

Networks, group density, and diversity of connections

Twitter social media network maps show how interconnected people become when they engage in conversations. People often “clump” into groups. Each network and its sub-groups can be measured in terms of the density of its internal connections. A group of people with many connections among its members is more “dense” than a group that has few connections among the same number of participants. Density is measured as the ratio of the number of relationships among a population over the total number of possible relationships. The density can vary between zero (i.e.: no connections among nodes) and 1 (i.e.: all nodes in a network are connected to all other nodes). As groups grow in size it is harder to interact with all other participants, so as a rule, the larger the numbers of people in a social network the lower the density of their connections. As a result, no one value is a specific threshold for separating high or low density groups. Generally, though, networks are considered to be loosely-knit, low density networks when only a few of the participants are connected to one another.

Some people within a sub-group connect to people outside their group. The amount of internal and external connection in a sub-group is an important indicator of how much people in that group are exposed to people with differing points of view in different groups. If there are few ties between groups, people may not be exposed to content from users in other groups. If there are many ties between groups there is likely to be a larger amount of information flowing between them.

More on network hubs and bridges

Social network maps created from collections of Twitter relationships often highlight a few individual users who occupy key positions in the network. We refer to the relatively rare highly connected users as “hubs.” Many other users follow these hub users; far more follow the majority of other people in the network. Hubs are important because they have large audiences. Some people who have fewer connections can be equally important if their links are rare, connecting across the network to otherwise disconnected groups, acting as “bridges.” While big hubs can also occupy the important position of “bridge,” a user with just a few relatively unique connections may also be an important bridge. 

• Twitter has subsequently reduced the accessibility of the Followers network data, see: http://www.connectedaction.net/2013/06/11/over-the-edge-twitter-api-1-1-makes-follows-edges-hard-to-get/ ↩
• Pew Internet Report on Twitter Demographics: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Series/Twitter.aspx ↩

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The political environment on social media, mapping twitter topic networks: from polarized crowds to community clusters, how libraries can survive in the new media ecosystem, trends: the social life of health information, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Chapter 6 Step 3: Conduct In-Depth Research

Figure 6.1 The Six-Step Job Search Process: Step 3

What Do We Mean by Conduct In-Depth Research?

At this point in your search, you have done the following two steps:

• Identified your targets and have a list of organizations to approach (step 1)
• Created your marketing campaign, for example, résumé, cover letter, online profile, and networking pitch, to position yourself to these prospective employers (step 2)

This chapter covers what you are looking for when you research.

You might be tempted to take your marketing campaign public—broadly distributing your résumé, posting it on job boards, and sharing it with everyone you know. You definitely need to put yourself out there via networking and interviewing in order to get a job. However, networking and interviewing is step 4. Before you go out on the market in front of people as a legitimate job contender, you need to complete step 3, conduct in-depth research.

Every time you put yourself in front of someone, it is a potential job interview situation. You don’t know whom people know or if they may know of a job opening. So you want to make the best impression whenever you speak to anyone. If you use face-to-face interaction for your research, you risk coming across as a novice to someone who can really help you. On the other hand, if you take time to do some secondary research Research from printed or published sources. This is different from primary research where you are actually speaking with people firsthand or collecting the data yourself. beforehand, you demonstrate knowledge of the job, organization, or industry, and you can use the personal interaction to research above and beyond what you can find in published material. Therefore, research must precede networking of any kind.

Research is often undervalued in the job search. Recruiters often complain that candidates come into interviews with little knowledge of the position, organization, and industry for which they are interviewing. Are you guilty of too little research?

• Have you gone to job interviews where you know little about the job, organization, or industry beforehand?
• Do you think reviewing the job description or visiting the organization’s website is enough research?
• Do you use the interview itself as a main source for your information?
• Why might more research be beneficial?

According to Holly White, HR manager for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “I am impressed by a candidate that intimately knows the organization, the current focus/strategy and is able to engage the interview panel in a thoughtful discussion about issues and opportunities.” Author interviewed Holly White directly for a post she did on her website: http://www.sixfigurestart.com/recruiter-interview/recruiter-interview-holly-white-unicef

Table 6.1 Things to Know about Your Target Job, Organization, and Industry

This chapter includes how to conduct in-depth research. Yes, it includes reviewing the job description and organization website. Yes, interviews are a source of information. But as you can see from Table 6.1 "Things to Know about Your Target Job, Organization, and Industry" , you need more information than is likely to be found in just the posting and the website. There are many other additional resources to consult:

• Internet: job boards, online career information providers, Google Alerts
• Library: Encyclopedia of Associations , business trade publications, research databases
• Financial statements: Hoovers, Guidestar, Dun & Bradstreet
• Social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, niche communities

This chapter details why in-depth research is critical to your job search:

• In-depth research differentiates you from the many job seekers who do not research thoroughly and who therefore know less.
• In-depth research is tangible proof that you have taken the time and made it a priority to get to know your target employer.
• In-depth research enables you to prepare talking points Items you want to make sure you talk about, or mention. and specific examples that match the requirements of the job and organization.
• In-depth research enables you to find and start a relationship with the people who will make the hiring decisions.

Finally, this chapter talks about informational interviews A meeting set up with the purpose of gathering information or exploring a topic. . Informational interviews are meetings where you are the interviewer, and the person with whom you are meeting has information that you want—for example, about a specific job, organization, or industry. Informational interviews are a type of networking, but since the primary aim is to uncover information, we are including informational interviewing in the research chapter.

Informational interviews are a bridge between steps 3 and 4 because they enable you to test your research from step 3 before you more broadly go out into the market as a job seeker in Step 4, Networking and Interviewing. Many job seekers treat informational interviews like an interrogation, with a long list of questions to extract information from the interviewee. In this chapter, we take a more sophisticated approach to informational interviews. These interviews occur after some research is already completed, so the interview is not simply a series of questions to gain more information but rather a way to verify, refine, and test the information already researched. It is a two-way conversation, and you will be giving as well as receiving information.

A comprehensive guide to in-depth interviews (IDIs)

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You might have user data. But do you fully understand why they do the things that they do? Do you know who they are as people? If the answer is no, you're not alone.

A 2019 study found that more than half of researchers would like to use more in-person interviews as a UX research method. The good news? Most people are actually willing to give you their undivided attention to actively improve your app, site, or service user experience. As a UX researcher, you’re sitting on a potential goldmine of information and insights from your customer base. 

To pull that insightful data from participants, you’ll need to conduct in-depth interviews (IDIs). These interviews require more planning and resources than other data collection methods. You’re also asking for more of your user’s time. 

