limitations to qualitative research interviews

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Chapter 10: Qualitative Data Collection & Analysis Methods

10.7 Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Interviews

As the preceding sections have suggested, qualitative interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information. Whatever topic is of interest to the researcher can be explored in much more depth by employing this method than with almost any other method. Not only are participants given the opportunity to elaborate in a way that is not possible with other methods, such as survey research, but, in addition, they are able share information with researchers in their own words and from their own perspectives, rather than attempting to fit those perspectives into the perhaps limited response options provided by the researcher. Because qualitative interviews are designed to elicit detailed information, they are especially useful when a researcher’s aim is to study social processes, or the “how” of various phenomena. Yet another, and sometimes overlooked, benefit of qualitative interviews that occurs in person is that researchers can make observations beyond those that a respondent is orally reporting. A respondent’s body language, and even her or his choice of time and location for the interview, might provide a researcher with useful data.

As with quantitative survey research, qualitative interviews rely on respondents’ ability to accurately and honestly recall whatever details about their lives, circumstances, thoughts, opinions, or behaviors are being examined. Qualitative interviewing is also time-intensive and can be quite expensive. Creating an interview guide, identifying a sample, and conducting interviews are just the beginning of the process. Transcribing interviews is labor-intensive, even before coding begins. It is also not uncommon to offer respondents some monetary incentive or thank-you for participating, because you are asking for more of the participants’ time than if you had mailed them a questionnaire containing closed-ended questions. Conducting qualitative interviews is not only labor intensive but also emotionally taxing. Researchers embarking on a qualitative interview project with a subject that is sensitive in nature should keep in mind their own abilities to listen to stories that may be difficult to hear.

Research Methods for the Social Sciences: An Introduction Copyright © 2020 by Valerie Sheppard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Interviews

As the preceding sections have suggested, qualitative interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information. Whatever topic is of interest to the researcher employing this method can be explored in much more depth than with almost any other method. Not only are participants given the opportunity to elaborate in a way that is not possible with other methods such as survey research, but they also are able share information with researchers in their own words and from their own perspectives rather than being asked to fit those perspectives into the perhaps limited response options provided by the researcher. And because qualitative interviews are designed to elicit detailed information, they are especially useful when a researcher’s aim is to study social processes, or the “how” of various phenomena. Yet another, and sometimes overlooked, benefit of qualitative interviews that occurs in person is that researchers can make observations beyond those that a respondent is orally reporting. A respondent’s body language, and even her or his choice of time and location for the interview, might provide a researcher with useful data.

