how many interview questions to ask for research

20 Common Researcher Interview Questions and Answers

Common Researcher interview questions, how to answer them, and sample answers from a certified career coach.

You’ve been invited to interview for a research position—congratulations! You know you have the skills and experience, but now it’s time to prove it.

The key to success? Being prepared. To help make sure you shine in your upcoming interview, we’ve compiled some of the most common questions asked during research interviews. Read on, get familiar with them, and practice your answers so you can ace that job interview like a pro.

• What research methods do you use to collect data?
• How do you ensure the accuracy and validity of your research results?
• Describe a time when you had to analyze complex data sets and draw meaningful conclusions from them.
• Explain how you would go about designing an experiment or survey to answer a specific research question.
• Are you familiar with any statistical software programs? If so, which ones?
• What strategies do you use to stay organized while conducting research?
• How do you handle ethical considerations when conducting research?
• Have you ever encountered a situation where you had to adjust your research methodology due to unexpected circumstances?
• Describe a time when you had to present your research findings in a clear and concise manner.
• Do you have experience working with large datasets?
• What challenges have you faced when collecting primary data for a research project?
• How do you approach writing up a research paper or report?
• What techniques do you use to identify potential sources of bias in your research?
• How do you evaluate the quality of secondary sources used in your research?
• What strategies do you use to keep track of changes in the field of research you are studying?
• How do you decide which research questions to pursue?
• What is your experience with peer review processes?
• How do you manage competing demands on your time when conducting research?
• What strategies do you use to ensure that your research remains relevant and up-to-date?
• How do you ensure that your research meets the highest standards of academic integrity?

1. What research methods do you use to collect data?

Research methods are the core of any researcher’s job. You’ll need to be familiar with a variety of different methods, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and experiments, and be able to explain how you use each one in your work. This will help the interviewer understand your process and how you can contribute to their organization.

How to Answer:

You should be prepared to explain the research methods you have used in your past work. Talk about how you use surveys, interviews, focus groups, and experiments to collect data, as well as any other methods you may have experience with. If you’re just starting out, then talk through the steps you would take to select a method for each project. You can also mention any specialized methods or software that you are familiar with.

Example: “I use a variety of research methods to collect data, depending on the project. I often use surveys and interviews as primary sources of information, but I also have experience with focus groups, experiments, and software tools like Qualtrics for collecting quantitative data. I’m familiar with specialized methods such as content analysis and ethnography when appropriate. My goal is always to select the method that will provide the most accurate and reliable data for each project.”

2. How do you ensure the accuracy and validity of your research results?

Research requires a level of precision that goes beyond the normal workplace. Good researchers are able to identify what data is relevant and how to collect it in order to make reliable conclusions. Interviewers will want to know that you have the skills and knowledge to conduct research that is both accurate and valid. They’ll also want to know if you use any specific methods or tools to ensure accuracy and validity.

You should be prepared to explain what methods you use to ensure accuracy and validity of your research. This could include double-checking sources, using multiple data points, or triangulating information from different sources to verify results. You can also mention any specific tools or techniques you use, such as conducting surveys or interviews with experts in the field. Be sure to emphasize how important it is for you to make sure that your research is accurate and valid before drawing conclusions.

Example: “When I was working on a research project for ABC Corporation, I had to analyze the data from three different sources. My approach was to use statistical analysis techniques and software tools to cross-reference the data sets and identify any potential discrepancies or outliers. After analyzing the results, I identified a number of key trends that allowed us to draw meaningful conclusions about the company’s operations. The insights gained from this research ultimately led to improvements in the organization’s processes, resulting in increased efficiency and productivity.”

3. Describe a time when you had to analyze complex data sets and draw meaningful conclusions from them.

Research projects often involve a lot of data analysis and interpretation. Knowing how to take large amounts of data and make it into something meaningful is a valuable skill for any researcher. This question is a way for the interviewer to gauge your ability to work with data and draw meaningful conclusions from it.

You should be prepared to provide a specific example of when you had to analyze complex data sets and draw meaningful conclusions from them. Talk about the project, your approach to analyzing the data, and any insights or conclusions that you drew from it. Be sure to emphasize the impact of your findings on the project or organization as well.

Example: “I recently worked on a project for my previous employer in which I had to analyze a large and complex data set. My approach was to break down the data into smaller, more manageable chunks and then look for patterns or correlations between different variables. After doing this, I was able to identify a few key trends that were relevant to the project goals. This allowed us to make better decisions about how to allocate resources and focus our efforts, resulting in a successful outcome.”

4. Explain how you would go about designing an experiment or survey to answer a specific research question.

This question is designed to determine if you have the skills necessary to design and implement valid research experiments. The interviewer wants to know if you understand the fundamentals of research design, such as how to select a sample, how to develop a hypothesis, and how to determine the validity of a study. They also want to know if you can explain the process in a clear and concise manner.

Start by explaining the steps you would take to design an experiment or survey. You should include the following: defining the research question, selecting a sample, developing a hypothesis, creating a data collection plan, and determining how to analyze the results. Be sure to explain any specific techniques you might use in each step, such as random sampling or stratified sampling for your sample selection process. Finally, emphasize the importance of validating the results to ensure they are accurate and reliable.

Example: “When designing an experiment or survey, the first step is to define the research question. Once the research question has been identified, I would then select a sample that is representative of the population being studied. I would also develop a hypothesis based on my understanding of the research question and the available data. After that, I would create a data collection plan that outlines how the data will be collected, such as using surveys, interviews, or focus groups. Finally, I would determine the best method for analyzing the results in order to draw valid conclusions from the research. In all cases, it’s important to validate the results to ensure they are accurate and reliable.”

5. Are you familiar with any statistical software programs? If so, which ones?

Researchers often have to analyze data and present it in a meaningful way. This requires familiarity with statistical software programs like SPSS, SAS, or R. Knowing how to use these programs is a critical part of being a successful researcher, so this question is meant to gauge your level of expertise.

If you are familiar with any of the programs mentioned above, be sure to mention that and explain how you have used them in past research projects. If you are not familiar with these programs, it is still important to emphasize your ability to learn new software quickly. Explain how you approach learning new technologies and provide examples of times when you have successfully done so in the past.

Example: “I have used SPSS and SAS in my previous research projects. I am also comfortable with learning new statistical software programs, as I have done so on multiple occasions in the past. For example, when starting a new project at my last job, I was asked to learn R quickly in order to analyze data. Within two weeks, I had become proficient enough to use it for all of our research needs.”

6. What strategies do you use to stay organized while conducting research?

Research can be a long and complex process, with lots of data to sift through, organize, and analyze. It’s important to show the interviewer that you have a system in place to stay organized throughout the research process, from the initial research plan to the final report. This will demonstrate that you can effectively manage your time and resources, as well as prioritize tasks and remain focused on the task at hand.

You can answer this question by talking about the strategies you use to stay organized while conducting research. You could mention that you create detailed research plans, break down large tasks into smaller ones, and prioritize tasks based on importance and deadlines. Additionally, you could talk about how you utilize organizational tools such as spreadsheets and databases to store data, track progress, and easily access information when needed. Finally, you might also discuss how you take notes during your research process in order to keep track of important ideas or findings.

Example: “I use a variety of strategies to stay organized while conducting research. I always start by creating a detailed research plan that outlines the scope of my work and any deadlines associated with it. From there, I break down large tasks into smaller ones in order to tackle them more efficiently. Additionally, I prioritize tasks based on importance and deadlines in order to remain focused on the task at hand. To help store data, track progress, and access information quickly, I also utilize organizational tools such as spreadsheets and databases. Finally, I take notes during my research process in order to keep track of important ideas or findings.”

7. How do you handle ethical considerations when conducting research?

Research often involves collecting personal data, and it’s important that researchers understand how to approach these situations with respect and integrity. Interviewers want to know that you are aware of ethical considerations and that you are capable of adhering to them. This question is likely to be asked to all potential researchers, as it is an important part of the job.

Talk about the ethical considerations you take into account when conducting research. These can include obtaining informed consent from participants, ensuring confidentiality and anonymity of data, respecting privacy laws, protecting vulnerable populations, and considering potential biases that may arise in your research. You should also mention any processes or protocols you have implemented to ensure ethical compliance with research projects. Finally, emphasize how important it is for researchers to adhere to ethical standards and how seriously you take them.

Example: “I understand the importance of adhering to ethical standards when conducting research, and I take this responsibility very seriously. In my current position as a researcher at ABC University, I follow a strict protocol for obtaining informed consent from participants and ensuring that data is kept confidential and anonymous. I also make sure to consider any potential biases in our research before collecting data and am familiar with applicable privacy laws. Lastly, I always strive to protect vulnerable populations, such as children or those with disabilities, when conducting research.”

8. Have you ever encountered a situation where you had to adjust your research methodology due to unexpected circumstances?

Research is a dynamic process and researchers must be prepared to adjust their methods as needed. This question is designed to assess the flexibility of potential candidates and their ability to think on their feet. It also provides insight into how well a candidate understands the research process, including how to identify and address potential problems.

To answer this question, provide an example of a situation where you had to adjust your research methodology due to unexpected circumstances. Explain how you identified the problem and how you adjusted your methods in order to successfully complete the project. Be sure to emphasize any creative solutions you implemented and the positive outcome that resulted from your adjustment.

Example: “I recently encountered a situation where I had to adjust my research methodology due to unexpected circumstances. I was conducting a survey to analyze consumer behavior in relation to a new product launch. After collecting the first round of data, I noticed a discrepancy in the results that could not be explained. After further investigation, I realized that the sample size I was using was not large enough to accurately capture the data. I quickly adjusted my methodology by increasing the sample size and collecting more data, which ultimately allowed me to identify the discrepancy and provide an accurate analysis of consumer behavior.”

9. Describe a time when you had to present your research findings in a clear and concise manner.

Researchers often have to communicate their findings to colleagues, stakeholders, and the public. The ability to communicate complex research findings in an understandable way is a key skill for someone in this role. This question allows the interviewer to gauge your ability to explain complex concepts in a clear and concise manner.

You should come prepared with an example of a time when you had to present your research findings. Talk about the project, what the goal was, and how you went about presenting it. If possible, provide specific details such as the type of presentation (oral, written, etc.), who you presented to, and the feedback you received. You should also explain the strategies that you used to make sure that the audience understood your message. This could include using visual aids, breaking down complex concepts into simpler terms, or providing examples to illustrate your points.

Example: “My most recent research project focused on the long-term effects of climate change on agricultural production. I knew that it was important to make sure that the findings were presented in a way that was easy to understand and digest. I created a PowerPoint presentation that included visuals and graphs to illustrate my points, as well as a written report that provided a detailed breakdown of the findings. I then presented my findings to a group of stakeholders and received positive feedback. They appreciated my ability to take complex concepts and explain them in a way that was easy to understand.”

10. Do you have experience working with large datasets?

Many research roles require the ability to work with large datasets and analyze the information within them. This question helps employers understand how comfortable you are with such tasks, and it also serves as a way to gauge your technical skills. To answer this question, talk about how you’ve used various tools and techniques to analyze data and how you’ve been able to draw meaningful insights from it.

Start by talking about the types of datasets you’ve worked with, such as structured or unstructured data, and explain how you’ve gone about analyzing them. Then, provide a few examples of projects you’ve completed that involved working with large datasets. Finally, discuss any tools or techniques you’ve used to work with the data, such as statistical software, data visualization tools, machine learning algorithms, etc. Be sure to emphasize your ability to draw meaningful insights from the data and how those insights have helped inform decisions.

Example: “I have experience working with large datasets in both structured and unstructured formats. I have utilized various tools and techniques to analyze the data, such as statistical software and data visualization tools. I’ve also employed machine learning algorithms to uncover patterns and trends from the data. For example, in my most recent project I utilized a variety of data sources to identify potential new markets for our company. Through analyzing the data, I was able to identify key demographic, geographic, and psychographic trends that we could use to target our new customers. This analysis provided valuable insights that informed our marketing strategy and ultimately led to increased sales.”

11. What challenges have you faced when collecting primary data for a research project?

Research often involves gathering primary data from sources such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observations. It’s important to determine whether the candidate has the skills necessary to design and implement a research project in order to successfully collect data. This question helps the interviewer understand the candidate’s ability to handle the logistics and challenges of primary data collection.

When answering this question, it’s important to provide specific examples of challenges you have faced and how you overcame them. For example, you could talk about the challenge of finding participants for a survey or focus group, or the difficulty in scheduling interviews with busy professionals. You can also discuss any logistical issues that arose during data collection, such as having unreliable equipment or dealing with uncooperative participants. Be sure to emphasize your problem-solving skills and ability to think on your feet when facing unexpected obstacles.

Example: “I’ve encountered a few challenges when gathering primary data for research projects. For example, when I was working on a survey project for a university, it took me several weeks to find participants willing to answer the survey. I had to be creative in my approach and reach out to different groups, such as student organizations, to recruit participants. I also encountered a few logistical issues, such as having unreliable equipment or dealing with uncooperative participants. I was able to quickly come up with solutions to these issues, such as having backup equipment and developing strategies to engage the participants. Overall, I was able to successfully gather the data I needed and produce valuable research findings.”

12. How do you approach writing up a research paper or report?

Research is a process that requires both creativity and structure. As a researcher, you must be able to synthesize information from a variety of sources, develop strong arguments, and communicate those arguments clearly and concisely in written form. Being able to articulate your approach to researching and writing up a paper will demonstrate your ability to think critically and logically.

Your answer should include the steps you take when writing up a research paper or report. This could include outlining your topic, researching relevant sources, organizing and synthesizing data, developing an argument, drafting and revising the paper, and proofreading for accuracy. It is also important to emphasize how you use critical thinking skills to develop strong arguments and draw meaningful conclusions from your research. Finally, make sure to mention any specific techniques or strategies that you have used successfully in the past.

Example: “When writing up a research paper or report, I approach the task systematically. I begin by outlining my topic and any relevant research questions. I then conduct research to find relevant sources, both primary and secondary. I carefully review and analyze the information I find, and use it to develop my argument. After that, I draft and revise the paper, making sure to include evidence to support my points. Finally, I proofread for accuracy and clarity. Throughout the process, I strive to use critical thinking skills to ensure that my arguments are sound and my conclusions are meaningful.”

