In-depth interview

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The in- depth or intensive interview is an instrument of psychotherapy , empirical social research and market research in the form of a non-directive , qualitative personal conversation, which is intended to capture all the relevant attitudes and opinions of the person interviewed. In-depth interviews can last an hour or more. The attempt is also made to identify motives and structures of meaning that the person concerned is not aware of. The scientific-theoretical approach on this point relates to psychoanalysis .

Basic principle

The assumption in the in-depth interview is that respondents have deeper or implicit levels of consciousness that guide their actions and thinking, without the respondents being able to articulate these implicit levels of consciousness without further ado. Due to this basic principle, the in-depth interview is methodologically included in those of the partially structured procedures in which the stimuli are defined, but their sequence and depth are adapted to the respondent's stories. This orientation towards the respondent is absolutely necessary in order to create a closeness to everyday life and thus familiarity in the interview situation. This makes it easier for the respondent to get involved in the interview.

Mark

  1. Flexibility: The freely conducted, non-directive conversation based on an open guide or catalog of topics adapts to the subjective experience of the respondent - the interviewer is not bound to specific questions and the respondent to predefined response schemes. In this way, on the one hand, the respondent can set the content-related priorities himself, and on the other hand, the interviewer can also follow in-depth topics that only emerge in the course of the conversation. The specification of the interview is limited to one topic and a discussion guide.
  2. Emotionality : The pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the conversation and the appreciative attitude of the interviewer enable the respondent to address their own emotions as well as unpleasant or socially undesirable aspects.
  3. Depth of knowledge: With the help of projective or associative questioning techniques , the interviewer gains access to attitudes and needs of the interviewee that are difficult to verbalize and are not immediately aware of and can reflect on them together with him. The conversations are recorded on tape, then written down and analyzed and interpreted for content analysis.

to form

The in-depth interview is one of the most intensive and productive types of survey. Depending on the question, it can be more depth psychological or more themed.

A depth psychological approach is recommended when a basic understanding of the subject is required. The subject areas of the interviews are roughly given here; their sequence only emerges during the course of the conversation. The conversation is kept very open and even apparent digressions can provide important information on how a topic is perceived and in what context it stands. Special survey techniques such as recapitulation , mirroring , associative and projective procedures, laddering techniques or the use of key words can get the test subjects to tell and reveal their emotions.

If you no longer want to focus on the basics, but on specific questions , the conversation can be more directive (steering) and the guidelines more structured. In practice, ethnographic interviews have proven effective here.

There are of course gradations and modifications between the depth psychological and the topic-centered approach. According to Salcher (1995), the forms of in-depth interviews are therefore divided into three main forms:

  1. Depth Questionnaire: Open-ended answers, interviewer must adhere to pre-formulated questions
  2. Structured Depth Interview: Guide with the most important questions, which provides the framework, but otherwise free (classic in-depth interview)
  3. Unstructured Depth Interview: No guideline, interviewer is only briefed on the problem, aim: as comprehensive a presentation of a topic as possible

In the first case, the in-depth interview can hardly be distinguished from a survey and loses much of its qualitative function. In the latter case, you get a wealth of qualitatively usable material, but at the expense of the comparability of the individual interviews, as these are structured by the respondents and not by the interviewer.

In the semi-structured, guideline-oriented depth interview (Structured Depth Interview), the compromise between e.g. In some cases, given questions and letting them be told, that is, the flexible response to non-anticipated statements made by the respondents in order to cover both the scope and depth of the topic and to obtain diverse and comparable material. This type of interview is characterized by the fact that guideline complexes are determined which correspond to the main topics and that these contain "openly formulated questions", in some cases also keywords or precisely formulated items, the sequence and weighting of which are not stipulated but are developed together with the respondents in the interview become. The flexibility of this research method makes it possible to examine spontaneous ideas and seemingly absurd thoughts in connection with the subject of the survey for their hidden meaning.

application areas

Areas of application of this interview technique, according to its theoretical origin, are all those subject areas in which latent personality structures , motivations and also pathological, neurotic behaviors or personalities are the focus. This technique was justified by Sigmund Freud's interview procedure and was used in a wide variety of areas (including youth research , psychotherapy , but above all in market research ).

psychotherapy

Open conversations are part of every psychotherapy (whereby the term depth interview is mainly assigned to depth psychological methods). During the initial and follow-up consultation, they can be used to take anamnesis, clarify the motivation for therapy, establish a therapeutic relationship, collect findings and diagnoses and convey information to the patient.