For those reasons, it's essential to ensure you go into the process with a clear idea of what data you hope to get out of one. 

In this article, we'll explain:

• The definition of an in-depth interview
• The benefits of conducting in-depth interviews
• The challenges of in-depth interviews
• What an in-depth interview looks like
• How to conduct an in-depth interview
• Five in-depth interview best practices

What is an in-depth interview? 

An in-depth interview is a qualitative research technique that involves conducting multiple individual interviews. They involve one-on-one engagement with participants, usually taking place face-to-face, either remotely or in-person. 

Unlike other research methods, in-depth interviews have a more flexible structure than moderated usability studies.

IDIs are used to get a more detailed and well-rounded perspective of users’ opinions, experiences, and feelings about a product's UX. 

Instead of more general qualitative or quantitative questionnaires that are sent out to a larger group of customers, IDI questions can be tailored to the interviewee and their individual usage. 

In these more intensive interviews, organizations usually ask a smaller number of customers to take part. This means that responses to different ideas, features, services, or future plans are more deeply investigated. 

You could consider using in-depth interviews for the following reasons: 

• To get feedback on a new product or service your business has launched 
• As a way of understanding the needs and expectations of your customers during persona gathering sessions
• For coming up with new ideas on how customers would make improvements to an existing product or service 
• Following a usability study to better understand how users intend to use your platform
• To get insight into how a customer thinks about design elements on certain pages

As you can see, they’re most effective when used in combination with other research methods like online surveys and usability testing .

Why are in-depth interviews important? 

There’s a large gap between consumers’ experience of brands and marketers’ confidence in their own branding. While most marketers are confident they can meet the level of experience their target market expects, just under half of consumers say brands fail to meet their expectations.

Most users will switch to a competitor if they have just one bad experience with a brand they typically like.

What does that mean? To put it simply: creating a positive user experience is key for encouraging people to interact with your app, service, or site. 

In-depth interviews are one way of bridging this gap between consumer experience and business confidence. You can get insight into a users’ thoughts and feelings—and use that qualitative data to improve design, product launches, and key messaging.

What are the benefits of performing in-depth interviews? 

IDIs should show you how users feel about specific elements of your UX. They can also help you gain confidence in making future decisions. 

Here are a few of the top benefits of using IDIs in your UX process. 

Smaller sample size

Given the higher quality relevant insights, researchers require fewer participants to take part in in-depth interviews. 

Lower drop-off rates mean that interviewers can conduct fewer IDIs and still collect rich data. For instance, online questionnaires have a higher drop-off rate, so they require a larger sampling. But with IDIs, you can get a lot of data from each individual participant. 

Get honest feedback

One-on-one in-depth interviews are free from possible peer-pressure dynamics or distractions that are sometimes present in larger focus groups. By taking an hour to chat with a participant directly, the two-way conversation leaves zero space for other users’ influence.

Some people may also feel more comfortable providing honest feedback in conversation instead of through a written questionnaire. 

Gain a deeper understanding of user behavior

Face-to-face in-depth interviews, whether remote or in-person, allow researchers to interpret body language. Interviewers can also analyze changes in tone of voice and word choice. 

These nuances help interviewers build a complete picture of user behavior that isn’t possible through other online or offline feedback channels. 

Build a stronger understanding of user expectations and motivations 

It’s easier to ask follow-up questions, request more detailed information, and explore particular topics in more depth with an IDI. They’re suited to asking open-ended questions that encourage longer and more detailed responses from the participant. 

As a researcher, you should take advantage of having participants’ undivided attention. Take the time to explore their opinions more deeply, beyond the surface level, for the most useful qualitative data.

What are the challenges? 

IDIs can give you valuable insight into users’ expectations and actual uses of your site. But, there are some challenges.

They’re time-consuming

Every interview you conduct will need to be transcribed, analyzed, organized, and properly stored. Multiple team members may need to be involved in the process.

While often more informative, IDIs require more time and preparation than other research methods—including simple written surveys.

Interviewers or moderators require thorough training and briefing 

You need skilled interviewers to ask the right research questions and properly engage with participants to obtain valuable insights. 

Successful IDIs depend on an interviewer's ability to ask thoughtful questions at the right time. They need to give the participants space to think and talk—while making them feel comfortable enough to do so. It takes training for an interviewer to hone in on this skill set.

Participants require careful vetting 

To gather valuable and balanced insights, it’s essential to use random sampling to gather a group of participants that accurately represent your organization’s user base. Once you have a random set of participants, you should check that they represent your user base’s different groups. 

Depending on the size of your customer base, it likely won’t be possible to interview all your customers. That being said, it's important to interview a variety of different users. 

For instance, you may want to interview a group of users who are unfamiliar with your site design, those who have been using your site for six months, and another group who left for a competitor. 

The best way to do this would be to segment your customer base, then randomly generate a sample of participants to invite to an IDI.

Are in-depth interviews structured?

When it comes to how structured your IDIs are, you have several options: 

• Structured interviews  are fixed in their methodology. The interviewer would only ask predetermined questions and target specific experiences. A structured approach limits the scope for exploring discussed topics in more depth. 
• Unstructured interviews  aren’t defined and don’t include pre-planned questions. It’s more like a conversation between the researcher and the respondent.
• Semi-structured interviews  follow some protocols to guide the process. While it’s a conversation between two individuals, and the interviewer can ask for more details, most of the questions are scripted. Interviewers will plan some initial questions and themes to cover, but allow the respondents’ answers to guide the interview direction. 

Generally, the most valuable in-depth interviews are semi-structured. 

These IDIs have a loose structure, but remain adaptable to the participant’s issues and ideas. This flexibility enables interviewers to explore each response fully and better engage with the user. 

When to use unstructured interviews: "If you’re at the beginning of a design phase, just trying to path-find for innovation, or trying to really dig into another layer of how your users use your product, that's when you're going to want to be more unstructured. When you've already got the product or the prototype, and you're wanting to validate, and you want to make sure that you're designing it the right way." - Julie Strubel, UserZoom Senior UX Researcher

How do you conduct a good in-depth interview?

Some preparation is key for conducting an insightful in-depth interview. Planning topics and conversation starters in advance will help you use your participants’ time more wisely. If your customers feel that their time was wasted or the IDI was simply too long, they may be reluctant to participate in future drives for customer insights. 

Keeping your IDIs brief and well-structured will also help your participants maintain focus until the end. Longer interviews with less clear objectives run the risk of tiring customers out and reducing the quality of their answers.