13. What techniques do you use to identify potential sources of bias in your research?

Researchers need to be able to identify potential sources of bias in their work, such as selection bias or confirmation bias, in order to ensure the accuracy of their data and the validity of their results. By asking this question, the interviewer is gauging your ability to identify potential sources of bias and how you handle them.

To answer this question, you should discuss the techniques you use to identify potential sources of bias in your research. This could include methods such as double-checking data for accuracy and completeness, using multiple sources of information, or conducting blind studies. Additionally, you can talk about how you handle any biases you may find, such as adjusting your research design or changing your methodology. Be sure to emphasize that accuracy and validity are important to you and that you take steps to ensure they remain a priority.

Example: “I understand the importance of accuracy and validity in research, so I always strive to identify and address any potential sources of bias. I use several techniques to identify bias, such as double-checking my data for accuracy and completeness, using multiple sources of information, and conducting blind studies. When I do identify a potential source of bias, I adjust my research design or change my methodology to address it. I also make sure to communicate any changes to my team and stakeholders to ensure that we’re all on the same page.”

14. How do you evaluate the quality of secondary sources used in your research?

One of the most important skills of a researcher is being able to evaluate the quality of sources used in research. This question allows the interviewer to get a better understanding of your research process and your ability to critically evaluate sources. It also allows them to gauge your level of experience in the field and your knowledge of the research landscape.

To answer this question, you should explain your process for evaluating secondary sources. You can talk about the criteria that you use to evaluate a source’s credibility such as its author or publisher, the date of publication, and any peer reviews that have been conducted on the source. Additionally, you can mention any methods you use to assess the accuracy of information in the source such as cross-referencing with other sources or conducting additional research on the topic. Finally, you should discuss how you use these evaluations to inform your own research.

Example: “When evaluating the quality of secondary sources I use in my research, I consider a few key factors. I always look at the author or publisher of the source, the date of publication, and any peer reviews that have been conducted. I also use a variety of methods to assess the accuracy of the information in the source, such as cross-referencing with other sources and conducting additional research. From there, I use my evaluations to inform my own research and determine how best to use the source. This helps me ensure that I’m using the most reliable and up-to-date sources in my research.”

15. What strategies do you use to keep track of changes in the field of research you are studying?

Research is an ever-evolving field and keeping up with changes in the field is essential to remain relevant and up to date. Interviewers want to know that you have the skills and strategies to stay on top of the latest research, trends, and developments in the field. They’ll be looking for evidence that you have the self-discipline and organizational skills to stay on top of your work and be able to provide timely, accurate research.

You should be prepared to discuss the strategies and tools you use to stay up-to-date on changes in your field. Talk about how you keep track of new research articles, publications, conferences, and other sources of information that are relevant to your work. You can also talk about how you use technology such as RSS feeds, social media, or email alerts to ensure that you’re aware of any news or updates related to your research. Additionally, mention any methods you have for organizing and cataloging the information you collect so it is easily accessible when needed.

Example: “To stay on top of changes in my field, I use a variety of strategies and tools. I subscribe to relevant RSS feeds and email alerts to ensure I’m aware of any new research articles or publications. I also use social media to follow industry leaders and experts in the field and get updates on their work. I also keep an organized library of research material that I have collected over the years. I use a combination of software tools and physical filing systems to keep track of all the information I need. This allows me to quickly access any information I need, when I need it.”

16. How do you decide which research questions to pursue?

Being a researcher requires the ability to prioritize and select the best questions to pursue in order to achieve the desired outcome. This question helps the interviewer get a sense of your process and how you approach problem solving. It also gives them an insight into your critical thinking skills, as well as your ability to analyze data and make meaningful conclusions.

The best way to answer this question is to provide a step-by-step approach of how you decide which research questions to pursue. Start by explaining the research process you go through, such as collecting data, analyzing it and forming hypotheses. Then explain how you prioritize certain questions based on their importance and relevance to the project at hand. Finally, discuss how you use your findings to make informed decisions about which questions are worth pursuing further.

Example: “When I’m deciding which research questions to pursue, I start by gathering all the available data related to the project. From there, I analyze the data to form hypotheses and then prioritize the questions based on their importance and relevance to the project. I also consider the impact each question could have on the overall outcome of the research. Once I have a list of the most important questions, I evaluate the data and use my findings to make informed decisions about which questions are worth pursuing further. Ultimately, my goal is to select the best questions that will yield the most meaningful results.”

17. What is your experience with peer review processes?

Peer review is a critical part of the research process. It requires that researchers review and critique each other’s work in order to ensure that the research is unbiased and credible. This question is a way for the interviewer to assess your knowledge of the research process and your ability to work with other researchers.

To answer this question, you should provide specific examples of your experience with peer review processes. Talk about how you have worked with other researchers to review and critique their work, as well as how you have incorporated feedback from peers into your own research. You can also discuss any challenges or successes you had during the process. Finally, emphasize your understanding of the importance of peer review in the research process and why it is necessary for producing high-quality results.

Example: “I have extensive experience with peer review processes, both as a reviewer and as an author. I have worked with other researchers to review their work and provide constructive feedback, as well as incorporating feedback from peers into my own research. I understand the importance of peer review in the research process and am committed to producing high-quality results. I have also had success in resolving disagreements between reviewers and authors when needed, and I have a strong track record of producing quality research that has been accepted for publication.”

18. How do you manage competing demands on your time when conducting research?

Research can be a demanding job, with a lot of deadlines, competing agendas, and complex data sets to analyze. The interviewer wants to make sure you can prioritize tasks, keep track of multiple projects, and adjust when needed. Your ability to manage competing demands on your time is a key indicator of how successful you will be at the job.

To answer this question, you should focus on how you prioritize tasks and manage deadlines. Talk about the strategies you use to stay organized, such as setting up a calendar or using task management tools. Also discuss any techniques you have for staying focused when there are multiple demands on your time. Finally, emphasize your ability to adjust your plans when needed, such as if an unexpected project comes in or a deadline needs to be moved up.

Example: “I have a few strategies for managing competing demands on my time when conducting research. I prioritize tasks by breaking them down into smaller, manageable chunks and then assigning deadlines to each one. I also use task management tools to keep track of what I need to do and stay organized. And I make sure to take regular breaks to stay focused and energized. When I need to adjust my plans due to unexpected events, I’m able to reassess and re-prioritize my tasks accordingly. I’m confident in my ability to manage competing demands on my time and stay organized when conducting research.”

19. What strategies do you use to ensure that your research remains relevant and up-to-date?

Research is a dynamic field, and the best researchers know that they need to stay informed of the latest developments and trends in order to remain relevant. This question allows your interviewer to assess your knowledge of the field and your commitment to keeping up with the latest research. It shows that you are aware of the need to stay ahead of the curve and that you have the skills to do so.

To answer this question, you should start by discussing the strategies that you use to stay informed. You can talk about how you read industry publications, attend conferences and seminars, or network with other researchers in your field. You should also mention any specific platforms or tools that you use to keep up-to-date on the latest research. Finally, you should explain why staying informed is important to you and how it helps you do better work.

Example: “I use a variety of strategies to ensure that my research remains relevant and up-to-date. I read industry publications, attend conferences and seminars, and network with other researchers to stay informed. I also use specific tools like Google Scholar and ResearchGate to keep track of new developments in my field. It’s important to me to stay ahead of the curve and make sure that my research is as current and relevant as possible. Doing so not only helps me do better work, but it also helps me to provide more value to my employer and contribute to the success of their projects.”

20. How do you ensure that your research meets the highest standards of academic integrity?

Research is the backbone of any organization, and it is crucial for a researcher to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. Employers want to know that you understand the importance of being thorough and accurate, as well as ethical in your research. They may also want to know how you go about verifying the accuracy of your data and sources, and how you ensure that your research meets the standards expected in the field.

Start off by detailing the steps you take to ensure that your research meets academic integrity standards. For example, you can mention how you always double-check sources and data for accuracy and reliability, or how you use peer review processes to vet your work. Additionally, be sure to emphasize any specific techniques or methods you have used in the past to verify the validity of your findings. Finally, explain why it is important to you to maintain the highest level of academic integrity in your research.

Example: “I understand the importance of academic integrity and take it very seriously in my research. To ensure the highest standards of accuracy, I always double-check my sources and data, and use peer review processes to vet my work. Additionally, I frequently use replication studies to verify the validity of my findings. To me, it is essential to ensure that my research meets the highest standards of academic integrity, as it is the foundation of any successful research project.”

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Qualitative Research 101: Interviewing

5 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Undertaking Interviews

By: David Phair (PhD) and Kerryn Warren (PhD) | March 2022

Undertaking interviews is potentially the most important step in the qualitative research process. If you don’t collect useful, useable data in your interviews, you’ll struggle through the rest of your dissertation or thesis.  Having helped numerous students with their research over the years, we’ve noticed some common interviewing mistakes that first-time researchers make. In this post, we’ll discuss five costly interview-related mistakes and outline useful strategies to avoid making these.

Overview: 5 Interviewing Mistakes

• Not having a clear interview strategy /plan
• Not having good interview techniques /skills
• Not securing a suitable location and equipment
• Not having a basic risk management plan
• Not keeping your “ golden thread ” front of mind

1. Not having a clear interview strategy

The first common mistake that we’ll look at is that of starting the interviewing process without having first come up with a clear interview strategy or plan of action. While it’s natural to be keen to get started engaging with your interviewees, a lack of planning can result in a mess of data and inconsistency between interviews.

There are several design choices to decide on and plan for before you start interviewing anyone. Some of the most important questions you need to ask yourself before conducting interviews include:

• What are the guiding research aims and research questions of my study?
• Will I use a structured, semi-structured or unstructured interview approach?
• How will I record the interviews (audio or video)?
• Who will be interviewed and by whom ?
• What ethics and data law considerations do I need to adhere to?
• How will I analyze my data? 

Let’s take a quick look at some of these.

The core objective of the interviewing process is to generate useful data that will help you address your overall research aims. Therefore, your interviews need to be conducted in a way that directly links to your research aims, objectives and research questions (i.e. your “golden thread”). This means that you need to carefully consider the questions you’ll ask to ensure that they align with and feed into your golden thread. If any question doesn’t align with this, you may want to consider scrapping it.

Another important design choice is whether you’ll use an unstructured, semi-structured or structured interview approach . For semi-structured interviews, you will have a list of questions that you plan to ask and these questions will be open-ended in nature. You’ll also allow the discussion to digress from the core question set if something interesting comes up. This means that the type of information generated might differ a fair amount between interviews.

Contrasted to this, a structured approach to interviews is more rigid, where a specific set of closed questions is developed and asked for each interviewee in exactly the same order. Closed questions have a limited set of answers, that are often single-word answers. Therefore, you need to think about what you’re trying to achieve with your research project (i.e. your research aims) and decided on which approach would be best suited in your case.

It is also important to plan ahead with regards to who will be interviewed and how. You need to think about how you will approach the possible interviewees to get their cooperation, who will conduct the interviews, when to conduct the interviews and how to record the interviews. For each of these decisions, it’s also essential to make sure that all ethical considerations and data protection laws are taken into account.

Finally, you should think through how you plan to analyze the data (i.e., your qualitative analysis method) generated by the interviews. Different types of analysis rely on different types of data, so you need to ensure you’re asking the right types of questions and correctly guiding your respondents.

Simply put, you need to have a plan of action regarding the specifics of your interview approach before you start collecting data. If not, you’ll end up drifting in your approach from interview to interview, which will result in inconsistent, unusable data.

2. Not having good interview technique

While you’re generally not expected to become you to be an expert interviewer for a dissertation or thesis, it is important to practice good interview technique and develop basic interviewing skills .

Let’s go through some basics that will help the process along.

Firstly, before the interview , make sure you know your interview questions well and have a clear idea of what you want from the interview. Naturally, the specificity of your questions will depend on whether you’re taking a structured, semi-structured or unstructured approach, but you still need a consistent starting point . Ideally, you should develop an interview guide beforehand (more on this later) that details your core question and links these to the research aims, objectives and research questions.

Before you undertake any interviews, it’s a good idea to do a few mock interviews with friends or family members. This will help you get comfortable with the interviewer role, prepare for potentially unexpected answers and give you a good idea of how long the interview will take to conduct. In the interviewing process, you’re likely to encounter two kinds of challenging interviewees ; the two-word respondent and the respondent who meanders and babbles. Therefore, you should prepare yourself for both and come up with a plan to respond to each in a way that will allow the interview to continue productively.

To begin the formal interview , provide the person you are interviewing with an overview of your research. This will help to calm their nerves (and yours) and contextualize the interaction. Ultimately, you want the interviewee to feel comfortable and be willing to be open and honest with you, so it’s useful to start in a more casual, relaxed fashion and allow them to ask any questions they may have. From there, you can ease them into the rest of the questions.

As the interview progresses , avoid asking leading questions (i.e., questions that assume something about the interviewee or their response). Make sure that you speak clearly and slowly , using plain language and being ready to paraphrase questions if the person you are interviewing misunderstands. Be particularly careful with interviewing English second language speakers to ensure that you’re both on the same page.

Engage with the interviewee by listening to them carefully and acknowledging that you are listening to them by smiling or nodding. Show them that you’re interested in what they’re saying and thank them for their openness as appropriate. This will also encourage your interviewee to respond openly.

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3. Not securing a suitable location and quality equipment

Where you conduct your interviews and the equipment you use to record them both play an important role in how the process unfolds. Therefore, you need to think carefully about each of these variables before you start interviewing.

Poor location: A bad location can result in the quality of your interviews being compromised, interrupted, or cancelled. If you are conducting physical interviews, you’ll need a location that is quiet, safe, and welcoming . It’s very important that your location of choice is not prone to interruptions (the workplace office is generally problematic, for example) and has suitable facilities (such as water, a bathroom, and snacks).

If you are conducting online interviews , you need to consider a few other factors. Importantly, you need to make sure that both you and your respondent have access to a good, stable internet connection and electricity. Always check before the time that both of you know how to use the relevant software and it’s accessible (sometimes meeting platforms are blocked by workplace policies or firewalls). It’s also good to have alternatives in place (such as WhatsApp, Zoom, or Teams) to cater for these types of issues.

Poor equipment: Using poor-quality recording equipment or using equipment incorrectly means that you will have trouble transcribing, coding, and analyzing your interviews. This can be a major issue , as some of your interview data may go completely to waste if not recorded well. So, make sure that you use good-quality recording equipment and that you know how to use it correctly.

