Interviews

• Interview Types and Techniques

  • There are two types of interviews, unstructured and structured.
    • Structured interviews:
      • In structured interviews the interviewer has a specific set of questions to ask of the interviewee.
        • Depending on the interviewee's responses, the interviewer will direct additional questions to obtain clarification or amplification.
        • Some of these questions may be planned and others spontaneous.
        • Open-ended questions allow the interviewee to respond in any way that seems appropriate.
        • Closed-ended questions restrict answers to either specific choices or short, direct responses.

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Open-ended questions allow the interviewee to respond in any way that seems appropriate. An example of an open-ended question is ``Why are you dissatisfied with the report of uncollectable accounts?''

Closed-ended questions restrict answers to either specific choices or short, direct responses. An example of such a question might be ``Are you receiving the report of uncollectable accounts on time?'' or ``Does the report of uncollectable accounts contain accurate information?''

Realistically, most questions fall between the two extremes