In addition to the tips we just mentioned, we've pulled together 9 best practices to keep in mind when you're running IDIs:

• Know your aims
• Define your scope
• Set a time limit
• Ask the right questions
• Remove bias
• Make questions actionable
• Test your questions
• Create an IDI guide
• Put your insights into action

1. Know your aims

Before you plan on conducting any in-depth interviews, it’s important to know what you’re aiming to get out of the process. This helps guide your questions—and ultimately, the conversation.  

Perhaps you’re looking to understand how customers feel about your site’s new design. In that case, you need to ask open-ended questions like, “What do you think of our new site design when compared to our previous version?”

If you want to find out if participants find your checkout page to be intuitive, ask questions like, “How did you feel about the navigation experience of our checkout page?”

When you identify your goals, it’ll be easier to plan questions to help build your understanding of what your end-user is looking to achieve. 

For this reason, Hector Harris-Burton of Imaginaire recommends having some structure.

“Have a loose structure so that you can cover topics that you'd like to hear about. While an IDI is supposed to be a freeform conversation, one of the best ways to get the most information out of the interviewee is to ensure that you have talking points and some kind of structure.  By having a structure, not only are you able to cover the topics you need, but you can also aid the conversation. No matter who you talk to, there is always the potential for the conversation to run dry. But with a structure and talking points, you're able to lead the conversation and move forward, rather than struggling.”

2. Define your scope 

Always clarify the extent of your research before you begin interviewing people. 

Decide how much time you have to spend on conducting IDIs, and the minimum number of respondents you need to consider any themes as standard. That should define the number of users you need to interview.

There’s no magic number when it comes to determining the size of your sample. Always prioritize quality over quantity, and check that you can spend a reasonable amount of time in each interview. 

For instance, there’s not much point in interviewing 120 people for five minutes each. It would be better to spend the same amount of time interviewing 20 people for 30 minutes each. That way, you’d have time to explore topics more deeply with each participant instead of rushing through a list of questions. 

3. Set a time limit

When conducting an IDI, make sure you’re mindful of your participants’ time. Remember: their answer quality may drop off towards the end of the conversation if you’ve been talking for hours. 

Let participants know how much time each interview will take and stick to it. 

Keeping each interview to a maximum of one hour will allow you to ask participants plenty of questions without going off-topic. It’s also short enough for them to commit to the interview. 

4. Ask the right questions 

Asking the right questions will encourage respondents to share their honest points of view. 

In your in-depth interviews, add in a mix of question types, such as:

• General ice-breaking questions.  Ease people into the discussion by asking light-hearted questions first. For example, “Tell me about your biggest challenges right now.”
• More specific detail-oriented questions.  Start to explore subjects that are more closely linked to your research goals. For instance, “What are you hoping to achieve by using our app?”
• Insight-based questions.  Ask more specific questions about existing or new features. Use your last questions to find out how users feel about your future plans. For example, “How useful would this new calendar function be for you?” 

Using the right questions will help you better listen to users and then effectively implement their feedback. You’ll also gather qualitative data that helps you make smarter UX decisions. 

5. Remove bias 

It’s easy to accidentally influence customers’ answers without intending to. Take care with how you phrase each of your questions to make sure you’re not accidentally influencing their responses. 

Consider the following question:  “What do you like about this new service?”  

The phrasing of the question restricts users to only talking about what they like about the service as opposed to providing a more balanced answer. 

To make the question more neutral and bias-free, ask something along the lines of:  “What do you think about our new service?” 

This simple change of phrasing leaves the customer free to provide an honest perspective (as opposed to just listing what they like about the service).

The key is to collect valuable, actionable feedback that isn’t shaped by your organization’s expectations or agenda. So, always ask users open-ended questions and avoid leading questions that influence participants’ answers. 

Read up on other examples of leading questions so you know what to avoid.

Don't ask them leading questions designed to elicit a certain response. You want them to answer truthfully, so it's best to ask questions straight up and don't suggest an answer. For example, avoid questions like “What do you think is helpful in the new package we offered? The new payment methods?” Ask open-ended questions that will lead to expansive responses. Remember, you want to find out what they are trying to do and what their problems are. - Lauri Kinkar, Messente CEO

6. Make questions actionable 

When conducting IDIs, only ask users questions that are actionable. That way, you’ll be able to directly use their answers to improve user experience. 

Here’s an example of an actionable question: “Is there anything you would change about our checkout page?” Any answers you receive to this question will improve your current page based on users’ current sentiment around it. 

If you’re in doubt about asking a particular question, think about whether you could use the answer to improve your UX. If you can’t find a way of using the response to improve your user experience, it’s best to ask another question. 

7. Test your interview questions

Test your questions on teammates and ask for feedback on whether your questions are straightforward. 

Do they give the answers you were expecting? Or bounce the questions back to you, asking what you meant?

Your users’ responses should give you a clear idea of what needs to be changed or improved moving forwards. 

8. Create an IDI guide

IDI guides are an informative document that outlines the interview process from start to finish.

 It should act as a to-do list that you refer to throughout the interview process, as UX Specialist Andreas Johansson explains:

"As part of the user research plan, I also create an interview guide. This is basically a rough structure for me to refer to when I do the interviews. I tend to do semi-structured interviews. That means that I refer to the interview guide if I get stuck, but I don't tend to be too rigid about it. Sometimes it's good if the discussions go off on a tangent, for instance."

First, state your objectives and then outline the general flow of the interview. Include all the topics you want to talk about and in what order—remembering  why  you’re asking them in the first place. 

This interview guide will stop you from getting side-tracked during the conversation, helping you create the best possible experience for your participants. 

Consider giving your colleagues a copy of the IDI guide, too. They can provide you with feedback on what you’re planning to ask. Knowing what insights you’re planning to pull will also help them anticipate the data they’ll later analyze and store.

9. Put your insights into action

It’s all well and good to have a jam-packed day of IDIs. Once you’ve collected that data, though, you need to turn it into actionable insights.

Olga Kimalana, Senior Conversion Strategist at Scandiweb, explains:

“There’s no point in conducting user interviews if you don’t act upon the insights you gathered, so make sure to present your insights and plans of action to stakeholders to kick off the improvements.”

The simplest way to do this is to listen back through each interview. Create a transcription of the conversion, and flag different parts of the conversation that are interesting. This can include snippets you want to re-listen or pay closer attention to.

We recommend using a professional UX platform (instead of Zoom or Google Meet) for this reason. Userzoom, for example, has a note-taking feature. You can annotate transcripts, and add hashtags to certain topics, to spot themes across several IDIs.