To avoid issues, you should always conduct test recordings before every interview to ensure that you can use the relevant equipment properly. It’s also a good idea to spot check each recording afterwards, just to make sure it was recorded as planned. If your equipment uses batteries, be sure to always carry a spare set.

4. Not having a basic risk management plan

Many possible issues can arise during the interview process. Not planning for these issues can mean that you are left with compromised data that might not be useful to you. Therefore, it’s important to map out some sort of risk management plan ahead of time, considering the potential risks, how you’ll minimize their probability and how you’ll manage them if they materialize.

Common potential issues related to the actual interview include cancellations (people pulling out), delays (such as getting stuck in traffic), language and accent differences (especially in the case of poor internet connections), issues with internet connections and power supply. Other issues can also occur in the interview itself. For example, the interviewee could drift off-topic, or you might encounter an interviewee who does not say much at all.

You can prepare for these potential issues by considering possible worst-case scenarios and preparing a response for each scenario. For instance, it is important to plan a backup date just in case your interviewee cannot make it to the first meeting you scheduled with them. It’s also a good idea to factor in a 30-minute gap between your interviews for the instances where someone might be late, or an interview runs overtime for other reasons. Make sure that you also plan backup questions that could be used to bring a respondent back on topic if they start rambling, or questions to encourage those who are saying too little.

In general, it’s best practice to plan to conduct more interviews than you think you need (this is called oversampling ). Doing so will allow you some room for error if there are interviews that don’t go as planned, or if some interviewees withdraw. If you need 10 interviews, it is a good idea to plan for 15. Likely, a few will cancel , delay, or not produce useful data.

5. Not keeping your golden thread front of mind

We touched on this a little earlier, but it is a key point that should be central to your entire research process. You don’t want to end up with pages and pages of data after conducting your interviews and realize that it is not useful to your research aims . Your research aims, objectives and research questions – i.e., your golden thread – should influence every design decision and should guide the interview process at all times. 

A useful way to avoid this mistake is by developing an interview guide before you begin interviewing your respondents. An interview guide is a document that contains all of your questions with notes on how each of the interview questions is linked to the research question(s) of your study. You can also include your research aims and objectives here for a more comprehensive linkage. 

You can easily create an interview guide by drawing up a table with one column containing your core interview questions . Then add another column with your research questions , another with expectations that you may have in light of the relevant literature and another with backup or follow-up questions . As mentioned, you can also bring in your research aims and objectives to help you connect them all together. If you’d like, you can download a copy of our free interview guide here .

Recap: Qualitative Interview Mistakes

In this post, we’ve discussed 5 common costly mistakes that are easy to make in the process of planning and conducting qualitative interviews.

To recap, these include:

If you have any questions about these interviewing mistakes, drop a comment below. Alternatively, if you’re interested in getting 1-on-1 help with your thesis or dissertation , check out our dissertation coaching service or book a free initial consultation with one of our friendly Grad Coaches.

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How to carry out great interviews in qualitative research.

11 min read An interview is one of the most versatile methods used in qualitative research. Here’s what you need to know about conducting great qualitative interviews.

What is a qualitative research interview?

Qualitative research interviews are a mainstay among q ualitative research techniques, and have been in use for decades either as a primary data collection method or as an adjunct to a wider research process. A qualitative research interview is a one-to-one data collection session between a researcher and a participant. Interviews may be carried out face-to-face, over the phone or via video call using a service like Skype or Zoom.

There are three main types of qualitative research interview – structured, unstructured or semi-structured.

• Structured interviews Structured interviews are based around a schedule of predetermined questions and talking points that the researcher has developed. At their most rigid, structured interviews may have a precise wording and question order, meaning that they can be replicated across many different interviewers and participants with relatively consistent results.
• Unstructured interviews Unstructured interviews have no predetermined format, although that doesn’t mean they’re ad hoc or unplanned. An unstructured interview may outwardly resemble a normal conversation, but the interviewer will in fact be working carefully to make sure the right topics are addressed during the interaction while putting the participant at ease with a natural manner.
• Semi-structured interviews Semi-structured interviews are the most common type of qualitative research interview, combining the informality and rapport of an unstructured interview with the consistency and replicability of a structured interview. The researcher will come prepared with questions and topics, but will not need to stick to precise wording. This blended approach can work well for in-depth interviews.

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What are the pros and cons of interviews in qualitative research?

As a qualitative research method interviewing is hard to beat, with applications in social research, market research, and even basic and clinical pharmacy. But like any aspect of the research process, it’s not without its limitations. Before choosing qualitative interviewing as your research method, it’s worth weighing up the pros and cons.

Pros of qualitative interviews:

• provide in-depth information and context
• can be used effectively when their are low numbers of participants
• provide an opportunity to discuss and explain questions
• useful for complex topics
• rich in data – in the case of in-person or video interviews , the researcher can observe body language and facial expression as well as the answers to questions

Cons of qualitative interviews:

• can be time-consuming to carry out
• costly when compared to some other research methods
• because of time and cost constraints, they often limit you to a small number of participants
• difficult to standardize your data across different researchers and participants unless the interviews are very tightly structured
• As the Open University of Hong Kong notes, qualitative interviews may take an emotional toll on interviewers

Qualitative interview guides

Semi-structured interviews are based on a qualitative interview guide, which acts as a road map for the researcher. While conducting interviews, the researcher can use the interview guide to help them stay focused on their research questions and make sure they cover all the topics they intend to.

An interview guide may include a list of questions written out in full, or it may be a set of bullet points grouped around particular topics. It can prompt the interviewer to dig deeper and ask probing questions during the interview if appropriate.

Consider writing out the project’s research question at the top of your interview guide, ahead of the interview questions. This may help you steer the interview in the right direction if it threatens to head off on a tangent.

Avoid bias in qualitative research interviews

According to Duke University , bias can create significant problems in your qualitative interview.

• Acquiescence bias is common to many qualitative methods, including focus groups. It occurs when the participant feels obliged to say what they think the researcher wants to hear. This can be especially problematic when there is a perceived power imbalance between participant and interviewer. To counteract this, Duke University’s experts recommend emphasizing the participant’s expertise in the subject being discussed, and the value of their contributions.
• Interviewer bias is when the interviewer’s own feelings about the topic come to light through hand gestures, facial expressions or turns of phrase. Duke’s recommendation is to stick to scripted phrases where this is an issue, and to make sure researchers become very familiar with the interview guide or script before conducting interviews, so that they can hone their delivery.

What kinds of questions should you ask in a qualitative interview?

The interview questions you ask need to be carefully considered both before and during the data collection process. As well as considering the topics you’ll cover, you will need to think carefully about the way you ask questions.

Open-ended interview questions – which cannot be answered with a ‘yes’ ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ – are recommended by many researchers as a way to pursue in depth information.

An example of an open-ended question is “What made you want to move to the East Coast?” This will prompt the participant to consider different factors and select at least one. Having thought about it carefully, they may give you more detailed information about their reasoning.

A closed-ended question , such as “Would you recommend your neighborhood to a friend?” can be answered without too much deliberation, and without giving much information about personal thoughts, opinions and feelings.

Follow-up questions can be used to delve deeper into the research topic and to get more detail from open-ended questions. Examples of follow-up questions include:

• What makes you say that?
• What do you mean by that?
• Can you tell me more about X?
• What did/does that mean to you?

As well as avoiding closed-ended questions, be wary of leading questions. As with other qualitative research techniques such as surveys or focus groups, these can introduce bias in your data. Leading questions presume a certain point of view shared by the interviewer and participant, and may even suggest a foregone conclusion.

An example of a leading question might be: “You moved to New York in 1990, didn’t you?” In answering the question, the participant is much more likely to agree than disagree. This may be down to acquiescence bias or a belief that the interviewer has checked the information and already knows the correct answer.

Other leading questions involve adjectival phrases or other wording that introduces negative or positive connotations about a particular topic. An example of this kind of leading question is: “Many employees dislike wearing masks to work. How do you feel about this?” It presumes a positive opinion and the participant may be swayed by it, or not want to contradict the interviewer.

Harvard University’s guidelines for qualitative interview research add that you shouldn’t be afraid to ask embarrassing questions – “if you don’t ask, they won’t tell.” Bear in mind though that too much probing around sensitive topics may cause the interview participant to withdraw. The Harvard guidelines recommend leaving sensitive questions til the later stages of the interview when a rapport has been established.

More tips for conducting qualitative interviews

Observing a participant’s body language can give you important data about their thoughts and feelings. It can also help you decide when to broach a topic, and whether to use a follow-up question or return to the subject later in the interview.

Be conscious that the participant may regard you as the expert, not themselves. In order to make sure they express their opinions openly, use active listening skills like verbal encouragement and paraphrasing and clarifying their meaning to show how much you value what they are saying.

Remember that part of the goal is to leave the interview participant feeling good about volunteering their time and their thought process to your research. Aim to make them feel empowered , respected and heard.

Unstructured interviews can demand a lot of a researcher, both cognitively and emotionally. Be sure to leave time in between in-depth interviews when scheduling your data collection to make sure you maintain the quality of your data, as well as your own well-being .

Recording and transcribing interviews

Historically, recording qualitative research interviews and then transcribing the conversation manually would have represented a significant part of the cost and time involved in research projects that collect qualitative data.

Fortunately, researchers now have access to digital recording tools, and even speech-to-text technology that can automatically transcribe interview data using AI and machine learning. This type of tool can also be used to capture qualitative data from qualitative research (focus groups,ect.) making this kind of social research or market research much less time consuming.

Data analysis

Qualitative interview data is unstructured, rich in content and difficult to analyze without the appropriate tools. Fortunately, machine learning and AI can once again make things faster and easier when you use qualitative methods like the research interview.

Text analysis tools and natural language processing software can ‘read’ your transcripts and voice data and identify patterns and trends across large volumes of text or speech. They can also perform khttps://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/research/sentiment-analysis/

which assesses overall trends in opinion and provides an unbiased overall summary of how participants are feeling.

Another feature of text analysis tools is their ability to categorize information by topic, sorting it into groupings that help you organize your data according to the topic discussed.

All in all, interviews are a valuable technique for qualitative research in business, yielding rich and detailed unstructured data. Historically, they have only been limited by the human capacity to interpret and communicate results and conclusions, which demands considerable time and skill.

When you combine this data with AI tools that can interpret it quickly and automatically, it becomes easy to analyze and structure, dovetailing perfectly with your other business data. An additional benefit of natural language analysis tools is that they are free of subjective biases, and can replicate the same approach across as much data as you choose. By combining human research skills with machine analysis, qualitative research methods such as interviews are more valuable than ever to your business.

Related resources

Market intelligence 10 min read, marketing insights 11 min read, ethnographic research 11 min read, qualitative vs quantitative research 13 min read, qualitative research questions 11 min read, qualitative research design 12 min read, primary vs secondary research 14 min read, request demo.

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Five Tips for Conducting Effective Qualitative Interviews

An interviewer conducts household survey in rural El Salvador for a Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research study. Photo by Hy V. Huynh.

Published March 12, 2018 under Research News

In qualitative research, in-depth interviews can be an immensely helpful investigative tool. However, the nuances of one-on-one interviewing can sometimes make it difficult to obtain useful results. Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell , associate research professor and founding director of the Evidence Lab at the Duke Global Health Institute, frequently integrates qualitative interviews into her research. In this article, she shares five interviewing tips that have served her well.

1. Convey Intent

Proeschold-Bell says it’s important for the interviewer to know the intent behind each question so that it can be clearly conveyed to the interviewee. Understanding the intent of a question, she’s found, helps interviewers decide whether or not the participant has fully answered the question. This way, they can ask follow-up questions and not leave gaps at the time of data collection. Proeschold-Bell recommends writing the intent of each question below it in italics on the interview script. 

Proeschold-Bell also suggests a few more subtle techniques for helping interviewees understand what is really being asked and soliciting pertinent and thorough responses. Asking the question in several different ways can help clarify its meaning. Follow-up prompts such as “That’s really helpful; tell me more about that,” or “Can you describe what was unpleasant about it?” can also give interviewees helpful guidance in crafting their responses.

“You can also convey intent by explaining more broadly why you’re doing the research, so interviewees will be more likely to give you relevant information,” Proeschold-Bell said. 

2. Don’t Sway the Participants

Acquiescence bias, which occurs when interviewees agree with what they think the interviewer wants to hear instead of giving their unbiased answer, can often prevent interviewees from sharing all relevant information. Research from Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research shows that when power dynamics are present in an interview, it may be especially difficult for an interviewee to give an honest answer.

To minimize acquiescence bias, interviewers can emphasize that the participant is the expert in the subject matter of the interview.  For example, they can start the interview by saying, “I’ve asked you to talk with me today because you are an expert in what it’s like to be a patient in Eldoret.” 

Interviewers should also avoid nodding or other body language that expresses agreement with the participant. Instead, interviewers should say, “That’s very helpful,” or “Thank you for those thoughts.” Otherwise, participants might elaborate on a point that isn’t actually very important to them just because the interviewer seemed to agree.   

Proeschold-Bell also recommends that interviewers pay attention to—and record—interviewees’ non-verbal responses, which often communicate feelings and attitudes that the verbal response doesn’t capture.

3. Eliminate Interviewer Bias

Proeschold-Bell says it’s critically important to eliminate interviewer bias through the interview process. Knowing the interview guide extremely well helps an interviewer pace the interview to avoid running out of time, and adhering to the scripted wording for each question helps maintain unbiased prompting across all interviews. Additionally, if an interviewee starts answering a question that is going to be asked later, the interviewer can ask them to wait. 

It’s best to ask interview questions in a specific order because covering certain questions first may influence how interviewees think during later questions. Finally, she recommends, “Ask all questions of all respondents, even if you think you know what they’ll say. They will surprise you sometimes!”

4. Consider a “Test Run” Period

Proeschold-Bell sees her first several interviews for a study as pilots. Learning from these first few test runs and improving questions and interview techniques for future interviews can have a significant impact on the quality of the study. This means that data quality from the first few interviews may not be as strong since some of the questions change, but the data from the interviews later on will be more useful. Proeschold-Bell recommends numbering interviews chronologically to link interviews to the phase of development in which they were conducted.