Of course, all these benefits do not come without some drawbacks. As with quantitative survey research, qualitative interviews rely on respondents’ ability to accurately and honestly recall whatever details about their lives, circumstances, thoughts, opinions, or behaviors that are being asked about. As Esterberg (2002) puts it, “If you want to know about what people actually do, rather than what they say they do, you should probably use observation [instead of interviews].” 1 Further, as you may have already guessed, qualitative interviewing is time intensive and can be quite expensive. Creating an interview guide, identifying a sample, and conducting interviews are just the beginning. Transcribing interviews is labor intensive—and that’s before coding even begins. It is also not uncommon to offer respondents some monetary incentive or thank-you for participating. Keep in mind that you are asking for more of participants’ time than if you’d simply mailed them a questionnaire containing closed-ended questions. Conducting qualitative interviews is not only labor intensive but also emotionally taxing. When I interviewed young workers about their sexual harassment experiences, I heard stories that were shocking, infuriating, and sad. Seeing and hearing the impact that harassment had had on respondents was difficult. Researchers embarking on a qualitative interview project should keep in mind their own abilities to hear stories that may be difficult to hear.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In-depth interviews are semi-structured interviews where the researcher has topics and questions in mind to ask, but questions are open ended and flow according to how the participant responds to each.
• Interview guides can vary in format but should contain some outline of the topics you hope to cover during the course of an interview.
• NVivo and Atlasti are computer programs that qualitative researchers use to help them with organizing, sorting, and analyzing their data.
• Qualitative interviews allow respondents to share information in their own words and are useful for gathering detailed information and understanding social processes.
• Drawbacks of qualitative interviews include reliance on respondents’ accuracy and their intensity in terms of time, expense, and possible emotional strain.
• Based on a research question you have identified through earlier exercises in this text, write a few open-ended questions you could ask were you to conduct in-depth interviews on the topic. Now critique your questions. Are any of them yes/no questions? Are any of them leading?
• Read the open-ended questions you just created, and answer them as though you were an interview participant. Were your questions easy to answer or fairly difficult? How did you feel talking about the topics you asked yourself to discuss? How might respondents feel talking about them?
• 91030 reads
• Relevance, Balance, and Accessibility
• Different Sources of Knowledge
• Ontology and Epistemology KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• The Science of Sociology
• Specific Considerations for the Social Sciences KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Consuming Research and Living With Its Results
• Research as Employment Opportunity KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Design and Goals of This Text LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Sociology at Three Different Levels KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Paradigms in Social Science
• Sociological Theories KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Inductive Approaches and Some Examples
• Deductive Approaches and Some Examples
• Complementary Approaches? KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Revisiting an Earlier Question LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Human Research Versus Nonhuman Research
• A Historical Look at Research on Humans
• Institutional Review Boards KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Informed Consent
• Protection of Identities
• Disciplinary Considerations KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Ethics at Micro, Meso, and Macro Levels LEARNING OBJECTIVE KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Doing Science the Ethical Way
• Using Science the Ethical Way KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• How Do You Feel About Where You Already Are?
• What Do You Know About Where You Already Are? KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Is It Empirical? LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• What Is Sociology?
• What Is Not Sociology? KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Sociologists as Paparazzi?
• Some Specific Examples KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Feasibility
• Field Trip: Visit Your Library KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Exploration, Description, Explanation
• Idiographic or Nomothetic?
• Applied or Basic? KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Units of Analysis and Units of Observation
• Hypotheses KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Triangulation LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Searching for Literature
• Reviewing the Literature
• Additional Important Components KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• What Do Social Scientists Measure?
• How Do Social Scientists Measure? KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Concepts and Conceptualization
• A Word of Caution About Conceptualization KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Putting It All Together KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Reliability
• Validity KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Levels of Measurement
• Indexes, Scales, and Typologies KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Populations Versus Samples LEARNING OBJECTIVE KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Nonprobability Sampling
• Types of Nonprobability Samples KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Probability Sampling
• Types of Probability Samples KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Who Sampled, How Sampled, and for What Purpose? KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Survey Research: What Is It and When Should It Be Used? LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAY EXERCISE
• Strengths of Survey Method
• Weaknesses of Survey Method KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Administration KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Asking Effective Questions
• Response Options
• Designing Questionnaires KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• From Completed Questionnaires to Analyzable Data
• Identifying Patterns KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Interview Research: What Is It and When Should It Be Used? LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Conducting Qualitative Interviews
• Analysis of Qualitative Interview Data
• Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Interviews KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Conducting Quantitative Interviews
• Analysis of Quantitative Interview Data
• Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantitative Interviews KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Location, Location, Location
• Researcher-Respondent Relationship KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Field Research: What Is It and When to Use It? LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Strengths of Field Research
• Weaknesses of Field Research KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Choosing a Site
• Choosing a Role KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Writing in the Field
• Writing out of the Field KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• From Description to Analysis KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Unobtrusive Research: What Is It and When to Use It? LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Strengths of Unobtrusive Research
• Weaknesses of Unobtrusive Research KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Content Analysis
• Indirect Measures
• Analysis of Unobtrusive Data Collected by You KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Analyzing Others’ Data LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Reliability in Unobtrusive Research LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Focus Groups LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Experiments LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Sharing It All: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• Knowing Your Audience KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Presenting Your Research LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Writing Up Research Results LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Disseminating Findings LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Reading Reports of Sociological Research LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Being a Responsible Consumer of Research LEARNING OBJECTIVE KEY TAKEAWAY EXERCISE
• Media Reports of Sociological Research LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Sociological Research: It’s Everywhere LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Evaluation Research
• Market Research
• Policy and Other Government Research KEY TAKEAWAY EXERCISE
• Doing Research for a Cause LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISE
• Public Sociology LEARNING OBJECTIVE KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
• Transferable Skills
• Understanding Yourself, Your Circumstances, and Your World KEY TAKEAWAYS EXERCISES
•  Back Matter

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Research Design Review

A discussion of qualitative & quantitative research design, strengths & limitations of the in-depth interview method: an overview.

The following is a modified excerpt from Applied Qualitative Research Design: A Total Quality Framework Approach (Roller & Lavrakas, 2015, pp. 56-57).

An additional strength of the IDI method is the flexibility of the interview format, which allows the interviewer to tailor the order in which questions are asked, modify the question wording as appropriate, ask follow-up questions to clarify interviewees’ responses, and use indirect questions (e.g., the use of projective techniques ) to stimulate subconscious opinions or recall. It should be noted, however, that “flexibility” does not mean a willy-nilly approach to interviewing, and, indeed, the interviewer should employ quality measures such as those outlined in “Applying a Quality Framework to the In-depth Interview Method.”

A third key strength of the IDI method—analyzability of the data—is a byproduct of the interviewer–interviewee relationship and the depth of interviewing techniques, which produce a granularity in the IDI data that is rich in fine details and serves as the basis for deciphering the narrative within each interview. These details also enable researchers to readily identify where they agree or disagree with the meanings of codes and themes associated with specific responses, which ultimately leads to the identification of themes and connections across interview participants.