Five in-depth interview best practices 

Following a few best practices will ensure you make the most of each interview and collect data for improving your UX. Here are five to start with. 

1. Ensure participants feel comfortable 

In-depth interviews are voluntary, so it’s important to make customers feel comfortable enough to share their honest opinions. 

As an interviewer, you should approach each interview with an approachable, friendly, and open-minded attitude. Avoid making the interview feel too formal–you don’t want users to feel under pressure or stressed. 

"You're setting the stage, you want people to feel relaxed. Even if they're just going through and doing a talk-out-loud for a usability session, you want to put them at ease, and that's not just about reading the script. It's about making that human connection in the first three minutes." - Julie Strubel, UserZoom Senior UX Researcher

If customers have a positive experience during your interview, they’ll be more likely to readily offer feedback if you request it again in the future. You’ll also get better data from respondents who were genuinely interested in the conversation. 

2. Properly engage with your interviewees

Effectively engaging with interviewees is sometimes easier said than done—especially when you have a busy day full of in-depth interviews. 

Taking detailed notes may distract you from what your customer is saying or take you out of the moment, so you may want to use an audio or video recording device instead. That way, you can give your interviewee 100% of your attention and remain responsive to their answers.

Making recordings of each interview will enable you to fully engage with participants without worrying about forgetting critical data or insights later on. Simply refer to your recordings afterward and collect all of the relevant insights. 

3. Follow-up on user responses

It’s vital to understand what your customers mean by their responses and what’s behind their opinion of your app, site, or service. Try clarifying their responses by summarizing their thoughts. If you’re not sure, always ask for clarification. 

Whenever users share an opinion, follow-up on their response by asking why they feel the way they do.

For instance, if a participant says they don’t find your checkout page intuitive, you should follow-up by asking them what it is that they don’t find user-friendly. Is it the layout? Are the payment instructions unclear? Do they have to click on too many buttons?

Avoid putting words into participants’ mouths, but make sure to find out what it is precisely about the page they find unintuitive. 

Alternatively, if a user says they prefer your old site design, make sure to pinpoint why. Was there a specific menu flow they found easy to use? Was the search capability stronger? 

Asking why will help you go beyond surface-level responses and genuinely engage with your customer base. 

4. Provide consent forms

You should always provide your participants with consent forms that outline the purpose of the interview. 

To legally use the participants’ responses and details, you need to make sure that everyone signs an agreement as to how the information gathered from the interview will be used. 

Consent always needs to be:

• Based on clearly explained information.  Participants need to know what exactly is being researched. Provide a detailed information sheet for them to read before signing.  
• Given freely.  Consent can’t be dependent on receiving a benefit. If you plan on offering incentives, make sure you do this before asking for consent. 
• Given separately from other information.  Consent forms need to be given separately to an NDA form, for example. 
• Given for a specific purpose . If you plan on using the research in multiple ways, consent needs to be given for all of them.
• Able to be refused and withdrawn.  The interviewee needs to know how they can withdraw consent at any moment during the process. 

5. Say thank you 

Participants are giving up their time to share their opinions and perspectives on your product or service with you. Make it a priority to thank your customers for their time, so they feel appreciated. 

You could also provide incentives as a way of saying thank you to participants. For example, you could automatically enter participants into an Amazon gift card giveaway. 

Michael Margolis, a UX research partner at Google Ventures, offers different incentives depending on the customer type:

“I typically offer a $100 gift card for customer interviews. [...] Some people may be enticed by a larger “honorarium” or charitable donation made in their names. But experts often respond more to professional incentives, such as sharing a version of the research results, previewing a new or advanced technology, or giving them credit in a public way.”

Conduct more insightful IDIs today

In-depth interviews are a great source of original user insights as part of a broader UX research process. 

When planned and conducted correctly, IDIs make it easier to understand your users’ expectations and pain points. Unlike other qualitative data collection methods, you’ll be able to interact with users directly and dig deeper into how they feel about your UX.

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• v.74(8); 2010 Oct 11

Presenting and Evaluating Qualitative Research

The purpose of this paper is to help authors to think about ways to present qualitative research papers in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education . It also discusses methods for reviewers to assess the rigour, quality, and usefulness of qualitative research. Examples of different ways to present data from interviews, observations, and focus groups are included. The paper concludes with guidance for publishing qualitative research and a checklist for authors and reviewers.

INTRODUCTION

Policy and practice decisions, including those in education, increasingly are informed by findings from qualitative as well as quantitative research. Qualitative research is useful to policymakers because it often describes the settings in which policies will be implemented. Qualitative research is also useful to both pharmacy practitioners and pharmacy academics who are involved in researching educational issues in both universities and practice and in developing teaching and learning.

Qualitative research involves the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data that are not easily reduced to numbers. These data relate to the social world and the concepts and behaviors of people within it. Qualitative research can be found in all social sciences and in the applied fields that derive from them, for example, research in health services, nursing, and pharmacy. 1 It looks at X in terms of how X varies in different circumstances rather than how big is X or how many Xs are there? 2 Textbooks often subdivide research into qualitative and quantitative approaches, furthering the common assumption that there are fundamental differences between the 2 approaches. With pharmacy educators who have been trained in the natural and clinical sciences, there is often a tendency to embrace quantitative research, perhaps due to familiarity. A growing consensus is emerging that sees both qualitative and quantitative approaches as useful to answering research questions and understanding the world. Increasingly mixed methods research is being carried out where the researcher explicitly combines the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study. 3 , 4

Like healthcare, education involves complex human interactions that can rarely be studied or explained in simple terms. Complex educational situations demand complex understanding; thus, the scope of educational research can be extended by the use of qualitative methods. Qualitative research can sometimes provide a better understanding of the nature of educational problems and thus add to insights into teaching and learning in a number of contexts. For example, at the University of Nottingham, we conducted in-depth interviews with pharmacists to determine their perceptions of continuing professional development and who had influenced their learning. We also have used a case study approach using observation of practice and in-depth interviews to explore physiotherapists' views of influences on their leaning in practice. We have conducted in-depth interviews with a variety of stakeholders in Malawi, Africa, to explore the issues surrounding pharmacy academic capacity building. A colleague has interviewed and conducted focus groups with students to explore cultural issues as part of a joint Nottingham-Malaysia pharmacy degree program. Another colleague has interviewed pharmacists and patients regarding their expectations before and after clinic appointments and then observed pharmacist-patient communication in clinics and assessed it using the Calgary Cambridge model in order to develop recommendations for communication skills training. 5 We have also performed documentary analysis on curriculum data to compare pharmacist and nurse supplementary prescribing courses in the United Kingdom.