5. Make Time for Post-Interview Reflection

After an interview, Proeschold-Bell recommends immediately reviewing the data. “This helps capture good ideas that may otherwise be forgotten,” she says. In fact, she suggests creating a review form with a few open-ended questions that can help capture strong reactions and flag questions that didn’t work well or questions that should be added. 

It’s also helpful, she says, to note responses that were different from those given in previous interviews. Doing this may generate ideas to analyze more carefully later on.

Looking for more research design tools? Check out Proeschold-Bell’s recent article, “ Five Tips for Designing an Effective Survey .”

Proeschold-Bell recommends that interviewers pay attention to—and record—interviewees’ non-verbal responses, which often communicate feelings and attitudes that the verbal response doesn’t capture.

• Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell

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Chapter 11. Interviewing

Introduction.

Interviewing people is at the heart of qualitative research. It is not merely a way to collect data but an intrinsically rewarding activity—an interaction between two people that holds the potential for greater understanding and interpersonal development. Unlike many of our daily interactions with others that are fairly shallow and mundane, sitting down with a person for an hour or two and really listening to what they have to say is a profound and deep enterprise, one that can provide not only “data” for you, the interviewer, but also self-understanding and a feeling of being heard for the interviewee. I always approach interviewing with a deep appreciation for the opportunity it gives me to understand how other people experience the world. That said, there is not one kind of interview but many, and some of these are shallower than others. This chapter will provide you with an overview of interview techniques but with a special focus on the in-depth semistructured interview guide approach, which is the approach most widely used in social science research.

An interview can be variously defined as “a conversation with a purpose” ( Lune and Berg 2018 ) and an attempt to understand the world from the point of view of the person being interviewed: “to unfold the meaning of peoples’ experiences, to uncover their lived world prior to scientific explanations” ( Kvale 2007 ). It is a form of active listening in which the interviewer steers the conversation to subjects and topics of interest to their research but also manages to leave enough space for those interviewed to say surprising things. Achieving that balance is a tricky thing, which is why most practitioners believe interviewing is both an art and a science. In my experience as a teacher, there are some students who are “natural” interviewers (often they are introverts), but anyone can learn to conduct interviews, and everyone, even those of us who have been doing this for years, can improve their interviewing skills. This might be a good time to highlight the fact that the interview is a product between interviewer and interviewee and that this product is only as good as the rapport established between the two participants. Active listening is the key to establishing this necessary rapport.

Patton ( 2002 ) makes the argument that we use interviews because there are certain things that are not observable. In particular, “we cannot observe feelings, thoughts, and intentions. We cannot observe behaviors that took place at some previous point in time. We cannot observe situations that preclude the presence of an observer. We cannot observe how people have organized the world and the meanings they attach to what goes on in the world. We have to ask people questions about those things” ( 341 ).

Types of Interviews

There are several distinct types of interviews. Imagine a continuum (figure 11.1). On one side are unstructured conversations—the kind you have with your friends. No one is in control of those conversations, and what you talk about is often random—whatever pops into your head. There is no secret, underlying purpose to your talking—if anything, the purpose is to talk to and engage with each other, and the words you use and the things you talk about are a little beside the point. An unstructured interview is a little like this informal conversation, except that one of the parties to the conversation (you, the researcher) does have an underlying purpose, and that is to understand the other person. You are not friends speaking for no purpose, but it might feel just as unstructured to the “interviewee” in this scenario. That is one side of the continuum. On the other side are fully structured and standardized survey-type questions asked face-to-face. Here it is very clear who is asking the questions and who is answering them. This doesn’t feel like a conversation at all! A lot of people new to interviewing have this ( erroneously !) in mind when they think about interviews as data collection. Somewhere in the middle of these two extreme cases is the “ semistructured” interview , in which the researcher uses an “interview guide” to gently move the conversation to certain topics and issues. This is the primary form of interviewing for qualitative social scientists and will be what I refer to as interviewing for the rest of this chapter, unless otherwise specified.

Informal (unstructured conversations). This is the most “open-ended” approach to interviewing. It is particularly useful in conjunction with observational methods (see chapters 13 and 14). There are no predetermined questions. Each interview will be different. Imagine you are researching the Oregon Country Fair, an annual event in Veneta, Oregon, that includes live music, artisan craft booths, face painting, and a lot of people walking through forest paths. It’s unlikely that you will be able to get a person to sit down with you and talk intensely about a set of questions for an hour and a half. But you might be able to sidle up to several people and engage with them about their experiences at the fair. You might have a general interest in what attracts people to these events, so you could start a conversation by asking strangers why they are here or why they come back every year. That’s it. Then you have a conversation that may lead you anywhere. Maybe one person tells a long story about how their parents brought them here when they were a kid. A second person talks about how this is better than Burning Man. A third person shares their favorite traveling band. And yet another enthuses about the public library in the woods. During your conversations, you also talk about a lot of other things—the weather, the utilikilts for sale, the fact that a favorite food booth has disappeared. It’s all good. You may not be able to record these conversations. Instead, you might jot down notes on the spot and then, when you have the time, write down as much as you can remember about the conversations in long fieldnotes. Later, you will have to sit down with these fieldnotes and try to make sense of all the information (see chapters 18 and 19).

Interview guide ( semistructured interview ). This is the primary type employed by social science qualitative researchers. The researcher creates an “interview guide” in advance, which she uses in every interview. In theory, every person interviewed is asked the same questions. In practice, every person interviewed is asked mostly the same topics but not always the same questions, as the whole point of a “guide” is that it guides the direction of the conversation but does not command it. The guide is typically between five and ten questions or question areas, sometimes with suggested follow-ups or prompts . For example, one question might be “What was it like growing up in Eastern Oregon?” with prompts such as “Did you live in a rural area? What kind of high school did you attend?” to help the conversation develop. These interviews generally take place in a quiet place (not a busy walkway during a festival) and are recorded. The recordings are transcribed, and those transcriptions then become the “data” that is analyzed (see chapters 18 and 19). The conventional length of one of these types of interviews is between one hour and two hours, optimally ninety minutes. Less than one hour doesn’t allow for much development of questions and thoughts, and two hours (or more) is a lot of time to ask someone to sit still and answer questions. If you have a lot of ground to cover, and the person is willing, I highly recommend two separate interview sessions, with the second session being slightly shorter than the first (e.g., ninety minutes the first day, sixty minutes the second). There are lots of good reasons for this, but the most compelling one is that this allows you to listen to the first day’s recording and catch anything interesting you might have missed in the moment and so develop follow-up questions that can probe further. This also allows the person being interviewed to have some time to think about the issues raised in the interview and go a little deeper with their answers.

Standardized questionnaire with open responses ( structured interview ). This is the type of interview a lot of people have in mind when they hear “interview”: a researcher comes to your door with a clipboard and proceeds to ask you a series of questions. These questions are all the same whoever answers the door; they are “standardized.” Both the wording and the exact order are important, as people’s responses may vary depending on how and when a question is asked. These are qualitative only in that the questions allow for “open-ended responses”: people can say whatever they want rather than select from a predetermined menu of responses. For example, a survey I collaborated on included this open-ended response question: “How does class affect one’s career success in sociology?” Some of the answers were simply one word long (e.g., “debt”), and others were long statements with stories and personal anecdotes. It is possible to be surprised by the responses. Although it’s a stretch to call this kind of questioning a conversation, it does allow the person answering the question some degree of freedom in how they answer.

Survey questionnaire with closed responses (not an interview!). Standardized survey questions with specific answer options (e.g., closed responses) are not really interviews at all, and they do not generate qualitative data. For example, if we included five options for the question “How does class affect one’s career success in sociology?”—(1) debt, (2) social networks, (3) alienation, (4) family doesn’t understand, (5) type of grad program—we leave no room for surprises at all. Instead, we would most likely look at patterns around these responses, thinking quantitatively rather than qualitatively (e.g., using regression analysis techniques, we might find that working-class sociologists were twice as likely to bring up alienation). It can sometimes be confusing for new students because the very same survey can include both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The key is to think about how these will be analyzed and to what level surprises are possible. If your plan is to turn all responses into a number and make predictions about correlations and relationships, you are no longer conducting qualitative research. This is true even if you are conducting this survey face-to-face with a real live human. Closed-response questions are not conversations of any kind, purposeful or not.

In summary, the semistructured interview guide approach is the predominant form of interviewing for social science qualitative researchers because it allows a high degree of freedom of responses from those interviewed (thus allowing for novel discoveries) while still maintaining some connection to a research question area or topic of interest. The rest of the chapter assumes the employment of this form.

Creating an Interview Guide

Your interview guide is the instrument used to bridge your research question(s) and what the people you are interviewing want to tell you. Unlike a standardized questionnaire, the questions actually asked do not need to be exactly what you have written down in your guide. The guide is meant to create space for those you are interviewing to talk about the phenomenon of interest, but sometimes you are not even sure what that phenomenon is until you start asking questions. A priority in creating an interview guide is to ensure it offers space. One of the worst mistakes is to create questions that are so specific that the person answering them will not stray. Relatedly, questions that sound “academic” will shut down a lot of respondents. A good interview guide invites respondents to talk about what is important to them, not feel like they are performing or being evaluated by you.

Good interview questions should not sound like your “research question” at all. For example, let’s say your research question is “How do patriarchal assumptions influence men’s understanding of climate change and responses to climate change?” It would be worse than unhelpful to ask a respondent, “How do your assumptions about the role of men affect your understanding of climate change?” You need to unpack this into manageable nuggets that pull your respondent into the area of interest without leading him anywhere. You could start by asking him what he thinks about climate change in general. Or, even better, whether he has any concerns about heatwaves or increased tornadoes or polar icecaps melting. Once he starts talking about that, you can ask follow-up questions that bring in issues around gendered roles, perhaps asking if he is married (to a woman) and whether his wife shares his thoughts and, if not, how they negotiate that difference. The fact is, you won’t really know the right questions to ask until he starts talking.

There are several distinct types of questions that can be used in your interview guide, either as main questions or as follow-up probes. If you remember that the point is to leave space for the respondent, you will craft a much more effective interview guide! You will also want to think about the place of time in both the questions themselves (past, present, future orientations) and the sequencing of the questions.

Researcher Note

Suggestion : As you read the next three sections (types of questions, temporality, question sequence), have in mind a particular research question, and try to draft questions and sequence them in a way that opens space for a discussion that helps you answer your research question.

Type of Questions

Experience and behavior questions ask about what a respondent does regularly (their behavior) or has done (their experience). These are relatively easy questions for people to answer because they appear more “factual” and less subjective. This makes them good opening questions. For the study on climate change above, you might ask, “Have you ever experienced an unusual weather event? What happened?” Or “You said you work outside? What is a typical summer workday like for you? How do you protect yourself from the heat?”

Opinion and values questions , in contrast, ask questions that get inside the minds of those you are interviewing. “Do you think climate change is real? Who or what is responsible for it?” are two such questions. Note that you don’t have to literally ask, “What is your opinion of X?” but you can find a way to ask the specific question relevant to the conversation you are having. These questions are a bit trickier to ask because the answers you get may depend in part on how your respondent perceives you and whether they want to please you or not. We’ve talked a fair amount about being reflective. Here is another place where this comes into play. You need to be aware of the effect your presence might have on the answers you are receiving and adjust accordingly. If you are a woman who is perceived as liberal asking a man who identifies as conservative about climate change, there is a lot of subtext that can be going on in the interview. There is no one right way to resolve this, but you must at least be aware of it.

Feeling questions are questions that ask respondents to draw on their emotional responses. It’s pretty common for academic researchers to forget that we have bodies and emotions, but people’s understandings of the world often operate at this affective level, sometimes unconsciously or barely consciously. It is a good idea to include questions that leave space for respondents to remember, imagine, or relive emotional responses to particular phenomena. “What was it like when you heard your cousin’s house burned down in that wildfire?” doesn’t explicitly use any emotion words, but it allows your respondent to remember what was probably a pretty emotional day. And if they respond emotionally neutral, that is pretty interesting data too. Note that asking someone “How do you feel about X” is not always going to evoke an emotional response, as they might simply turn around and respond with “I think that…” It is better to craft a question that actually pushes the respondent into the affective category. This might be a specific follow-up to an experience and behavior question —for example, “You just told me about your daily routine during the summer heat. Do you worry it is going to get worse?” or “Have you ever been afraid it will be too hot to get your work accomplished?”

Knowledge questions ask respondents what they actually know about something factual. We have to be careful when we ask these types of questions so that respondents do not feel like we are evaluating them (which would shut them down), but, for example, it is helpful to know when you are having a conversation about climate change that your respondent does in fact know that unusual weather events have increased and that these have been attributed to climate change! Asking these questions can set the stage for deeper questions and can ensure that the conversation makes the same kind of sense to both participants. For example, a conversation about political polarization can be put back on track once you realize that the respondent doesn’t really have a clear understanding that there are two parties in the US. Instead of asking a series of questions about Republicans and Democrats, you might shift your questions to talk more generally about political disagreements (e.g., “people against abortion”). And sometimes what you do want to know is the level of knowledge about a particular program or event (e.g., “Are you aware you can discharge your student loans through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program?”).

Sensory questions call on all senses of the respondent to capture deeper responses. These are particularly helpful in sparking memory. “Think back to your childhood in Eastern Oregon. Describe the smells, the sounds…” Or you could use these questions to help a person access the full experience of a setting they customarily inhabit: “When you walk through the doors to your office building, what do you see? Hear? Smell?” As with feeling questions , these questions often supplement experience and behavior questions . They are another way of allowing your respondent to report fully and deeply rather than remain on the surface.

Creative questions employ illustrative examples, suggested scenarios, or simulations to get respondents to think more deeply about an issue, topic, or experience. There are many options here. In The Trouble with Passion , Erin Cech ( 2021 ) provides a scenario in which “Joe” is trying to decide whether to stay at his decent but boring computer job or follow his passion by opening a restaurant. She asks respondents, “What should Joe do?” Their answers illuminate the attraction of “passion” in job selection. In my own work, I have used a news story about an upwardly mobile young man who no longer has time to see his mother and sisters to probe respondents’ feelings about the costs of social mobility. Jessi Streib and Betsy Leondar-Wright have used single-page cartoon “scenes” to elicit evaluations of potential racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and classism. Barbara Sutton ( 2010 ) has employed lists of words (“strong,” “mother,” “victim”) on notecards she fans out and asks her female respondents to select and discuss.

Background/Demographic Questions

You most definitely will want to know more about the person you are interviewing in terms of conventional demographic information, such as age, race, gender identity, occupation, and educational attainment. These are not questions that normally open up inquiry. [1] For this reason, my practice has been to include a separate “demographic questionnaire” sheet that I ask each respondent to fill out at the conclusion of the interview. Only include those aspects that are relevant to your study. For example, if you are not exploring religion or religious affiliation, do not include questions about a person’s religion on the demographic sheet. See the example provided at the end of this chapter.

Temporality

Any type of question can have a past, present, or future orientation. For example, if you are asking a behavior question about workplace routine, you might ask the respondent to talk about past work, present work, and ideal (future) work. Similarly, if you want to understand how people cope with natural disasters, you might ask your respondent how they felt then during the wildfire and now in retrospect and whether and to what extent they have concerns for future wildfire disasters. It’s a relatively simple suggestion—don’t forget to ask about past, present, and future—but it can have a big impact on the quality of the responses you receive.

Question Sequence

Having a list of good questions or good question areas is not enough to make a good interview guide. You will want to pay attention to the order in which you ask your questions. Even though any one respondent can derail this order (perhaps by jumping to answer a question you haven’t yet asked), a good advance plan is always helpful. When thinking about sequence, remember that your goal is to get your respondent to open up to you and to say things that might surprise you. To establish rapport, it is best to start with nonthreatening questions. Asking about the present is often the safest place to begin, followed by the past (they have to know you a little bit to get there), and lastly, the future (talking about hopes and fears requires the most rapport). To allow for surprises, it is best to move from very general questions to more particular questions only later in the interview. This ensures that respondents have the freedom to bring up the topics that are relevant to them rather than feel like they are constrained to answer you narrowly. For example, refrain from asking about particular emotions until these have come up previously—don’t lead with them. Often, your more particular questions will emerge only during the course of the interview, tailored to what is emerging in conversation.

Once you have a set of questions, read through them aloud and imagine you are being asked the same questions. Does the set of questions have a natural flow? Would you be willing to answer the very first question to a total stranger? Does your sequence establish facts and experiences before moving on to opinions and values? Did you include prefatory statements, where necessary; transitions; and other announcements? These can be as simple as “Hey, we talked a lot about your experiences as a barista while in college.… Now I am turning to something completely different: how you managed friendships in college.” That is an abrupt transition, but it has been softened by your acknowledgment of that.

Probes and Flexibility

Once you have the interview guide, you will also want to leave room for probes and follow-up questions. As in the sample probe included here, you can write out the obvious probes and follow-up questions in advance. You might not need them, as your respondent might anticipate them and include full responses to the original question. Or you might need to tailor them to how your respondent answered the question. Some common probes and follow-up questions include asking for more details (When did that happen? Who else was there?), asking for elaboration (Could you say more about that?), asking for clarification (Does that mean what I think it means or something else? I understand what you mean, but someone else reading the transcript might not), and asking for contrast or comparison (How did this experience compare with last year’s event?). “Probing is a skill that comes from knowing what to look for in the interview, listening carefully to what is being said and what is not said, and being sensitive to the feedback needs of the person being interviewed” ( Patton 2002:374 ). It takes work! And energy. I and many other interviewers I know report feeling emotionally and even physically drained after conducting an interview. You are tasked with active listening and rearranging your interview guide as needed on the fly. If you only ask the questions written down in your interview guide with no deviations, you are doing it wrong. [2]

The Final Question

Every interview guide should include a very open-ended final question that allows for the respondent to say whatever it is they have been dying to tell you but you’ve forgotten to ask. About half the time they are tired too and will tell you they have nothing else to say. But incredibly, some of the most honest and complete responses take place here, at the end of a long interview. You have to realize that the person being interviewed is often discovering things about themselves as they talk to you and that this process of discovery can lead to new insights for them. Making space at the end is therefore crucial. Be sure you convey that you actually do want them to tell you more, that the offer of “anything else?” is not read as an empty convention where the polite response is no. Here is where you can pull from that active listening and tailor the final question to the particular person. For example, “I’ve asked you a lot of questions about what it was like to live through that wildfire. I’m wondering if there is anything I’ve forgotten to ask, especially because I haven’t had that experience myself” is a much more inviting final question than “Great. Anything you want to add?” It’s also helpful to convey to the person that you have the time to listen to their full answer, even if the allotted time is at the end. After all, there are no more questions to ask, so the respondent knows exactly how much time is left. Do them the courtesy of listening to them!

Conducting the Interview

Once you have your interview guide, you are on your way to conducting your first interview. I always practice my interview guide with a friend or family member. I do this even when the questions don’t make perfect sense for them, as it still helps me realize which questions make no sense, are poorly worded (too academic), or don’t follow sequentially. I also practice the routine I will use for interviewing, which goes something like this:

• Introduce myself and reintroduce the study
• Provide consent form and ask them to sign and retain/return copy
• Ask if they have any questions about the study before we begin
• Ask if I can begin recording
• Ask questions (from interview guide)
• Turn off the recording device
• Ask if they are willing to fill out my demographic questionnaire
• Collect questionnaire and, without looking at the answers, place in same folder as signed consent form
• Thank them and depart

A note on remote interviewing: Interviews have traditionally been conducted face-to-face in a private or quiet public setting. You don’t want a lot of background noise, as this will make transcriptions difficult. During the recent global pandemic, many interviewers, myself included, learned the benefits of interviewing remotely. Although face-to-face is still preferable for many reasons, Zoom interviewing is not a bad alternative, and it does allow more interviews across great distances. Zoom also includes automatic transcription, which significantly cuts down on the time it normally takes to convert our conversations into “data” to be analyzed. These automatic transcriptions are not perfect, however, and you will still need to listen to the recording and clarify and clean up the transcription. Nor do automatic transcriptions include notations of body language or change of tone, which you may want to include. When interviewing remotely, you will want to collect the consent form before you meet: ask them to read, sign, and return it as an email attachment. I think it is better to ask for the demographic questionnaire after the interview, but because some respondents may never return it then, it is probably best to ask for this at the same time as the consent form, in advance of the interview.

What should you bring to the interview? I would recommend bringing two copies of the consent form (one for you and one for the respondent), a demographic questionnaire, a manila folder in which to place the signed consent form and filled-out demographic questionnaire, a printed copy of your interview guide (I print with three-inch right margins so I can jot down notes on the page next to relevant questions), a pen, a recording device, and water.

After the interview, you will want to secure the signed consent form in a locked filing cabinet (if in print) or a password-protected folder on your computer. Using Excel or a similar program that allows tables/spreadsheets, create an identifying number for your interview that links to the consent form without using the name of your respondent. For example, let’s say that I conduct interviews with US politicians, and the first person I meet with is George W. Bush. I will assign the transcription the number “INT#001” and add it to the signed consent form. [3] The signed consent form goes into a locked filing cabinet, and I never use the name “George W. Bush” again. I take the information from the demographic sheet, open my Excel spreadsheet, and add the relevant information in separate columns for the row INT#001: White, male, Republican. When I interview Bill Clinton as my second interview, I include a second row: INT#002: White, male, Democrat. And so on. The only link to the actual name of the respondent and this information is the fact that the consent form (unavailable to anyone but me) has stamped on it the interview number.

Many students get very nervous before their first interview. Actually, many of us are always nervous before the interview! But do not worry—this is normal, and it does pass. Chances are, you will be pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it begins to feel. These “purposeful conversations” are often a delight for both participants. This is not to say that sometimes things go wrong. I often have my students practice several “bad scenarios” (e.g., a respondent that you cannot get to open up; a respondent who is too talkative and dominates the conversation, steering it away from the topics you are interested in; emotions that completely take over; or shocking disclosures you are ill-prepared to handle), but most of the time, things go quite well. Be prepared for the unexpected, but know that the reason interviews are so popular as a technique of data collection is that they are usually richly rewarding for both participants.

One thing that I stress to my methods students and remind myself about is that interviews are still conversations between people. If there’s something you might feel uncomfortable asking someone about in a “normal” conversation, you will likely also feel a bit of discomfort asking it in an interview. Maybe more importantly, your respondent may feel uncomfortable. Social research—especially about inequality—can be uncomfortable. And it’s easy to slip into an abstract, intellectualized, or removed perspective as an interviewer. This is one reason trying out interview questions is important. Another is that sometimes the question sounds good in your head but doesn’t work as well out loud in practice. I learned this the hard way when a respondent asked me how I would answer the question I had just posed, and I realized that not only did I not really know how I would answer it, but I also wasn’t quite as sure I knew what I was asking as I had thought.

—Elizabeth M. Lee, Associate Professor of Sociology at Saint Joseph’s University, author of Class and Campus Life , and co-author of Geographies of Campus Inequality

How Many Interviews?

Your research design has included a targeted number of interviews and a recruitment plan (see chapter 5). Follow your plan, but remember that “ saturation ” is your goal. You interview as many people as you can until you reach a point at which you are no longer surprised by what they tell you. This means not that no one after your first twenty interviews will have surprising, interesting stories to tell you but rather that the picture you are forming about the phenomenon of interest to you from a research perspective has come into focus, and none of the interviews are substantially refocusing that picture. That is when you should stop collecting interviews. Note that to know when you have reached this, you will need to read your transcripts as you go. More about this in chapters 18 and 19.

Your Final Product: The Ideal Interview Transcript

A good interview transcript will demonstrate a subtly controlled conversation by the skillful interviewer. In general, you want to see replies that are about one paragraph long, not short sentences and not running on for several pages. Although it is sometimes necessary to follow respondents down tangents, it is also often necessary to pull them back to the questions that form the basis of your research study. This is not really a free conversation, although it may feel like that to the person you are interviewing.

Final Tips from an Interview Master

Annette Lareau is arguably one of the masters of the trade. In Listening to People , she provides several guidelines for good interviews and then offers a detailed example of an interview gone wrong and how it could be addressed (please see the “Further Readings” at the end of this chapter). Here is an abbreviated version of her set of guidelines: (1) interview respondents who are experts on the subjects of most interest to you (as a corollary, don’t ask people about things they don’t know); (2) listen carefully and talk as little as possible; (3) keep in mind what you want to know and why you want to know it; (4) be a proactive interviewer (subtly guide the conversation); (5) assure respondents that there aren’t any right or wrong answers; (6) use the respondent’s own words to probe further (this both allows you to accurately identify what you heard and pushes the respondent to explain further); (7) reuse effective probes (don’t reinvent the wheel as you go—if repeating the words back works, do it again and again); (8) focus on learning the subjective meanings that events or experiences have for a respondent; (9) don’t be afraid to ask a question that draws on your own knowledge (unlike trial lawyers who are trained never to ask a question for which they don’t already know the answer, sometimes it’s worth it to ask risky questions based on your hypotheses or just plain hunches); (10) keep thinking while you are listening (so difficult…and important); (11) return to a theme raised by a respondent if you want further information; (12) be mindful of power inequalities (and never ever coerce a respondent to continue the interview if they want out); (13) take control with overly talkative respondents; (14) expect overly succinct responses, and develop strategies for probing further; (15) balance digging deep and moving on; (16) develop a plan to deflect questions (e.g., let them know you are happy to answer any questions at the end of the interview, but you don’t want to take time away from them now); and at the end, (17) check to see whether you have asked all your questions. You don’t always have to ask everyone the same set of questions, but if there is a big area you have forgotten to cover, now is the time to recover ( Lareau 2021:93–103 ).

Sample: Demographic Questionnaire

ASA Taskforce on First-Generation and Working-Class Persons in Sociology – Class Effects on Career Success

Supplementary Demographic Questionnaire

Thank you for your participation in this interview project. We would like to collect a few pieces of key demographic information from you to supplement our analyses. Your answers to these questions will be kept confidential and stored by ID number. All of your responses here are entirely voluntary!

What best captures your race/ethnicity? (please check any/all that apply)

• White (Non Hispanic/Latina/o/x)
• Black or African American
• Hispanic, Latino/a/x of Spanish
• Asian or Asian American
• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Middle Eastern or North African
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
• Other : (Please write in: ________________)

What is your current position?

• Grad Student
• Full Professor

Please check any and all of the following that apply to you:

• I identify as a working-class academic
• I was the first in my family to graduate from college
• I grew up poor

What best reflects your gender?

• Transgender female/Transgender woman
• Transgender male/Transgender man
• Gender queer/ Gender nonconforming

Anything else you would like us to know about you?

Example: Interview Guide

In this example, follow-up prompts are italicized.  Note the sequence of questions.  That second question often elicits an entire life history , answering several later questions in advance.

Introduction Script/Question

Thank you for participating in our survey of ASA members who identify as first-generation or working-class.  As you may have heard, ASA has sponsored a taskforce on first-generation and working-class persons in sociology and we are interested in hearing from those who so identify.  Your participation in this interview will help advance our knowledge in this area.

• The first thing we would like to as you is why you have volunteered to be part of this study? What does it mean to you be first-gen or working class?  Why were you willing to be interviewed?
• How did you decide to become a sociologist?
• Can you tell me a little bit about where you grew up? ( prompts: what did your parent(s) do for a living?  What kind of high school did you attend?)
• Has this identity been salient to your experience? (how? How much?)
• How welcoming was your grad program? Your first academic employer?
• Why did you decide to pursue sociology at the graduate level?
• Did you experience culture shock in college? In graduate school?
• Has your FGWC status shaped how you’ve thought about where you went to school? debt? etc?
• Were you mentored? How did this work (not work)?  How might it?
• What did you consider when deciding where to go to grad school? Where to apply for your first position?
• What, to you, is a mark of career success? Have you achieved that success?  What has helped or hindered your pursuit of success?
• Do you think sociology, as a field, cares about prestige?
• Let’s talk a little bit about intersectionality. How does being first-gen/working class work alongside other identities that are important to you?
• What do your friends and family think about your career? Have you had any difficulty relating to family members or past friends since becoming highly educated?
• Do you have any debt from college/grad school? Are you concerned about this?  Could you explain more about how you paid for college/grad school?  (here, include assistance from family, fellowships, scholarships, etc.)
• (You’ve mentioned issues or obstacles you had because of your background.) What could have helped?  Or, who or what did? Can you think of fortuitous moments in your career?
• Do you have any regrets about the path you took?
• Is there anything else you would like to add? Anything that the Taskforce should take note of, that we did not ask you about here?