Limitations

The IDI method also presents challenges and limitations that deserve the researcher’s attention. The most important, from a Total Quality Framework standpoint, has to do with what is also considered a key strength of the IDI method: the interviewer–interviewee relationship. There are two key aspects of the relationship that can potentially limit (or even undermine) the effectiveness of the IDI method: the interviewer and the social context. The main issue with respect to the interviewer is his/her potential for biasing the information that is gathered. This can happen due to  (a) personal characteristics such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, and education (e.g., a 60-year-old Caucasian male interviewer may stifle or skew responses from young, female, African American participants); (b) personal values or beliefs (e.g., an interviewer with strongly held beliefs about global warming and its damaging impact on the environment may “tune out” or misconstrue the comments from interviewees who believe global warming is a myth); and/or (c) other factors (e.g., an interviewer’s stereotyping, misinterpreting, and/or presumptions about the interviewee based solely on the interviewee’s outward appearance). Any of these characteristics may negatively influence an interviewee’s responses to the researcher’s questions and/or the accuracy of the interviewer’s data gathering. A result of these interviewer effects may be the “difficulty of seeing the people as complex, and . . . a reduction of their humanity to a stereotypical, flat, one-dimensional paradigm” (Krumer-Nevo, 2002, p. 315).

The second key area of concern with the IDI method is related to the broader social context of the relationship, particularly what Kvale (2006) calls the “power dynamics” within the interview environment, characterized by the possibility of “a one-way dialogue” whereby “the interviewer rules the interview” (p. 484). It is important, therefore, for the researcher to carefully consider the social interactions that are integral to the interviewing process and the possible impact these interactions may have on the credibility of an IDI study. For example, the trained interviewer will maximize the social interaction by utilizing positive engagement techniques such as establishing rapport (i.e., being approachable), asking thoughtful questions that indicate the interviewer is listening carefully to the interviewee, and knowing when to stay silent and let the interviewee talk freely.

Krumer-Nevo, M. (2002). The arena of othering: A life-story study with women living in poverty and social marginality. Qualitative Social Work , 1 (3), 303–318.

Kvale, S. (2006). Dominance through interviews and dialogues. Qualitative Inquiry , 12 (3), 480–500.

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Stein RC, Dunn JA, Bartlett JMS, et al.; on behalf of the OPTIMA Trial Management Group. OPTIMA prelim: a randomised feasibility study of personalised care in the treatment of women with early breast cancer. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2016 Feb. (Health Technology Assessment, No. 20.10.)

OPTIMA prelim: a randomised feasibility study of personalised care in the treatment of women with early breast cancer.

Appendix 10 limitations of the qualitative research study methods.

In addition to the limitations presented in Chapter 6 , the discussion below relates to the specific limitations of the QRS methodology.

Data saturation was achieved within the interview study, as sampling was under the control of the QRS researcher. Such claims cannot be made for collection of audio-recorded consultations. It should be kept in mind that listening to audio-recorded consultations primarily served a practical purpose, and to this end, successfully identified challenges that recruiters were able to engage with in feedback meetings. However, the study would have benefited from a larger sample of audio-recordings, from a wider range of centres. Despite encouragement from the QRS team and TMG, recording of consultations did not occur as a matter of routine and the full range of interactions with patients was not captured. This is particularly true for second oncology consultations (where patients sometimes gave their decisions about participation). Incomplete recordings of each patient’s ‘journey’ made it difficult to track events, and made deciphering patients’ reasons for declining the trial problematic. In addition, limited numbers of audio-recordings for each individual recruiter restricted opportunities to assess the impact of QRS interventions through ‘before-and-after’ comparisons. Reluctance to routinely record consultations may have been an indirect consequence of recruiters perceiving the QRS as an ‘optional’ additional task. Future studies of this nature will need to frame the QRS as an integrated component of the trial.

The practices reported in interviews might have been influenced by recollection bias and/or the temptation to offer socially desirable answers. This is particularly true given the potentially sensitive nature of subjects discussed in consultations and the possibility of clinicians perceiving that their actions were under scrutiny. Similar sources of bias may also have influenced behaviours in consultations that were audio-recorded. In some cases, interviews focused on recruiters’ perceptions of why patients declined participation in OPTIMA prelim. Recruiters’ responses will have been based on their subjective interpretation of events, which may not have reflected reality. This consideration is also applicable to the data reported in screening logs, where recruiters were required to state the reason(s) why patients declined the OPTIMA prelim. Interviewing patients directly could have provided source triangulation (or contradictions), but the OPTIMA prelim QRS prioritised addressing the challenges already identified through recruiter interviews and audio-recorded consultations. There was an intention to interview patients if necessary, but given the exploratory nature of the QRS, the nature and extent of challenges identified early on could not be anticipated when the QRS was designed. Consideration should be given to interviewing patients if the OPTIMA main study proceeds.

Included under terms of UK Non-commercial Government License .

• Cite this Page Stein RC, Dunn JA, Bartlett JMS, et al.; on behalf of the OPTIMA Trial Management Group. OPTIMA prelim: a randomised feasibility study of personalised care in the treatment of women with early breast cancer. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2016 Feb. (Health Technology Assessment, No. 20.10.) Appendix 10, Limitations of the qualitative research study methods.
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