It is important to choose the most appropriate methods for what is being investigated. Qualitative research is not appropriate to answer every research question and researchers need to think carefully about their objectives. Do they wish to study a particular phenomenon in depth (eg, students' perceptions of studying in a different culture)? Or are they more interested in making standardized comparisons and accounting for variance (eg, examining differences in examination grades after changing the way the content of a module is taught). Clearly a quantitative approach would be more appropriate in the last example. As with any research project, a clear research objective has to be identified to know which methods should be applied.

Types of qualitative data include:

• Audio recordings and transcripts from in-depth or semi-structured interviews
• Structured interview questionnaires containing substantial open comments including a substantial number of responses to open comment items.
• Audio recordings and transcripts from focus group sessions.
• Field notes (notes taken by the researcher while in the field [setting] being studied)
• Video recordings (eg, lecture delivery, class assignments, laboratory performance)
• Case study notes
• Documents (reports, meeting minutes, e-mails)
• Diaries, video diaries
• Observation notes
• Press clippings
• Photographs

RIGOUR IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative research is often criticized as biased, small scale, anecdotal, and/or lacking rigor; however, when it is carried out properly it is unbiased, in depth, valid, reliable, credible and rigorous. In qualitative research, there needs to be a way of assessing the “extent to which claims are supported by convincing evidence.” 1 Although the terms reliability and validity traditionally have been associated with quantitative research, increasingly they are being seen as important concepts in qualitative research as well. Examining the data for reliability and validity assesses both the objectivity and credibility of the research. Validity relates to the honesty and genuineness of the research data, while reliability relates to the reproducibility and stability of the data.

The validity of research findings refers to the extent to which the findings are an accurate representation of the phenomena they are intended to represent. The reliability of a study refers to the reproducibility of the findings. Validity can be substantiated by a number of techniques including triangulation use of contradictory evidence, respondent validation, and constant comparison. Triangulation is using 2 or more methods to study the same phenomenon. Contradictory evidence, often known as deviant cases, must be sought out, examined, and accounted for in the analysis to ensure that researcher bias does not interfere with or alter their perception of the data and any insights offered. Respondent validation, which is allowing participants to read through the data and analyses and provide feedback on the researchers' interpretations of their responses, provides researchers with a method of checking for inconsistencies, challenges the researchers' assumptions, and provides them with an opportunity to re-analyze their data. The use of constant comparison means that one piece of data (for example, an interview) is compared with previous data and not considered on its own, enabling researchers to treat the data as a whole rather than fragmenting it. Constant comparison also enables the researcher to identify emerging/unanticipated themes within the research project.

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative researchers have been criticized for overusing interviews and focus groups at the expense of other methods such as ethnography, observation, documentary analysis, case studies, and conversational analysis. Qualitative research has numerous strengths when properly conducted.

Strengths of Qualitative Research

• Issues can be examined in detail and in depth.
• Interviews are not restricted to specific questions and can be guided/redirected by the researcher in real time.
• The research framework and direction can be quickly revised as new information emerges.
• The data based on human experience that is obtained is powerful and sometimes more compelling than quantitative data.
• Subtleties and complexities about the research subjects and/or topic are discovered that are often missed by more positivistic enquiries.
• Data usually are collected from a few cases or individuals so findings cannot be generalized to a larger population. Findings can however be transferable to another setting.

Limitations of Qualitative Research

• Research quality is heavily dependent on the individual skills of the researcher and more easily influenced by the researcher's personal biases and idiosyncrasies.
• Rigor is more difficult to maintain, assess, and demonstrate.
• The volume of data makes analysis and interpretation time consuming.
• It is sometimes not as well understood and accepted as quantitative research within the scientific community
• The researcher's presence during data gathering, which is often unavoidable in qualitative research, can affect the subjects' responses.
• Issues of anonymity and confidentiality can present problems when presenting findings
• Findings can be more difficult and time consuming to characterize in a visual way.

PRESENTATION OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH FINDINGS

The following extracts are examples of how qualitative data might be presented:

Data From an Interview.

The following is an example of how to present and discuss a quote from an interview.

The researcher should select quotes that are poignant and/or most representative of the research findings. Including large portions of an interview in a research paper is not necessary and often tedious for the reader. The setting and speakers should be established in the text at the end of the quote.

The student describes how he had used deep learning in a dispensing module. He was able to draw on learning from a previous module, “I found that while using the e learning programme I was able to apply the knowledge and skills that I had gained in last year's diseases and goals of treatment module.” (interviewee 22, male)

This is an excerpt from an article on curriculum reform that used interviews 5 :

The first question was, “Without the accreditation mandate, how much of this curriculum reform would have been attempted?” According to respondents, accreditation played a significant role in prompting the broad-based curricular change, and their comments revealed a nuanced view. Most indicated that the change would likely have occurred even without the mandate from the accreditation process: “It reflects where the profession wants to be … training a professional who wants to take on more responsibility.” However, they also commented that “if it were not mandated, it could have been a very difficult road.” Or it “would have happened, but much later.” The change would more likely have been incremental, “evolutionary,” or far more limited in its scope. “Accreditation tipped the balance” was the way one person phrased it. “Nobody got serious until the accrediting body said it would no longer accredit programs that did not change.”

Data From Observations

The following example is some data taken from observation of pharmacist patient consultations using the Calgary Cambridge guide. 6 , 7 The data are first presented and a discussion follows:

Pharmacist: We will soon be starting a stop smoking clinic. Patient: Is the interview over now? Pharmacist: No this is part of it. (Laughs) You can't tell me to bog off (sic) yet. (pause) We will be starting a stop smoking service here, Patient: Yes. Pharmacist: with one-to-one and we will be able to help you or try to help you. If you want it. In this example, the pharmacist has picked up from the patient's reaction to the stop smoking clinic that she is not receptive to advice about giving up smoking at this time; in fact she would rather end the consultation. The pharmacist draws on his prior relationship with the patient and makes use of a joke to lighten the tone. He feels his message is important enough to persevere but he presents the information in a succinct and non-pressurised way. His final comment of “If you want it” is important as this makes it clear that he is not putting any pressure on the patient to take up this offer. This extract shows that some patient cues were picked up, and appropriately dealt with, but this was not the case in all examples.