Further Readings

Britten, Nicky. 1995. “Qualitative Interviews in Medical Research.” BMJ: British Medical Journal 31(6999):251–253. A good basic overview of interviewing particularly useful for students of public health and medical research generally.

Corbin, Juliet, and Janice M. Morse. 2003. “The Unstructured Interactive Interview: Issues of Reciprocity and Risks When Dealing with Sensitive Topics.” Qualitative Inquiry 9(3):335–354. Weighs the potential benefits and harms of conducting interviews on topics that may cause emotional distress. Argues that the researcher’s skills and code of ethics should ensure that the interviewing process provides more of a benefit to both participant and researcher than a harm to the former.

Gerson, Kathleen, and Sarah Damaske. 2020. The Science and Art of Interviewing . New York: Oxford University Press. A useful guidebook/textbook for both undergraduates and graduate students, written by sociologists.

Kvale, Steiner. 2007. Doing Interviews . London: SAGE. An easy-to-follow guide to conducting and analyzing interviews by psychologists.

Lamont, Michèle, and Ann Swidler. 2014. “Methodological Pluralism and the Possibilities and Limits of Interviewing.” Qualitative Sociology 37(2):153–171. Written as a response to various debates surrounding the relative value of interview-based studies and ethnographic studies defending the particular strengths of interviewing. This is a must-read article for anyone seriously engaging in qualitative research!

Pugh, Allison J. 2013. “What Good Are Interviews for Thinking about Culture? Demystifying Interpretive Analysis.” American Journal of Cultural Sociology 1(1):42–68. Another defense of interviewing written against those who champion ethnographic methods as superior, particularly in the area of studying culture. A classic.

Rapley, Timothy John. 2001. “The ‘Artfulness’ of Open-Ended Interviewing: Some considerations in analyzing interviews.” Qualitative Research 1(3):303–323. Argues for the importance of “local context” of data production (the relationship built between interviewer and interviewee, for example) in properly analyzing interview data.

Weiss, Robert S. 1995. Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies . New York: Simon and Schuster. A classic and well-regarded textbook on interviewing. Because Weiss has extensive experience conducting surveys, he contrasts the qualitative interview with the survey questionnaire well; particularly useful for those trained in the latter.

• I say “normally” because how people understand their various identities can itself be an expansive topic of inquiry. Here, I am merely talking about collecting otherwise unexamined demographic data, similar to how we ask people to check boxes on surveys. ↵
• Again, this applies to “semistructured in-depth interviewing.” When conducting standardized questionnaires, you will want to ask each question exactly as written, without deviations! ↵
• I always include “INT” in the number because I sometimes have other kinds of data with their own numbering: FG#001 would mean the first focus group, for example. I also always include three-digit spaces, as this allows for up to 999 interviews (or, more realistically, allows for me to interview up to one hundred persons without having to reset my numbering system). ↵

A method of data collection in which the researcher asks the participant questions; the answers to these questions are often recorded and transcribed verbatim. There are many different kinds of interviews - see also semistructured interview , structured interview , and unstructured interview .

A document listing key questions and question areas for use during an interview.  It is used most often for semi-structured interviews.  A good interview guide may have no more than ten primary questions for two hours of interviewing, but these ten questions will be supplemented by probes and relevant follow-ups throughout the interview.  Most IRBs require the inclusion of the interview guide in applications for review.  See also interview and  semi-structured interview .

A data-collection method that relies on casual, conversational, and informal interviewing.  Despite its apparent conversational nature, the researcher usually has a set of particular questions or question areas in mind but allows the interview to unfold spontaneously.  This is a common data-collection technique among ethnographers.  Compare to the semi-structured or in-depth interview .

A form of interview that follows a standard guide of questions asked, although the order of the questions may change to match the particular needs of each individual interview subject, and probing “follow-up” questions are often added during the course of the interview.  The semi-structured interview is the primary form of interviewing used by qualitative researchers in the social sciences.  It is sometimes referred to as an “in-depth” interview.  See also interview and  interview guide .

The cluster of data-collection tools and techniques that involve observing interactions between people, the behaviors, and practices of individuals (sometimes in contrast to what they say about how they act and behave), and cultures in context.  Observational methods are the key tools employed by ethnographers and Grounded Theory .

Follow-up questions used in a semi-structured interview  to elicit further elaboration.  Suggested prompts can be included in the interview guide  to be used/deployed depending on how the initial question was answered or if the topic of the prompt does not emerge spontaneously.

A form of interview that follows a strict set of questions, asked in a particular order, for all interview subjects.  The questions are also the kind that elicits short answers, and the data is more “informative” than probing.  This is often used in mixed-methods studies, accompanying a survey instrument.  Because there is no room for nuance or the exploration of meaning in structured interviews, qualitative researchers tend to employ semi-structured interviews instead.  See also interview.

The point at which you can conclude data collection because every person you are interviewing, the interaction you are observing, or content you are analyzing merely confirms what you have already noted.  Achieving saturation is often used as the justification for the final sample size.

An interview variant in which a person’s life story is elicited in a narrative form.  Turning points and key themes are established by the researcher and used as data points for further analysis.

Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods Copyright © 2023 by Allison Hurst is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• 10 Research Question Examples to Guide Your Research Project

10 Research Question Examples to Guide your Research Project

Published on October 30, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on October 19, 2023.

The research question is one of the most important parts of your research paper , thesis or dissertation . It’s important to spend some time assessing and refining your question before you get started.

The exact form of your question will depend on a few things, such as the length of your project, the type of research you’re conducting, the topic , and the research problem . However, all research questions should be focused, specific, and relevant to a timely social or scholarly issue.

Once you’ve read our guide on how to write a research question , you can use these examples to craft your own.

Note that the design of your research question can depend on what method you are pursuing. Here are a few options for qualitative, quantitative, and statistical research questions.

Other interesting articles

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

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Mastering culture-fit interviews: top 30 questions to ask

Last updated

12 April 2024

Reviewed by

Warren Jonas ACC

Aligning a candidate with your established company values is commonly known as a culture fit. Someone who fits well with your company’s culture is more likely to stay with you in the long term, reducing high turnover rates and improving the employee experience .

Preparation is key to finding the best fit for your company culture. Establishing specific questions that uncover details about a candidate’s personality, values, and goals can help you with this. With the right questions in hand, you can go into a culture-fit interview with confidence and an open mind to find your business’s next great employee.

• What is company culture?

Company culture refers to the values, attitudes, and behaviors that define the organization’s character. It’s what forms your company’s collective identity and sets the stage for the goals and tasks your employees carry out daily.

You can establish company culture in several ways, from the defined values and mission statement to the way the company approaches employee performance.

Every business wants a good company culture , but it’s not always easily achieved. Your company’s values need to be enacted daily. Leaders and managers need to show employees that they are as invested in the company’s values as everyone else, praising accomplishments quickly and nurturing a positive environment that makes employees happy to show up for work every day.

A big part of creating a positive company culture is hiring the right people. With motivated, happy employees, every other person in your organization will feel inspired to succeed.

• What is culture fit?

Cultural fit involves assessing a potential employee’s values and ideals and comparing them to your company’s existing culture. Candidates who share similar values and goals are likely a good fit, while those who have wildly different values might not align well with the company vision.

Evaluating cultural fit through a resume or in a traditional interview is hard. Managers and HR professionals should outline a series of special questions. These questions can give you deep insight into a candidate’s personal life and work history, but they can also provide an idea of how well that candidate will do in the role they are applying for.

Why does cultural fit matter in the hiring process?

Even if a candidate is qualified for their role, that doesn’t automatically mean they are the right fit for your company. It’s important that your employees share your company’s vision, values, and culture and that they are willing to play their part to live up to them.

• Culture fit vs. culture add

Hiring someone who fits into the mold of your company values is known as a culture fit . However, another hiring practice is gaining traction, especially in companies looking to expand to new markets or territories. It’s culture add .

A culture add is when you hire a candidate to add diversity to your company culture. It means you look for candidates who bring something new to the table, whether it’s experiences, skills, personalities, or backgrounds.

Both concepts have their place in the corporate world. Some people favor culture fit due to its tried-and-true pattern of helping companies find what (and who) tends to work best for them. Those who hire for culture add note that it’s a great way to expand the company’s horizons and discover new talent.

In either case, hiring the right candidate is about more than checking off boxes. Thoughtful interview questions will allow you to better understand candidates, their strengths, and how they can help your organization reach new heights.

• 15 cultural fit interview questions for employees

Company culture is an abstract, subjective concept. To that end, it can be hard to determine whether a candidate would be a good fit through traditional questions like, “What are your best qualities?” Cultural fit interview questions should dig a little deeper, making candidates pause and evaluate their patterns, reactions, and behaviors.

The cultural fit interview questions below for employees provide a starting point. You should adjust them to fit your company’s culture and change them accordingly.

How do you ensure you frequently improve your skills?

Do you often become friends with your coworkers?

What management style do you work best with?

Do you prefer tasks that require collaboration or projects you can complete alone?

How do you prefer to receive feedback?

How do you react to negative feedback?

In what work environment do you produce your best work?

Name your favorite activities that you do outside of work.

How would your coworkers describe you?

What do you need in a work environment to feel fulfilled?

What do you need to be inspired and motivated at work?

Why did you apply for a job at this company?

Do you consider yourself to be a leader or a follower? Why?

How do you manage communication with your colleagues?

Which of our company’s core values do you most identify with?

• 15 culture-fit interview questions to ask leaders and managers

Cultural fit interview questions for leadership and management roles should be similar to those for other employees. However, you should include additional questions that focus on leadership styles, organization preferences, and conflict resolution skills. Allow the conversation to flow naturally and encourage your candidate to expand on their answers.

Name three leadership styles. Which leadership style do you prefer to use?

Name two values that help you resolve team conflict.

Name two values that help you provide constructive criticism to team members.

Which management values help you inspire coworkers?

Which values help you manage remote teams?

How do you stay organized?

Which of our company values resonates the most with you?

What would you change or improve about our business?

Are there any other roles in our company that you’d like to interview for?

What would you bring to our company that’s unique?

Are there any specific tools you find helpful for improving your work efficiency?

What do you believe are essential values in the workplace?

Can you think of a previous professional relationship that didn’t work out? If so, what was the cause?

Can you give an example of your ideal work schedule?

Do you typically make friends and spend time with coworkers outside of work?

• The dangers of hiring for cultural fit alone

Hiring for cultural fit can be a positive thing in most cases. Finding the right cultural fit means hiring employees who understand and embrace your company’s vision.

However, there’s a danger of hiring exclusively for cultural fit. Culture fit is highly subjective. It can be easy to let unconscious bias affect your hiring decisions. While it’s a good idea to trust your gut to a certain extent, exercise caution when forming opinions about candidates without knowledge to back it up.

Hiring only for cultural fit might also limit future growth opportunities by sticking with the status quo rather than embracing new ventures. The best candidates might not fit the established mold. In general, focus on the values, habits, and skills that will help someone be successful with your company rather than any superficial qualities. This will enable you to find the right candidates.

What is an example of a culture fit?

Imagine a company hiring for a remote position and finding a candidate looking for a remote job with experience of working from home. That’s an example of culture fit.

Those hiring for a customer-facing role might look for candidates who display excellent customer service skills who are friendly and personable.

Companies that prioritize innovation might look for culture fit with candidates who are creative and open to trying new things.

How do I prepare for a value fit interview?

If you’re giving the interview, prepare by reviewing your questions in advance. Ensure there are no gaps in the questioning and that you have room for flexibility if new questions present themselves during the interview.

As the candidate, prepare for the interview by researching the company. Learn what you can about the company culture, the company’s vision and values, and any recent accomplishments outlined on the company website. This knowledge will help you better understand whether you align with the business’s values, goals, and vision.

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20 Good Questions to Ask in an Interview

When interviewing with a potential employer, the questions you ask are just as important as the answers you give.

In a job interview , there are few things worse than responding to an interviewer’s final question, “Do you have anything to ask me?” by saying “No, I’m all set.”

According to Sara Hutchison, CEO and executive career consultant at Get Your Best Resume , not coming prepared with questions will “kill the tone” — even if it was a great interview up to that point.

“The questions you asked show whether or not you did research,” Hutchison said. “It shows that you’re genuinely interested in this organization or in the technologies.” 

Best Questions to Ask in an Interview

• What do you do to foster an inclusive team?
• What does career growth for this role look like? 
• How does your company support its employees?
• Why is this position open now?
• What tools and platforms do your teams work with?
• If you left this company, what is the biggest thing you would miss?
• What is the biggest challenge facing this team right now?
• How is performance rewarded?
• How does your company nurture innovation?

To help you leave a positive impression in your next interview, we asked HR leaders and career advisers to provide the best types of questions to ask during a job interview. It might just be the difference between securing an offer and not.

Questions About Management and Leadership

1. what do you do to foster an inclusive team  .

A broader related question could be, “What is your company doing to encourage  workplace diversity ?”

When Ji Park, a software developer at LaunchPad Lab , first applied to work there, it was important to her to work for a company that emphasized diversity. She asked her interviewer about diversity statistics at the company, and found out that the team was mostly made up of white men, but her interviewer also mentioned that they were making efforts to make their team more inclusive . “In a case like that, I think it’s important to keep asking, ‘What are those efforts? What plans do you have to hire more diverse candidates?’” she said. 

Being intentional with your questions pushes companies to be accountable and can get them to better focus on issues like diversity and inclusion that often get overlooked.

2. What Are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Company’s Leadership?

It’s important to have a good understanding of how the company’s leadership works because their actions ultimately affect employees at all levels of the organization. Dawid Wiacek, career and interview coach and founder of  The Career Fixer , said related questions you can ask are “How long has the leadership been in place?” “What’s their leadership style ?” “What are they really great at?” “What are their gaps?” 

“You’ll want to understand the management style of the person who can make your life great or a miserable living hell,” Wiacek said.

3. How Do You Practice and Implement Your Company’s Values?

This question can provide a closer look at how authentic company executives are in practicing what the business preaches. It also shows how effective leaders and managers are in getting employees to buy into a  company culture and abide by specific values. Strong, positive leadership by leaders at various levels of an organization is necessary for a company to have a thriving culture that everyone believes in.

