Why not to do interviews?

There are four reasons why, as a researcher, you should not interviews. 

Time- interviews take a great deal of time to plan, interview, transcribe data, and analyze. Doing qualitative studies is not the "easy way" to do research. Transcription of interviews takes hours and there really is not a fast and easy way to do it (unless you can afford to pay someone else do it).

Being shy- doing interviews requires that you recruit and contact people that you do not know. If you are very shy/ afraid to contact strangers, the process can be insurmountable.

Not understanding other methodologies- often students decide on qualitative methods and fail to really understand quantitative methods. This is very limiting in the long run, it may mean that you have limited future job opportunities. Make sure that you get as much experience as you can in all methods, so your options remain open.

Ethical/moral issues- there may be ethical reasons for not interviewing certain people/ populations as it may be seen as exploitative and potentially damaging to them. An example would be interviewing illegal immigrants or prisoners, who could potentially be hurt if their comments were identified as coming from particular individuals.

Interviewing needs to be carefully considered as a research method and needs to be a fit for your personality, time, and your population. 

Next time I will consider what is meant by phenomenological interviewing.  Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu