Interviews are often done through telephone, so these other media could accomplish the same thing and allow video as well as voice.

Interviews are often done through telephone, so these other media could accomplish the same thing and allow video as well as voice.

Yes, you can. I know people who have done telephone and Skype interviews. However, I do not recommend email interviews, which cannot provide as rich information for analysis.

Yes, my research was done through ZoomPro teleconference of video conferencing for blind or visually impaired individuals. If it will be less than 45 minutes then just use the free feature. ZoomPro is extra. Make sure you keep your recordings for the allotted time and allow the participant to choose. Some will not mind video but for those that do, tell them you can use the phone feature. You will be good to go.

When F2F interview is not possible (as in most cases), then other means are used such as telephone, email, Viber, WhatsApp, Skype, etc. depending on what is convenient for the respondent/interviewee.

Hi Muhammad Newaz

To me, it can be done. Though CAPI (computer assisted personal interview ) is quite common in case of data collection through structured questionnaire, using the online platform is quite ok for semistructured questionnaire through any interactive platform.

hi,

yes it can be done by using social media approach. but it is only feasible if the medium of communication can be directed to the ideas of semi-structured interview whereby it needed 2ways of communication between interviewer and responded. phone call/skype is the best tools for this approach i think. however, it depends the needs of the research. as long as the data can be retrieved and reliable for the research

We had this discussion before elsewhere on RG. Face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, skype interviews and written (email) interviews differ in important respects including:

- The extent to which the interviewer controls the interview situation (do you know what your interviewee is doing while being interviewed, who else is present while they answer the questions or even who is answering at all?);

- The social distance between interviewer and interviewee (face to face is a very personal situation that might be unsuitable for sensitive questions, email interviews can be conducted anonymously);

- The ease of conducting the interview (the interviewees can be more flexible with their time with some forms than others);

- The ease of answering questions (e.g. just talking versus writing);

- and probably others.

All these aspects may affect the information you obtain by a specific interview form. This why the form has to be carefully chosen in light of the information to be obtained with the interview.

Yes. I have used zoom conferencing for my research too and had a great experience with it. You can get your audio recordings from zoom and transcribe them through other services like rev.com or use the transcription feature that zoom has (this may require a bit more cleaning). For video interviews in general, I suggest you first do a practice interview with someone in the same area as your participants to make sure the quality of the connection is great. It is definitely feasible and even advisable is you are far away from your research participants.

I used Skype both with (and in one case without) the visual side on and it worked really well. One thing that was good was that both I and the individual could if necessary take short breaks to deal with a quick emergency e.g., letting the dog out, my having a coughing fit mid interview. We didn't have to reschedule, just carried on after. Also it was good to be able to see people and read their body language and facial expressions. I think it depends how comfortable both you and the interviewer feel with Skyping, but its great to be able to offer a wide choice of modes for interviewees and to meet their preferences if possible. I would always ask permission as to what you can record (i.e., visual as well as oral)

You can use social media as long as it is serving the purpose of extracting the information from the participants.

Depends on the purpose. onsite face to face interviews has its own advantages. You can see your interviewees' responses in body language and facial expressions more sensitively. Hence, you will be better in adjusting your probe questions. Or even, in some cases, observing their body gestures is part of the research question seeks to answer. Then it is important to "see" the interviewee/s onsite. However, in the current online media research in education, there are a group of research using "virtual ethnography," conducting online interviews with informants. This includes Skype, Zoom, WebEx, WeChat, and many other ways, you can video or voice chat with one participant (interviewee/informant) or a group of them. Hope this answers.

Hi Muhammad Nawaz Tunio

It depends on the nature of research or issue you are investigating. I think using skype or zoom should not be a problem, though collecting data using online means has attracted some criticisms recently due to its associated ethical concerns. My Doctoral study had students in distance learning programmes as participants. It was impossible for me to reach my participants on site due to their mode of study, they were also scattered across various locations. Therefore, using an online based instrument was the best option I had which I designed using google doc. I was able to provide justification for my data collection citing the nature of my participants and it worked perfectly for me. You should be ready to defend why you are conducting an online interviews and not on-site when required.

I wish you all the best!

it is a feasible tool especial in terms of cost of travel and administering the research tools. however you need to take into consideration the limitations and ethical issues related to the collection method.

Muhammad Nawaz Tunio ,I guess this is possible considering the type of technology available to us at this period.Social media will always be an option as long as you know what exactly you want to get out of it and you consider the ethical issues around using social media as a tool.All the best in your research.

Yes you can conduct semi- structured interviews through Skype or zoom. it is better to conduct the interviews in a quiet location and also make sure the internet does not get disconnected. Otherwise, The flow of conversation will be disrupted.