4. What Excites You About the Company’s Direction? 

It’s much easier to find purpose and growth at a company where leaders possess a clear vision for where they want to take the business moving forward. Asking about the company’s direction can lead to key intel on whether a company has goals and whether these goals align with yours.

More on Interview Questions How to Use the STAR Interview Method to Land a Job

Questions About Employee Development and Job Growth

5. what does career growth in this role look like.

This question will help you determine if there are opportunities for you to grow at this company and help you envision how the role fits into your  career path . Plus, it shows that you are excited about the potential of sticking with a company for years to come.

“When people ask those questions in interviews, it suggests that they want to stay at this company in the long term, that they’re not just looking at this as a waystation, and that’s really appealing to employers,” said Erin Brown, associate director of graduate student career services at UCLA.

6. How Does the Company Invest in Training and Development?

This question will give you a sense of whether or not the company cares about nurturing its talent and growing existing employees’ skills. Another related question is, “What is manager coaching and training like?” This question is good to ask, even if you’re not pursuing a managerial role. 

“If people are like, ‘I don’t know what happens there,’ then that makes it clear the company doesn’t  invest in management , which is so critical to everyone’s experience,” said Emily Connery, senior director of people and talent at people analytics platform ChartHop . 

7. How Does Your Company Support Its Employees?

At any job, you’re going to run into challenges or snags that you’ll need help overcoming. Before joining a new company, you want to be positive that they care about their employees and will support you when things get tough.

When applying to jobs in the middle of the pandemic, Park knew that jumping into a new role while remote would be tricky. She wanted to make sure that whatever company she joined would provide her with adequate support to make the transition .

“In my interview I made sure to ask what resources the company provided to make people feel well-adjusted,” Park said. “I wanted to know that they were aware of the common challenges teammates might face and were ready to help them out.”

8. What’s the Typical Career Path for Employees in This Role?

This is a great question to explore what kind of movement is possible within a company. Perhaps employees who thrive in a role follow a specific career track within their department and receive promotions . Or maybe they’ve moved laterally to other departments, applying transferable skills to a variety of roles. 

You could also follow this up by asking what the most popular paths are that employees follow within a department. It’s a promising sign if an interviewer not only provides a detailed explanation of what employees are doing now, but also lays out a process for how the company has helped employees get to their current positions.

More on Interview Questions How to Answer ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ In a Job Interview

Questions About the Job Role

9. why is this position open now  .

While there’s a risk that this question could put the interviewer on the defensive if the last person in the role left on bad terms, asking this question can help you understand important information about the team. You could ask, “Is the role brand-new, and if so, what prompted its creation?” If you’re pursuing an established role, you might want to know how many people have held the position lately. If there’s been a revolving door of people in the role and high turnover on the team, that might be a red flag.

You could even ask, “Where did the previous person in the role go? Did they stay at the company and climb up?” Wiacek said.

10. What’s a Non-Obvious Skill That Would Make Someone a Great Fit for This Role?

This is a question that can help you stand out in a later-stage interview. You’re ultimately asking the interviewer what would be the skills that their dream candidate would have. Maybe you actually have this skill, and this presents an opportunity to talk about it. Or, if you don’t have that skill and are interested in learning , you could talk about ways you would be willing to acquire it. 

11. What Tools and Platforms Do Your Teams Work With?

If you’re applying for a software development or data science role, you’ll likely be expected to work with a variety of technology stacks, and some might be unfamiliar. Ask about what platforms or  tools you’ll need to use as a part of your role and find out what kind of training resources they offer to help you learn new technologies .

“Asking what value the customers will get from what we build shows that you’re not just myopically thinking about how to write a line of Python or build a machine learning model,” said David Fellows, chief digital officer at analytics company Acuity Knowledge Partners . “You’re actually thinking about providing solutions that people can use.”

Typically, don’t save this question until the end of the interview process, and don’t pose the question to the recruiter or someone not on the technical side . 

12. What Is the 90-Day Plan for This Role?

To understand what roadmap and support exist for a certain role, a helpful question to ask is, “What is the  90-day plan for this role?”

“It should be clear. They should really understand what the first 90 days should look like, and if it’s not, I think that tells you a lot about the level of organization,” Connery said.

Ultimately, you could ask the more common but important questions like, “How will the success of this candidate be measured?” 

“It helps you to kind of have goals for yourself for those first three to six months,” Hutchison said. “It gives them an idea of what their expectations are and how much guidance you’re going to have before they let you on your own.”

More on Interview Questions The Best Way to Answer ‘Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?’

Questions About the Company and Company Culture

13. if you left this company, what would you miss the most.

This is a way to flip around the question that candidates often hear, “ Why do you want to work at this company? ” You want to understand the best parts of the company and why employees stay. 

“This gets the person talking and loosens them up and engages them on a different level, rather than just talking about the sometimes dull job description,” Wiacek said. “It humanizes the interview experience.”

14. What Surprised You About Working at This Company?

This can elicit a positive or negative answer, but either way, it will give you important insight about the  workplace culture and company dynamics.

“It’s a surprising question and can help you be more memorable as a candidate and can help you stand out against those who ask boring questions or don’t engage the interviewer,” Wiacek said.

15. What Is the Biggest Challenge Facing This Team Right Now?

Every company has areas for improvement, and this helps you start to understand what challenges you might encounter should you be offered the role.

Stacy Ulery, assistant director for career education and engagement at UCLA Career Center, said that asking this question allows you an opportunity to showcase your problem-solving skills or talk about another similar project you worked on.

“It’s another opportunity for you first to demonstrate that you’ve done your research, that you understand the industry, you understand the company’s place in the marketplace but also what can you bring to the table to help them,” she said. 

If you’ve done advanced research or learned about a challenge in a previous interview, Lily Valentin, head of operations for North America at job search engine  Adzuna , suggests presenting a potential solution to the company’s problem.

“It’s most important to hear questions from a job seeker that really embeds themselves in the business and the business framework,” she said.

16. How Does This Company Handle Failure?

The answer to this question will tell you a lot about a company’s resiliency and how it supports people when mistakes and shortcomings inevitably happen. It’ll be helpful to learn what systems and tools of support the company offers employees to ensure success. Do you get mentorship and coaching in these instances? 

“Use this question wisely. It may not be appropriate for Type-A companies or interviewers. But if you have succeeded in previous roles and have every reason to believe you’ll give 100 percent effort in the new role, then it’s a fair question to ask of the employer,” Wiacek said. “For some of my clients, they only want to work for companies that invest in their people, and actually put their money where their mouth is.”

17. How Do You Think This Company Stacks Up Against Your Direct Competition?

This question will give you a sense of how the company perceives itself and how it is thinking about maintaining a competitive advantage against other players in the industry. 

“A weak answer might give you pause. A good answer will give you confidence that the company is proactive, transparent, honest, prepared,” Wiacek said. “You need to grill the company as much as they want to grill you.”

18. Can You Tell Me About How Communication Happens Here? 

Does the company host all-hands meetings? How often should you expect one-on-one meetings with your supervisor? Are there team meetings? You should get answers to these questions by asking about  communication . 

Another communication question you could ask is, “How does the company interact with the executive team?”

“That could be very telling in terms of how the executive team shows up. Are they like Oz behind the curtains, or are they really a part of the teams?” Connery said.

It is also helpful to learn how different teams communicate with each other, especially if you’re in a highly collaborative role. Wiacek said many of his clients in the tech industry cite challenges in communication between tech teams and nontechnical departments, so it’s a good idea to learn how the company works through communication challenges like that. 

19. How Is Performance Rewarded?

Some companies might reward excellent performance with bonuses, while others focus more on  awards or recognition . If a company doesn’t place a high value on feedback or acknowledge exceptional work at all, you could end up frustrated in your role.

“People might ask questions more about compensation or promotions but not necessarily, ‘How is performance rewarded?’ I think if people stumble in answering that question, it might not be an environment where people feel recognized,” Connery said. 

Should you be offered the role and be looking at a promotion with the company down the road, it would be helpful to have information at the start of your tenure about how leveling is determined for roles and how promotion decisions are made , so feel free to ask about that during the interview process as well.

20. How Does Your Company Plan to Keep Innovating?

Your interviewer might be excited to answer a question about how the company is innovating . This question will help you understand how the company feels about new ideas, new technologies and adapting in the ever-changing tech world.

It’s also important to understand what the vision for the company is and how the company plans to innovate for the future. Kimberly Terrill, associate director for career education and development at UCLA, suggests asking questions about how the company’s mission and focus might change in the future. What are the hopes and aspirations for the company? 

“Tech changes so quickly. Even five years is a long time in tech,” she said. 

Ask All the Logistical Questions Early

While it might seem poor form to ask about salary range in an early interview, experts are now saying it’s best to gather all of the important basic information right away. This saves everyone time if plans suddenly change or the expectations for compensation and benefits don’t align. These can be a part of the questions you ask during the interview, too. 

Make sure you have answers to the following questions from interviewers before proceeding with future interviews:

• How many interviews are there going to be? 
• When are you expecting to have this role filled by? 
• What is the salary range?
• What are the benefits offered?
• How is the title for this role determined? 
• What are the day-to-day responsibilities of this role?
• How many hours a week would be spent working on certain tasks?

How Do I Come Up With Good Questions?  

Do your homework and learn about the company ahead of time, so you can get answers that are truly useful to you should you be  faced with deciding whether or not to accept the job offer . Don’t ask questions you already know the answers to or could easily find from a Google search — your questions need to be well-thought-out and specific to the company and role you’re pursuing.

“I always do a ton of research into companies that I’m interviewing with, gathering as much as I can from their website and blog posts,” said Park. “I want to get a sense of the kind of people they hire. That usually gives me an idea of questions I want to ask.”

How Many Questions Should I Ask?

Typically, you should ask between two and five questions at every interview. You may not get a chance to ask them all, but it’s better to come prepared.

“It is a huge red flag whenever a job seeker comes into an interview and has no questions,” Valentin said. “It really doesn’t matter at what stage in the interview process you are.”

Frequently Asked Questions

What are common questions to ask in an interview.

Common questions to ask in an interview include “Why is this position open now?” “What is unique about your company’s culture?” and “What’s the biggest pain point your team is facing right now?”

How many questions to ask at the end of an interview?

It’s best to prepare two to five questions to ask at the end of an interview, with the expectation that the recruiter may not have time to answer all of them.

Recent Job Interviews Articles

39 Job Interview Questions to Expect, with Answers

As the tech industry’s seemingly never-ending rounds of layoffs continue on and on, we’re all getting a lot more interested in acing job interviews.

In a way, interviewing well is the most in-demand skill of them all: If you don’t know someone who knows someone, it’s practically a prerequisite for getting any job at all. And, since we’re all too busy doing our jobs, it’s a rarely practiced skill to boot.

Luckily, job interviewers tend to stick to the same types of questions: They’ll ask about your past job experience, and they’ll try to figure out if you’re a culture fit. Here, we’ve rounded up all the top questions that a job interviewer is likely to ask, along with a handful of questions that you may want to ask them.

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Tell Me About Yourself

You should consider preparing a quick summary of your work persona: Mention a few hobbies, how much you love your pets, and, just to really blow them away, throw in your favorite ice cream flavor.

They’re likely to ask for something more specific about yourself as well, too. Here are the usual questions to be ready for:

1. What are your strengths?

As with all the questions in this category, you’ll need to find an answer that’s honest to your personality. But it never hurts to consider some of the greatest hits here: Perhaps you’re great at communicating effectively, collaborating with others, or problem-solving under pressure.

2. What are your weaknesses?

Some will suggest that you answer with a version of “I care too much” or “I work too hard.” But even if this is true for you, it’s cliche and weird to flex about your terrible work-life balance in 2024.

Instead, pick a genuine weakness (nothing too terrible), and then follow up immediately to explain how you’ve already begun working to address this issue. For example, you could say that you sometimes get caught up in the details, but this has led you to realign your workflow regularly to ensure you move on to the next task at an appropriate speed.

3. Why do you want to work for this company?

To answer this one, think about what stands out about the company. If they’re small, you can benefit from how agile and scrappy they are. If they’re large, you’ll benefit from the internal network of knowledgable coworkers.

4. Why are you interested in this position?

Find an answer to this that’s personal to you, but that makes it clear that your values align with the organization, and you see a path towards growing your skills and experience at the new position.

5. Can you walk me through your resume?

When answering this one, focus on two points. First, you’ll want to highlight why your past positions are  relevant to the current position you’re hoping to land. Second, you’ll also want to emphasize the diverse range of experiences you’ve banked in the past.

Prove Your Experience

A job interviewer needs to know you have the proven industry knowledge to handle everything in real life that you can already do on paper. Here are some questions about your job history they’ll likely ask some version of.

6. What relevant experience do you have?

Look through your employment history for positions in the industry or the same job role. If you don’t have them, focus on the most relevant skills. Any growth statistics you can highlight from your time at the company will be good to keep in mind.

7. How do you handle pressure or stressful situations?

I don’t know, how  do you handle them? If you love them, say so. If you hate them, say that and then explain the steps you take to avoid feeling like a situation is stressful, like establishing a gameplan ahead of time.

8. What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?

This is a broad question, so start out by narrowing the field: What was the biggest project you worked on at your most relevant previous position? That’s likely the best area to focus on, although you might win a few brownie points by saying your greatest accomplishment was raising your kids.

9. What motivates you?

You’re likely best of answering this by focusing on the work itself: You like challenging yourself, growing, and gaining new skills that add up to more than the sum of their total.

10. Where do you see yourself in five years?

If you have clear career goals, discuss them. For everyone else, highlight the skills that this position offers and that you’d love to develop.

11. What do you enjoy most about your last job?

You can add a little structure to your response by opening with a summary of a project or goal that you helped work on, followed by the actions you enjoyed taking to address the issue. The point is to bring up a skillset that will transfer to your new position.

Give Examples

Even once you’ve prepared for all the questions above, you still won’t be done proving your experience. Most job interviewers are also looking for specific examples from your past that illustrate your relevant skills and perspective.

12. Describe a challenge you faced at work and how you overcame it.

A good general template for any specific experience is to describe a situation , your actions in response, and the impact that you achieved.

13. Can you provide an example of a time when you demonstrated leadership skills?

Think of a time when you took intiative to make a decision when your manager wasn’t around to make it for you. You don’t have to fully take charge to exhibit “leadership skills,” either, since this term could be interpreted to mean that you deligated responsibility or took point on a small section of a larger project.

