Abstract

This chapter explores interview techniques. The use of interviews in social science expanded during the twentieth century. Research interviews with industrial, commercial, and market objectives have also contributed to their development as one of the main methods of social inquiry. The extensive use of interviews as a means of investigation and self-representation in modern society has contributed to their position as the ‘characteristic format for personal narratives’. While positivists conceive interviewers as miners whose main objective is data collection, post-positivists view them as travellers who unravel the intersubjective process of knowledge construction. These different epistemological conceptions of interview research have led to the development of various techniques. The chapter then looks at different types of interviews, including structured/directed interview, semi-structured/semi-directive interview, and in-depth/non-directive interview.