Social research

In-depth interviews are used to determine the subjects' motives and individual experiences and to record rare or deviating cases. Disadvantages, in addition to the high expenditure of time and personnel, are the sensitivity to examiner-dependent distortions . Researchers can increase their pre-scientific understanding, i.e. generate hypotheses, but standardized surveys are better suited for the final hypothesis test. The socialization and development of young people can in part be better captured with qualitative observations and in-depth interviews than with quantitative methods.

Market research

The qualitative in-depth interview is a core instrument of psychological market research ( market psychology ) to research causes and relationships that are still unknown. It is particularly ideal for more delicate topics or to determine “preconscious content” and to clarify individual understanding. It does not analyze the personality of the individual respondents, but only the respective target group .

Interesting questions are ...

  • ... the behavior of consumers (or customers, employees, internet users, etc.) or complex emotional and motivational influences on their buying and consumption behavior ,
  • ... impact analysis of advertising and other communication media (e.g. for image campaigns , highly emotional topics or for the analysis of visual language),
  • ... brand and company images (brand core analyzes),
  • ... character, reason why and unique selling proposition of products and services.
  • ... customer satisfaction studies.

The experienced interviewer can thereby also embarrassing, difficult to verbalize or unconscious contents of experience exploring and rationalizations question, socially desirable or banal, superficial answers. In the protocols you get complete chains of thoughts and arguments, the complex psychological relationships - z. B. in the development of brand preferences - map well. However, the demands on the interviewer are very high, and implementation and evaluation are more expensive than average. Sometimes a transcription is required. The hermeneutic interpretation as an evaluation method is very time consuming.

Literature and individual references

  1. ^ Alfred Kuß, Martin Eisend: Market research: Basics of data collection and data analysis . Gabler Verlag, January 2010, ISBN 978-3-8349-1379-1 , pp. 132– (accessed on August 17, 2011).
  2. ^ Siegfried Lamnek: Qualitative social research: textbook . Beltz, PVU, February 10, 2005, ISBN 978-3-621-27544-6 , pp. 371– (accessed August 17, 2011).
  3. ↑ Regina Rettenbach: The Psychotherapy Examination: Compact course to prepare for the license to practice medicine examination according to the Psychotherapists Act with commentary on the IMPP catalog of subjects . Schattauer Verlag, May 2005, ISBN 978-3-7945-2387-0 , p. 39– (accessed on August 17, 2011).
  4. ↑ Jürgen Friedrichs: Methods of empirical social research . VS Verlag, 1990, ISBN 978-3-531-22028-4 , pp. 224– (accessed on August 17, 2011).
  5. ^ Heinz-Hermann Krüger, Cathleen Grunert: Handbook Childhood and Youth Research . VS Verlag, October 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-15838-9 , pp. 208– (accessed on August 17, 2011).
  • Kepper, G. (1996). Qualitative market research: methods, possible applications and assessment criteria. Wiesbaden, German University Publishing Company GmbH. ISBN 3824402920
  • Lamnek, S. (1995). Qualitative Social Research, Volume 2: Methods and Techniques. Weinheim, Psychologie Verlags Union. ISBN 3621277706
  • Mayring, P. (2002). Introduction to qualitative research. Weinheim and Basel, Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3407252528
  • Naderer, Gabriele & Balzer, Eva (2007). Qualitative market research in theory and practice: basics, methods and applications. Gabler. ISBN 3834902446
  • Reinders, H. (2005). Conducting Qualitative Interviews with Young People: A Guide. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich. ISBN 3486578375
  • Salcher, EF & Hoffelt, P. (1995). Psychological market research. Berlin, de Gruyter. ISBN 3110125633

Web links