Data From Focus Groups

This excerpt from a study involving 11 focus groups illustrates how findings are presented using representative quotes from focus group participants. 8

Those pharmacists who were initially familiar with CPD endorsed the model for their peers, and suggested it had made a meaningful difference in the way they viewed their own practice. In virtually all focus groups sessions, pharmacists familiar with and supportive of the CPD paradigm had worked in collaborative practice environments such as hospital pharmacy practice. For these pharmacists, the major advantage of CPD was the linking of workplace learning with continuous education. One pharmacist stated, “It's amazing how much I have to learn every day, when I work as a pharmacist. With [the learning portfolio] it helps to show how much learning we all do, every day. It's kind of satisfying to look it over and see how much you accomplish.” Within many of the learning portfolio-sharing sessions, debates emerged regarding the true value of traditional continuing education and its outcome in changing an individual's practice. While participants appreciated the opportunity for social and professional networking inherent in some forms of traditional CE, most eventually conceded that the academic value of most CE programming was limited by the lack of a systematic process for following-up and implementing new learning in the workplace. “Well it's nice to go to these [continuing education] events, but really, I don't know how useful they are. You go, you sit, you listen, but then, well I at least forget.”

The following is an extract from a focus group (conducted by the author) with first-year pharmacy students about community placements. It illustrates how focus groups provide a chance for participants to discuss issues on which they might disagree.

Interviewer: So you are saying that you would prefer health related placements? Student 1: Not exactly so long as I could be developing my communication skill. Student 2: Yes but I still think the more health related the placement is the more I'll gain from it. Student 3: I disagree because other people related skills are useful and you may learn those from taking part in a community project like building a garden. Interviewer: So would you prefer a mixture of health and non health related community placements?

GUIDANCE FOR PUBLISHING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative research is becoming increasingly accepted and published in pharmacy and medical journals. Some journals and publishers have guidelines for presenting qualitative research, for example, the British Medical Journal 9 and Biomedcentral . 10 Medical Education published a useful series of articles on qualitative research. 11 Some of the important issues that should be considered by authors, reviewers and editors when publishing qualitative research are discussed below.

Introduction.

A good introduction provides a brief overview of the manuscript, including the research question and a statement justifying the research question and the reasons for using qualitative research methods. This section also should provide background information, including relevant literature from pharmacy, medicine, and other health professions, as well as literature from the field of education that addresses similar issues. Any specific educational or research terminology used in the manuscript should be defined in the introduction.

The methods section should clearly state and justify why the particular method, for example, face to face semistructured interviews, was chosen. The method should be outlined and illustrated with examples such as the interview questions, focusing exercises, observation criteria, etc. The criteria for selecting the study participants should then be explained and justified. The way in which the participants were recruited and by whom also must be stated. A brief explanation/description should be included of those who were invited to participate but chose not to. It is important to consider “fair dealing,” ie, whether the research design explicitly incorporates a wide range of different perspectives so that the viewpoint of 1 group is never presented as if it represents the sole truth about any situation. The process by which ethical and or research/institutional governance approval was obtained should be described and cited.

The study sample and the research setting should be described. Sampling differs between qualitative and quantitative studies. In quantitative survey studies, it is important to select probability samples so that statistics can be used to provide generalizations to the population from which the sample was drawn. Qualitative research necessitates having a small sample because of the detailed and intensive work required for the study. So sample sizes are not calculated using mathematical rules and probability statistics are not applied. Instead qualitative researchers should describe their sample in terms of characteristics and relevance to the wider population. Purposive sampling is common in qualitative research. Particular individuals are chosen with characteristics relevant to the study who are thought will be most informative. Purposive sampling also may be used to produce maximum variation within a sample. Participants being chosen based for example, on year of study, gender, place of work, etc. Representative samples also may be used, for example, 20 students from each of 6 schools of pharmacy. Convenience samples involve the researcher choosing those who are either most accessible or most willing to take part. This may be fine for exploratory studies; however, this form of sampling may be biased and unrepresentative of the population in question. Theoretical sampling uses insights gained from previous research to inform sample selection for a new study. The method for gaining informed consent from the participants should be described, as well as how anonymity and confidentiality of subjects were guaranteed. The method of recording, eg, audio or video recording, should be noted, along with procedures used for transcribing the data.

Data Analysis.

A description of how the data were analyzed also should be included. Was computer-aided qualitative data analysis software such as NVivo (QSR International, Cambridge, MA) used? Arrival at “data saturation” or the end of data collection should then be described and justified. A good rule when considering how much information to include is that readers should have been given enough information to be able to carry out similar research themselves.

One of the strengths of qualitative research is the recognition that data must always be understood in relation to the context of their production. 1 The analytical approach taken should be described in detail and theoretically justified in light of the research question. If the analysis was repeated by more than 1 researcher to ensure reliability or trustworthiness, this should be stated and methods of resolving any disagreements clearly described. Some researchers ask participants to check the data. If this was done, it should be fully discussed in the paper.

An adequate account of how the findings were produced should be included A description of how the themes and concepts were derived from the data also should be included. Was an inductive or deductive process used? The analysis should not be limited to just those issues that the researcher thinks are important, anticipated themes, but also consider issues that participants raised, ie, emergent themes. Qualitative researchers must be open regarding the data analysis and provide evidence of their thinking, for example, were alternative explanations for the data considered and dismissed, and if so, why were they dismissed? It also is important to present outlying or negative/deviant cases that did not fit with the central interpretation.

The interpretation should usually be grounded in interviewees or respondents' contributions and may be semi-quantified, if this is possible or appropriate, for example, “Half of the respondents said …” “The majority said …” “Three said…” Readers should be presented with data that enable them to “see what the researcher is talking about.” 1 Sufficient data should be presented to allow the reader to clearly see the relationship between the data and the interpretation of the data. Qualitative data conventionally are presented by using illustrative quotes. Quotes are “raw data” and should be compiled and analyzed, not just listed. There should be an explanation of how the quotes were chosen and how they are labeled. For example, have pseudonyms been given to each respondent or are the respondents identified using codes, and if so, how? It is important for the reader to be able to see that a range of participants have contributed to the data and that not all the quotes are drawn from 1 or 2 individuals. There is a tendency for authors to overuse quotes and for papers to be dominated by a series of long quotes with little analysis or discussion. This should be avoided.

Participants do not always state the truth and may say what they think the interviewer wishes to hear. A good qualitative researcher should not only examine what people say but also consider how they structured their responses and how they talked about the subject being discussed, for example, the person's emotions, tone, nonverbal communication, etc. If the research was triangulated with other qualitative or quantitative data, this should be discussed.

Discussion.

The findings should be presented in the context of any similar previous research and or theories. A discussion of the existing literature and how this present research contributes to the area should be included. A consideration must also be made about how transferrable the research would be to other settings. Any particular strengths and limitations of the research also should be discussed. It is common practice to include some discussion within the results section of qualitative research and follow with a concluding discussion.

