Impacts of Interview as Research Instrument of Data Collection in Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper examined the implications of using interviews as method of data collection in social sciences with reference to researcher’s experience during fieldwork. The paper is purely qualitative and documentary sources were source of data collection. The paper argued that interview as an instrument of data collection when compared to other data collection techniques like questionnaire is more powerful in eliciting narrative data that allow researchers to investigate people's views in greater depth. The paper indicated that interview as a tool for social science data collection research helps to facilitate in obtaining direct explanation for human actions through a comprehensive speech interaction. The paper concluded that although interviewing is a powerful way of getting insights into interviewee's perceptions, it could go hand in hand with other methods providing in-depth information about participants' inner values and beliefs. For instance, using personal observation as a supplement to interviews would allow researchers investigate participants' external behaviors and internal beliefs. Therefore, the paper stressed that using more than one data collection instrument (although it depends on the research questions) would help obtaining richer data and validating the research findings.