Interviews

Interviews are the method used most frequently in selection decisions as they have the highest reliability. However, this method can also be misused and result in less effective results (Roberts 2005). Interviews are most frequently used in combination with other methods to serve as selection tools (Schmidt & Hunter 1998). When preparing an interview every organization seeks some set of attributes of each and every candidate. According to Huffcutt et al. (2001), the following attributes are assessed when selecting candidates.

1.       The personality of the candidate is most frequently assessed (35%) 
2.       Candidate’s social skills (28%)
3.       Their mental ability (16%)
4.       Interests and preferences of the candidate (4%)
5.       Physical attributes (4%)
6.       The suitability for the organization (3%)

Out of all these attributes the most vital attribute is a person’s personality.

Interviews form the backbone of primary data collection in qualitative research designs. Unlike quantitative studies, the scope of a qualitative study is linked to the agenda of exploring and justifying why a particular phenomenon is a way it is (Stewart, Gill, Chadwick &Treasure 2008). It is evident that interviews are compatible with an experimental or a phenomenological research paradigm (Aliyu, Bello, Kasim & Martin 2014).

Interviewers are specialized people who act professionally to seek relevant information from subjects to validate their research hypotheses. Significantly, the subjects of the interview process are the interviewees (Edwards & Holland 2013).

Types of Interviews

Interviews can be categorized from their nature of implementation to their ideal motives in any qualitative study (Edwards & Holland 2013).

Structured Interviews

Structured interviews are fully controlled by the interviewer (who possesses much power) and as such, gives the interviewee less room to be flexible and casual (Stuckey 2013). It is based on the rigid nature of structure interviews that analysts rate them unfavourably in qualitative studies (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree 2006). Structured interviews have a set of guidelines which must be clearly observed by the researcher. The researcher has to adhere to the sequence of questions and question wording during the process. In explaining the response, no participant is allowed to answer another subject’s questions. (Stuckey 2013)

Semi-Structured Interviews

This is the most used type of interview in qualitative researchers (Alshenqeeti, 2014). semi-structured interviews have no rigid adherence. Their implementation is dependent on how the interviewee responds to the question or topics laid across by the researcher. By borrowing a leaf from the field of qualitative diabetes research, scholars assert that the researcher is mandated to provide the subject with some topics reflecting the issue under study, whereby one is to explore the topic that the interviewee is comfortable with (Stuckey 2013).

Unstructured Interviews

Unstructured interviews enable the interviewer to concentrate on listening, recording and assessing the responses. Furthermore, it creates a comfortable atmosphere and the candidates are able to cover the aspects they want to. Hence, the answerers and results of unstructured interviews are inconsistent and hard to use for comparison with each other. (Feichtinger & Hörold 2015). Unstructured interviews are seen critically because their average validity coefficient is considerably lower than that of structured interviews (Conway et al. 1995; Cook 2004). The relatively poor validity as well as reliability originate in the fact that this kind of interview is not standardized. Therefore, different interviews might not be able to agree on the same candidate (Cooper et al. 2003; Roberts 2005). Even is there is a category as unstructured interview it practically contradicts this theory. However, certain interviews are disjointed in their nature of implementation that they qualify the tag name. This form of interview has its roots in the ethnographic tradition of anthropology (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree, 2006).

 

As Opdenakker (2006) states, interviews exhibit their superiority and weakness. However, their comprehensive use in qualitative studies is because the strengths outweigh the weaknesses.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviews

From a general perspective, interviews have numerous advantages that conform to the nature of a qualitative research paradigm. One of the pertinent aspects emphasized on by Sewell is that interviews provide the participants with the much-needed flexibility of explaining issues based on how well they know them. interviewers get to use their interpersonal skills to explore on significant issues raised by the participant, aspects that are central to comprehensive data collection. However, the general analytical approach preferred by Sewell, this discussion also glances at the specific approach preferred by Opdenakker (2006). Face to face interview is advantageous based on the amount of data that can be collected. In general interview, time is a major factor, which well accounted for when the face-to-face mode is applied. The researcher has the time to get comfortable and articulate issues vividly with the subject. Besides the aspect of quantity, the quality of data collected is also high. With the possibility of sticking to visual aids, the subject is much likely to understand the question and yield appropriate responses, compared to telephone or mail interviews. Face to face interviews is also perfect for groups (Doyle 2005). The advantages of telephone interview include a wide geographical coverage, easy to contact inaccessible individuals, superior for contacting people in closed sites or war tone areas, and relevant in dealing with sensitive issues where personal contact is not required (Opdenakker, 2006).

The downsides of face-to-face interviews include being costly and requiring a long time to complete (Doyle, 2005). In face-to-face interaction, the research needs to travel or pay for the participants’ fare to the interview sites. Significantly, interviewees also need to be trained, all aspects that amount to costliness and much time was taken. Consequently, face to face interviews is physically limited to a single geographical region while they put the interviewee on the spot as they require immediate responses. Analysts also indicate that is easy to introduce interviewer bias (Doyle, 2005). The downsides of telephone interview include short interviews due to limed resources, and like other technological platforms, mainly mail and messenger, physical aids cannot be used for further justification (Opdenakker,2006).

 

I have experience with a particular recently founded company in 2019. One of my colleagues worked there, and the business focused on creating commercials. The business had excellent financial standing, so it immediately began hiring without even conducting any interviews. And two years later, the business filed for bankruptcy owing to financial difficulties. My point is that this could have been prevented if they had conducted qualitative interviews rather of assigning unneeded personnel to unneeded jobs.

 

 

List of References

1.      Aliyu, A. A., Bello, M. U., Kasim, R., & Martin, D. (2014). Positivist and Non-Positivist Paradigm in Social Science Research: Conflicting Paradigms or Perfect Partners? Journal of Management and Sustainability, 4(3), 79-95.

2.      Alshenqeeti, H. (2014). Interviewing as a Data Collection Method: A Critical Review. English Linguistics Research, 3(1), 39.

3.      Conway, J.M., Jako, R.A. & Goodman, D.F., 1995. A meta-analysis of interrater and internal
consistency reliability of selection interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80,
pp.565–579.

4.      Cook, M., 2004. Personnel selection: adding value through people, Chichester, West Sussex,
England; Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley.

5.      Cooper, D. et al., 2003. Recruitment and selection: a framework for success, Australia;
United States: Thomson.

6.      DiCicco-Bloom, B., & Crabtree, B. F. (2006). The qualitative research interviews. Medical Education, 40(4), 314-321.

7.      Doyle, J.K. (2005) Face-to-Face Surveys

8.      Edwards, R., & Holland, J. (2013). What is qualitative interviewing? A&C Black. Retrieved from http://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/3276/1/complete_proofs.pdf

9.      Feichtinger, B. and Hörold, C. (2015) Recruitment and Selection The way of finding future talented leaders.

10.  Opdenakker, R. (2006, September). Advantages and disadvantages of four interview techniques in qualitative research. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(4).

11.  Roberts, G., 2005. Recruitment and selection, London: Institute of Personnel and
Development.

12.  Stewart, K., Gill, P., Chadwick, B., & Treasure, E. (2008). Qualitative research in dentistry. British dental journal, 204(5), 235-239.

13.  Stuckey, H. L. (2013). Three types of interviews: Qualitative research methods in social health. Journal of Social Health and Diabetes, 1(2), 56-59.