The author also should reflect on their own influence on the data, including a consideration of how the researcher(s) may have introduced bias to the results. The researcher should critically examine their own influence on the design and development of the research, as well as on data collection and interpretation of the data, eg, were they an experienced teacher who researched teaching methods? If so, they should discuss how this might have influenced their interpretation of the results.

Conclusion.

The conclusion should summarize the main findings from the study and emphasize what the study adds to knowledge in the area being studied. Mays and Pope suggest the researcher ask the following 3 questions to determine whether the conclusions of a qualitative study are valid 12 : How well does this analysis explain why people behave in the way they do? How comprehensible would this explanation be to a thoughtful participant in the setting? How well does the explanation cohere with what we already know?

CHECKLIST FOR QUALITATIVE PAPERS

This paper establishes criteria for judging the quality of qualitative research. It provides guidance for authors and reviewers to prepare and review qualitative research papers for the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education . A checklist is provided in Appendix 1 to assist both authors and reviewers of qualitative data.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to the 3 reviewers whose ideas helped me to shape this paper.

Appendix 1. Checklist for authors and reviewers of qualitative research.

Introduction

• □ Research question is clearly stated.
• □ Research question is justified and related to the existing knowledge base (empirical research, theory, policy).
• □ Any specific research or educational terminology used later in manuscript is defined.
• □ The process by which ethical and or research/institutional governance approval was obtained is described and cited.
• □ Reason for choosing particular research method is stated.
• □ Criteria for selecting study participants are explained and justified.
• □ Recruitment methods are explicitly stated.
• □ Details of who chose not to participate and why are given.
• □ Study sample and research setting used are described.
• □ Method for gaining informed consent from the participants is described.
• □ Maintenance/Preservation of subject anonymity and confidentiality is described.
• □ Method of recording data (eg, audio or video recording) and procedures for transcribing data are described.
• □ Methods are outlined and examples given (eg, interview guide).
• □ Decision to stop data collection is described and justified.
• □ Data analysis and verification are described, including by whom they were performed.
• □ Methods for identifying/extrapolating themes and concepts from the data are discussed.
• □ Sufficient data are presented to allow a reader to assess whether or not the interpretation is supported by the data.
• □ Outlying or negative/deviant cases that do not fit with the central interpretation are presented.
• □ Transferability of research findings to other settings is discussed.
• □ Findings are presented in the context of any similar previous research and social theories.
• □ Discussion often is incorporated into the results in qualitative papers.
• □ A discussion of the existing literature and how this present research contributes to the area is included.
• □ Any particular strengths and limitations of the research are discussed.
• □ Reflection of the influence of the researcher(s) on the data, including a consideration of how the researcher(s) may have introduced bias to the results is included.

Conclusions

• □ The conclusion states the main finings of the study and emphasizes what the study adds to knowledge in the subject area.

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In-depth Interviews: Definition and how to conduct them

Online surveys, user review sites and focus groups can be great methods for collecting data. However, another method of gathering data that is sometimes overlooked are the in-depth interviews.

All of these methods can be used in your comprehensive customer experience management strategy, but in-depth interviews can help you collect data that can offer rich insights into your target audience’s experience and preferences from a broad sample.

In this article you will discover the main characteristics of in-depth interviews as a great tool for your qualitative research and gather better insights from your objects of study.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Research

What are in-depth interviews?

In-depth interviews are a qualitative data collection method that allows for the collection of a large amount of information about the behavior, attitude and perception of the interviewees.

LEARN ABOUT: Best Data Collection Tools

During in-depth interviews, researchers and participants have the freedom to explore additional points and change the direction of the process when necessary. It is an independent research method that can adopt multiple strategies according to the needs of the research.

Characteristics of in-depth interviews

There are many types of interviews , each with its particularities, in this case the most important characteristics of in-depth interviews are:

• Flexible structure: Although it is not very structured, it covers a few topics based on a guide, which allows the interviewer to cover areas appropriate for the interviewee.
• Interactive: The interviewer processes the material that is produced during the interview. During the interaction the interviewer poses initial questions in a positive manner, so that the respondent is encouraged to answer. The complete process is very human, and so less mundane and dull.
• Deep: Many probing techniques are used in in-depth interviews, so that results are understood through exploration and explanation. The interviewer asks follow-up questions to gain a deeper perspective and understand the participant’s viewpoint.
• Generative: Often interacting with your target audience creates new knowledge. For instance, if you are talking to your customers, you learn more about the purchase behavior. Researchers and participants present ideas for a specific topic and solutions to the problems posed.

To learn more about the characteristics of in-depth interviews, check out our blog on interview questions .

Importance of conducting in-depth interviews

As an in-depth interview is a one-on-one conversation, you get enough opportunities to get to the root causes of likes/dislikes, perceptions, or beliefs. 

Generally, questions are open-ended questions and can be customized as per the particular situation. You can use single ease questions . A single-ease question is a straightforward query that elicits a concise and uncomplicated response. The interviewer gets an opportunity to develop a rapport with the participant, thereby making them feel comfortable. Thus, they can bring out honest feedback and also note their expressions and body language. Such cues can amount to rich qualitative data.

LEARN ABOUT: Selection Bias

With surveys, there are chances that the respondents may select answers in a rush, but in case of in-depth interviews it’s hardly the worry of researchers. 

Conversations can prove to be an excellent method to collect data. In fact, people might be reluctant to answer questions in written format, but given the nature of an interview, participants might agree giving information verbally. You can also discuss with the interviewees if they want to keep their identity confidential.

In-depth interviews are aimed at uncovering the issues in order to obtain detailed results. This method allows you to gain insight into the experiences, feelings and perspectives of the interviewees.

When conducting the initial stage of a large research project, in-depth interviews prove to be useful to narrow down and focus on important research details.

When you want to have the context of a problem, in-depth interviews allow you to evaluate different solutions to manage the research process while assisting in in-depth data analysis .

LEARN ABOUT: Research Process Steps

Steps to conduct in-depth interviews

• Obtain the necessary information about the respondents and the context in which they operate.
• Make a script or a list of topics you want to cover. This will make it easy to add secondary questions.
• Schedule an interview at a time and date of the respondent’s choice.
• Ask questions confidently and let the interviewees feel comfortable, so that they too are confident and can answer difficult questions with ease.
• Set a maximum duration such that it doesn’t feel exhaustive.
• Observe and make notes on the interviewee’s body expressions and gestures.
• It is important to maintain ethics throughout the process.
• Transcribe the recordings and verify them with the interviewee.

