Posted: September 17th, 2022

Interviewing as a Social Research Method

Interviewing as a Social Research Method

Interviewing is a research method that involves asking open-ended questions where a researcher asks a respondent questions concerning a specific subject. Interview as a research method is most suitable, especially when gathering qualitative information (Adhabi & Anozie, 2017). Interviewing helps the researcher understand better concerning the subject and also exploring more details. The following discussion is about an interview concerning how people balance their daily demands and expectations of work, school, family, and social relations.
Before carrying out an interview, it is essential first to develop questions that a respondent will respond to during the interview. The interview questions will be in two categories; one category will focus on the demographic variables while the other category will focus on its topic. On the demographic type, one of the questions concerns how the daily engagements vary from different ages. The second question in the first category entails determining the differences in men’s and women’s daily activities. The third question is how education determines the engagement activities one engages in during the day. The first question in the second category concerns how men react to their daily demands and expectations. The second question concerns why women are effective when it comes to multi-tasking. The third question in the second category concerns why daily needs and expectations increase as one grows up.
One feature that the interview will maintain is the goal-driven approach, where the discussion will concentrate on the main goals. Another feature is the question-answer feature, where the entire consultation will entail asking the respondents questions (Adhabi & Anozie, 2017). The interviews will happen in the respondents’ homes, and the best time to carry out the interviews is during the evenings. The interview process will entail verbal interactions and questionnaire forms with more questions to give written answers.
One conclusion that I have developed concerning how people balance stress levels and their daily activities is that they have developed solutions and strategies on how to solve the challenges. Most people create solutions to handling stress far much before they can even engage in their daily activities. The sociological theory that has guided me in developing the interview question is the Functionalism theory. The Functionalism theory focuses on all aspects of society: social institution, roles, and norms. Functionalism proposes that these social aspects are essential for society’s long-term continuity (Ormerod, 2020). One important reason that I have learned as an interview is that it is always wise to face social challenges earlier enough. Another important lesson that I have discovered is that there is always a possible solution to every social challenge.

References
Adhabi, E., & Anozie, C. B. (2017). Literature review for the type of interview in qualitative research. International Journal of Education, 9(3), 86-97.
Ormerod, R. (2020). The history and ideas of sociological functionalism: Talcott Parsons, modern sociological theory, and the relevance for OR. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 71(12), 1873-1899.

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