An in-depth interview is a personal, unstructured conversation, a free and direct interview, during which the moderator (interviewer) finds out the opinions, habits of the respondent, his beliefs and inclinations. In-depth interviews are good when you need to explore a person's hidden associations, emotions and inclinations. This method allows you to understand the characteristics of perception and memorization, which cannot be achieved with a focus group (a focus group is more superficial, so the opinions of participants can influence each other). Meanwhile, it is the deep processes
happening in consciousness are very important. The in-depth interview method is mainly used to solve the following research problems:
- portrait and behavior of consumers;
- studying consumer attitudes towards goods, brands, manufacturers;
- searching for unoccupied niches and developing new products;
- assessing the compliance of an existing product with market requirements;
- testing of advertising materials
Advantages of the in-depth interview method
1. Receive more detailed, detailed information, individually colored (in a focus group, people do not have the opportunity or desire to talk about themselves in such detail).
2. Obtain personal information from the respondent, which under other circumstances (collection methods) would not be available (in a focus group, personal opinion may be suppressed by other group participants).
3. Identify the opinion of each person, not only representatives of the majority, but also of the minority (which is extremely difficult in a focus group due to the specifics of group processes).
4. Obtain sufficiently reliable information, since the respondent is more sincere when he feels interested in his opinion. The level of sincerity can be assessed quite easily by the interviewer (if it is low, then the data is rejected).
5. Identify subconscious feelings that the respondent is not aware of or formulated (they can be revealed through associations, projection, etc.).
6. Track and record non-verbal information (facial expressions, gestures, tone, pauses, interjections, etc.).
7. Interview people who are difficult to bring together into a focus group (time pressure, reluctance to communicate, etc.).
8. Follow the logic of one subject’s thoughts (which is extremely difficult to do in a focus group).
9. Formation of a more serious attitude of the respondent to the survey as a result of an individual interview
Flaws
1. The complexity of training a highly qualified interviewer.
2. The risk of a decrease in the quality and depth of the information received under the influence of the interviewer.
3. A lot of time is spent.
4. High financial costs.
5. The complexity of the information collection procedure (only 4-5 interviews per day).
6. The complexity of the information processing procedure.
7. Often limited use of demonstration material in specific interview conditions.