Advantages of in-depth interviews

The benefits of conducting an in-depth interview include the following:

• They allow the researcher and participants to have a comfortable relationship to generate more in-depth responses regarding sensitive topics.
• Researchers can ask follow-up questions , obtain additional information, and return to key questions to gain a better understanding of the participants’ attitudes.
• The sampling is more accurate than other data collection methods .
• Researchers can monitor changes in tone and word choice of participants to gain a better understanding of opinions.
• Fewer participants are needed to obtain useful information. 
• In-depth interviews can be very beneficial when a detailed report on a person’s opinion and behavior is needed. In addition, it explores new ideas and contexts that give the researcher a complete picture of the phenomena that occurred.

Disadvantages 

The disadvantages of in-depth interviews are:

• They are time-consuming, as they must be transcribed, organized, analyzed in detail.
• If the interviewer is inexperienced, it affects the complete process.
• It is a costly research method compared to other methods.
• Participants must be chosen carefully to avoid bias, otherwise it can lengthen the process.
• Generally, participants decide to collaborate only when they receive an incentive in return.

LEARN ABOUT: Self-Selection Bias

What is the purpose of in-depth interviews?

The main purpose of in-depth interviews is to understand the consumer behavior and make well-informed decisions. Organizations can formulate their marketing strategies based on the information received from the respondents. They can also gain insights into the probable demand and know consumer pulse.

In the case of B2B businesses, researchers can understand the demand in more detail and can ask questions targeted for the experts. Interviews offer a chance to understand the customer’s thought process and design products that have higher chances of being accepted in the market.

LEARN ABOUT: 12 Best Tools for Researchers

Final words

An in-depth interview should follow all the steps of the process to collect meaningful data. Hope this blog helps you decide whether you should conduct a detailed interview with your target audience, keeping in mind the pros and cons of it.

If you want to get started with conducting research online, we suggest using an online survey software that offers features like designing a questionnaire , customized look and feel, distributing to your contacts and data analytics. Create an account with QuestionPro Surveys and explore the tool. If you need any help with research or data collection, feel free to connect with us.

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• Types of Interviews in Research | Guide & Examples

Types of Interviews in Research | Guide & Examples

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.

• 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 research .

Table of contents

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.

• You feel very comfortable with your topic. This will help you formulate your questions most effectively.
• You have limited time or resources. Structured interviews are a bit more straightforward to analyze because of their closed-ended nature, and can be a doable undertaking for an individual.
• Your research question depends on holding environmental conditions between participants constant.

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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.

• You have prior interview experience. It’s easier than you think to accidentally ask a leading question when coming up with questions on the fly. Overall, spontaneous questions are much more difficult than they may seem.
• Your research question is exploratory in nature. The answers you receive can help guide your future research.

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.

• You have a solid background in your research topic and have conducted interviews before.
• Your research question is exploratory in nature, and you are seeking descriptive data that will deepen and contextualize your initial hypotheses.
• Your research necessitates forming a deeper connection with your participants, encouraging them to feel comfortable revealing their true opinions and emotions.

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.

• Your research focuses on the dynamics of group discussion or real-time responses to your topic.
• Your questions are complex and rooted in feelings, opinions, and perceptions that cannot be answered with a “yes” or “no.”
• Your topic is exploratory in nature, and you are seeking information that will help you uncover new questions or future research ideas.

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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.

• Semi-structured
• Unstructured
• Focus group
• Do you like dogs? Yes/No
• Do you associate dogs with feeling: happy; somewhat happy; neutral; somewhat unhappy; unhappy
• If yes, name one attribute of dogs that you like.
• If no, name one attribute of dogs that you don’t like.
• What feelings do dogs bring out in you?
• When you think more deeply about this, what experiences would you say your feelings are rooted in?

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.

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.

• Student’s  t -distribution
• Normal distribution
• Null and Alternative Hypotheses
• Chi square tests
• Confidence interval
• Quartiles & Quantiles
• Cluster sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Data cleansing
• Reproducibility vs Replicability
• Peer review
• Prospective cohort study

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Placebo effect
• Hawthorne effect
• Hindsight bias
• Affect heuristic
• Social desirability bias

The four most common types of interviews are:

• Structured interviews : The questions are predetermined in both topic and order. 
• Semi-structured interviews : A few questions are predetermined, but other questions aren’t planned.
• Unstructured interviews : None of the questions are predetermined.
• Focus group interviews : The questions are presented to a group instead of one individual.

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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Introducing the Breadth-and-Depth Method

• First Online: 05 December 2023

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• Susie Weller 5 ,
• Emma Davidson 6 ,
• Rosalind Edwards 7 &
• Lynn Jamieson 8  

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This chapter outlines the rationale and context of the breadth-and-depth method, along with its metaphorical foundations. Consideration is given to the relationship that the method has to theory. To support those seeking to use the method in their own research we provide an illustration of the method in practice, alongside examples of the different types of research questions that can be asked.

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Weller, S., Davidson, E., Edwards, R., Jamieson, L. (2023). Introducing the Breadth-and-Depth Method. In: Big Qual. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36324-5_2

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• Definition of in-depth
• Definition of research
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Example sentences in-depth research

This year's awards provided new and fascinating results, due to the more in - depth research .

Wherever your ambition lies, making a career change takes in - depth research , focus and superhuman effort.

This mix of academic breadth, in - depth research and extracurricular activity has won admirers among politicians.

In fifth and sixth grades they start to go on longer and farther, and beforehand do more in - depth research .

Although there are few works about the failure of extensions, literature provides sufficient in - depth research into this issue.

Definition of 'research' research

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• in-depth profile
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Computer Science > Computation and Language

Title: exploring concept depth: how large language models acquire knowledge at different layers.

Abstract: This paper studies the phenomenon that different concepts are learned in different layers of large language models, i.e. more difficult concepts are fully acquired with deeper layers. We define the difficulty of concepts by the level of abstraction, and here it is crudely categorized by factual, emotional, and inferential. Each category contains a spectrum of tasks, arranged from simple to complex. For example, within the factual dimension, tasks range from lie detection to categorizing mathematical problems. We employ a probing technique to extract representations from different layers of the model and apply these to classification tasks. Our findings reveal that models tend to efficiently classify simpler tasks, indicating that these concepts are learned in shallower layers. Conversely, more complex tasks may only be discernible at deeper layers, if at all. This paper explores the implications of these findings for our understanding of model learning processes and internal representations. Our implementation is available at \url{ this https URL }.

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