14. Describe a time when you had to adapt to change.

Ideally, you’ll want to pick a challenge that you made a clearly outlined change in response to. Follow the story up by explaining what interpersonal or technical skill you learned from the experience.

15. Describe a time when you had to solve a complex problem.

A few things the interviewer might be looking for when asking this question: How you break a big problem down into smaller sections, and if you’re willing to ask others for help. Pick a story that illustrates these principles.

16. Tell me about a time when you failed and what you learned from it.

This potential question is an easy one to be unprepared for, since it involves admitting to a failure. If you have a story ready to go (and an explanation for how you recovered afterwards), you might stand out from the other interviewees.

17. Provide an example of a time when you went above and beyond in your role.

The interviewer won’t ask too many of these questions, so as long as you have a two-to-four potential stories ready to go, you can likely cover all your bases.

Are You a Culture Fit?

Employers want someone who will easily slot into the existing structure of their business. Here’s what they might ask to suss out if you fit the bill.

18. Why did you leave your previous job?

If you haven’t yet left your current position, this question might be phrased as “why are you looking to leave your current job?” Either way, the interviewer just needs a response that makes sense, shows your interest in furthering your career, aligns with their company’s values, or some combination of the above.

19. What do you know about our company?

Do some research into the company’s accolades. Anything that makes the company unique is worth bringing up, and of course any (authentic) praise you can muster will go over well.

20. How do you work in a team environment?

What team player traits do you love and exhibit? This might be effective communication, willingness to collaborate, a positive attitude, or something more specific, like how you enjoy breakout rooms in Zoom calls or how you collect Post-its for your idea board.

21. How do you handle conflicts with coworkers?

Saying you can always handle conflicts might sound too defensive in response to this question. Instead, think of a specific example of a way you butted heads with a coworker in the past and how you worked to defuse the situation. Emphase traits like active listening, open communciation, and a solution that works for everyone, not just you.

22. How do you prioritize tasks and manage your time effectively?

This is a chance to show that you’re a team player. Emphasize how you determine the importance of your deadlines, considering how other teams in our organization are affected. Feel free to mention specific software tools that help streamline your workflow.

23. How do you handle constructive criticism?

Let the interviewer know that you don’t take feedback personally, even if it’s negative.

24. What relevant skills do you possess for this role?

You should figure out which of your skills are most relevant ahead of the interview, which allows you to prepare an example or two of your work while at a previous position.

25. Are you comfortable working independently?

Explain that you love to take initiative, and can handle all the tasks in the job listing effectively without a need for constant supervision. Of course, you do require the right amount of open communication, particularly when tackling the intial learning curve.

Brag About Yourself

Any company wants to hire the best person for the job. You’ll have to find a way to let them know that’s you, while still making it clear that you’re a team player.

26. What makes you the best candidate for this position?

Line up your skills, experience, and personal attributes. Add in something that makes you stand out, from your proactive problem-solving to your personable approach to internal networking.

For bonus points, you can wrap up your answer with a note about what makes their company worth applying to – it’s a compliment, but it highlights that you’re interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing you.

27. How do you define success?

Good answers to this question tend to be a little lofty, from “feeling fulfilled” to “finding meaningful work.” Whatever the case, you can achieve it with ongoing growth, learning from failures… and landing this job.

28. How do you stay organized?

Explain the general tips for keeping on track, from task grouping to time management. You can also get into specific software tools as well, from your Google Calendar skills to your project management software knowledge.

29. Can you describe your work ethic?

The right answer to this will be unique to you, but common traits to highlight here might include: Dedication, reliability, enthusiasm, passion, detail-oriented, integrity. Pick a few that describe you best and don’t mention any that don’t fit as well.

30. Can you describe your approach to continuous learning and professional development?

Perhaps you spend your free time upskilling and learning new code languages. If not, however, you can still answer this one proudly: Everyone’s continually learning new skills at any job, so you can just cite the most recent or most interesting new projects that you’ve taken on, and what abilities they require from you.

The Practical and Nitty-Gritty Questions

Not all common job interview questions are as general as the options listed above. Here, we get into the questions that you can’t sweet-talk your way through. You’ll need to know exactly what software, websites, or numbers to have on hand.

31. Are you comfortable with [specific software or technology]?

You should have a list of the software that you’re familar with in mind. Don’t overpromise, though: After all, you’ve (probably?) figured out more than one project management tool in your time, so one more should be easy enough.

32. How do you stay updated in your field?

What industry newsletter or website do you regularly read? Any podcasts or YouTube courses? As long as you enjoy your career, this can be a fun question to answer and might even demonstrate your passion.

33. What are your salary expectations?

This is one of the toughest job interview questions to answer: You don’t want to name a specific figure, as it sets a benchmark that can leave you underpaid, but you don’t want to say anything so high that you’re rejected, either.

You should mention that salary isn’t the only important element of which job offer you’ll accept, but ultimately, you may need to name the range that your research shows will fit your skills and geographic location.

Do You Have Any Questions for Us?

At the end of the interview, you might be asked for any questions from your side. Even if you’re not, piping up with at least one or two questions is the right move in most cases: It’s often seen as a sign that you’re fully engaged in the process.

Here are some of the best questions to ask, with my favorite one listed first:

34. Can you tell me what you loved the most about how the previous person in this position did their job?

This shows you’re aware that you’re potentially stepping into someone else’s shoes and you’re interested in easing the transition as you enter the same role. Plus, it gives your interviewer the choice to either praise or bad-mouth their previous employee – either way, you’ll gain some insight into the workplace culture you may be entering.

35. Can you describe the day-to-day responsibilities of this position?

This question gets to the nitty-gritty details, and might lead to a discussion of the software tools or workflow specificities to expect at your new job. It’s a good one to ask during a second or third interview, when it’s clear you’re both serious about the potential of being hired.

36. What are the company’s short-term and long-term goals, and how does this position contribute to achieving them?

This shows that you’re looking for a job that’s clearly aligned with the direction that the entire company is headed. If your job is valued by the company, you’ll have job security and the potential for further growth as long as you do that job well.

37. What opportunities can you offer for professional development and advancement?

Another forward-thinking question, this asks the company to explain what skills and experiences it can offer you, rather than the other way around. If the interviewer struggles to answer, they’re indicating that the company isn’t committed to employee development.

38. Can you tell me about the company culture and what it’s like to work here?

This question could prompt a range of responses, and you may like some responses more than others. Do you want to work at a fast-paced organization, or one that prioritizes slow and steady accomplishment instead? Whatever the case, you need a company culture that suits you.

39. What are the next steps in the hiring process?

This is a good wrap-up question, as it transitions the whole conversation into the next stage of the timeline and pragmatically signals a conclusion to the current interview.

Job Interviewing Tips

Once you’ve figured out potential answers to most of the questions listed in this guide, you’re almost ready. The final step? Forget all those notes you just took and clear your mind.

It might sound counterintuitive, but the key element to winning a job interview is quiet confidence, and trying to re-state all of your prepared answers exactly as you wrote them will probably make you seem stiff. Instead, stay flexible: You can remix and shuffle around your answers in any way that makes sense.

Finally, if you don’t have an answer for a curveball, feel free to just admit it. You’ll sound more confident as a result, and it’s a human moment. Ultimately, what matters is connecting with your interviewer and letting them know you’ll be a reasonable coworker. Well, provided you also let them know you have the experience, skills, and personality to handle the gig.

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Small Business Trends

132 market research questions to ask.

Market research sounds so formal. Yet it doesn’t have to be. It can be part of your daily marketing activity if you adopt one of the best and easiest techniques: simply ask questions.

Asking market research questions can yield new insights to boost your marketing to the next level. One example of market research involves gathering competitive information to inform your new product and service development.

Another market research example involves creating clear pictures of your ideal customers — called customer personas –for precise targeting. Other market research examples involve gathering feedback from existing customers to measure customer satisfaction.

The key to success, however, is knowing which questions to ask. Below is a list of 132 market research questions to use as templates for your own questions. Use them to ask questions internally to your team, or ask prospects and clients directly.

Types of Market Research Questions

Market research questions.

A good way to start your market research is to size up and describe your target audience. Gather primary and secondary research to assess the following marketing parameters:

• What is the size of our target market? How many potential customers are there?
• Do we have a good set of customer personas developed, to understand ideal target customers?
• Demographic questions: gender, age, ethnicity. Include annual income, education and marital status.
• Firmographic questions: size, industry. Include annual revenues and other relevant factors.
• Psychographic questions: habits, preferences, interests.
• What key consumer trends do we see?
• How do we identify new target segments? How do these new segments differ from those we already have?
• Which neighborhoods and zip codes do we get most of our customers from today?
• Which geographic locations are growing? Are the demographics of growth markets similar to those in which we already operate? If not, what should we change?
• Is online commerce or online service delivery a growth opportunity? Are our competitors doing business online?
• Can we find marketing partners to expand our reach?

Related: How to Conduct Market Research

Questions to Ask Customers

Use the following as survey questions, either post sale or as post-support surveys. Or use these market research questions to conduct a focus group, interview individual customers, or engage potential customers during the sales process.

Make it a point to include respondents who are less than thrilled with your customer service. You learn more than if you only talk with happy customers. Ask:

• How did you hear about us?
• What made you choose us?
• What features do you like most about our product or service?
• Is our product or service easy, fast, convenient to use?
• What do you wish our product or service did that it does not today?
• Are you aware that we offer _________?
• Were our personnel courteous in all dealings?
• Did we answer all your questions or solve your support problem?
• Can we help you get started using our product or service?
• Were you satisfied with our promptness and speed?
• Would you be willing to tell friends, family or colleagues about us?
• How do you rate your experience with us?
• Would you buy from us again?
• Why have you decided to leave us / not renew?
• How likely are you to recommend our product/service to others on a scale of 1-10?
• What is the primary reason for your score?
• Can you describe a situation where our product/service exceeded your expectations?
• What changes would most improve our product/service?
• If you could change one thing about our product/service, what would it be?
• How do our products/services fit into your daily life or routine?
• What other products/services do you wish we offered?

Related: Tailoring Survey Questions for Your Industry and Best Practices for Surveys

Pricing and Value

The following are pricing research questions to ask. Small business owners and marketers may want to assign someone to do a competitive analysis, such as gathering data from competitor websites and putting it into a spreadsheet.

Doing research may also require you to gather information internally. For example, meet with Sales to discuss feedback they receive from possible customers.

You could also ask Customer Support to start tracking when customers give price as a reason to not renew. Here are sample market research questions about pricing:

• Does our team have a compelling sales pitch based on value, not just price?
• How do we create more value to justify our prices?
• How can we position our product as “premium”?
• What are our competitors charging? Are our prices higher, lower or about the same?
• Are our prices allowing sufficient profit to stay in business?
• How often do sales and support staff hear pricing objections? And how often do they overcome them?
• Are we identifying enough people who can afford our products and services, or who want to pay what we ask for?
• Can we more precisely target prospects by income, neighborhoods and other factors to isolate a target audience receptive to our price point?
• In the case of B2B, are we targeting the right industries with needs and pain points we can solve?
• Are we targeting the right job title? Does the target executive have sufficient budget authority?
• How does our business model compare in our industry? Are we missing opportunities?
• What kind of promotions are our competitors advertising? Bulk buys / annual subscriptions? Free gift with purchase? Discounts? Sales events?
• How do our prices compare with the value you perceive from our products/services?
• What pricing model do you find most appealing – subscription, one-time purchase, pay-per-use?
• How sensitive are you to price changes in our products/services?
• What discounts or promotions would encourage you to make a purchase?

Product or Service Questions

Ask yourself or your team these market research questions about your products and services:

• Are our new products or services sufficiently unique compared with what already exists?
• What exactly is our value proposition — the reason customers should choose us? How can we best convey our benefits?
• How are customers currently solving the problem that our product addresses?
• What products do competitors offer? How does our target market view these competitive offerings?
• How do competitors deliver service? Does their process differ from our methods? Are there obvious advantages such as cost or time savings to gain if we adjust?
• Customers have been asking for a certain service — do others in the market offer it?  What do they charge?
• What changes will customers likely want in the future that technology can provide?
• How do we get feedback about our product, so we know what to improve, and what to highlight in sales and marketing messages?
• What technology is available in the market to improve operational productivity or cut costs? What solutions are competitors or big corporations using?
• When considering new product development, do we interview customers to test their interest level?
• Are there any untapped market segments or niches where our products or services could be a perfect fit?
• What are the potential challenges or barriers that customers face when using our products or services?
• Have we conducted customer satisfaction surveys to gauge overall customer experience and identify areas for improvement?
• Are there any complementary products or services that we could offer to enhance our customers’ experience?
• How do customers perceive the quality and reliability of our products or services compared to competitors?
• What are the specific pain points or needs that our products or services address, and how well are we communicating this to customers?
• Have we explored partnerships or collaborations with other businesses to expand our product/service offerings?
• Are there any emerging trends or technologies in the market that could disrupt our current products or services?
• Have we analyzed customer feedback and complaints to identify recurring issues that require immediate attention?
• What are the future trends and demands in our industry, and how can we proactively align our offerings with these trends?
• What additional features would you like to see in our future products?
• How can we improve the user experience of our product/service?
• What would make you choose our product/service over a competitor’s?
• Are there any aspects of our product/service that you find unnecessary or rarely use?

Related: How to Minimize Survey Fatigue

Online Visibility Questions

Online traffic is essential to most small businesses, even local businesses, to drive in-store traffic. Market research questions can assess your company’s online visibility. Get answers from your digital team:

• How much website traffic do we receive compared with competitors? Check free tools like Alexa and SimilarWeb – while not exact they can compare relative levels of traffic.
• How prominently do we appear in search engines like Google and Bing?
• Do we appear in search engines for the queries our audience is searching for, using their words? Or do we need to invest in search engine optimization?
• Which search queries actually send us website traffic? Check Google Search Console or another SEO tool.
• How does our search visibility compare with competitors? A tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs can give this kind of advanced look.
• Have we done a gap analysis and identified which keywords our competitors rank for? Do we have a content marketing plan to attract more visitors?
• Have we claimed business listings like Google My Business and Bing Places, and completed them with engaging content such as photos?
• How prominently do we show up in Google Maps, Apple Maps and Bing Maps?
• Do we give visitors something to do on our website to engage them, such as fill out a lead gen form, read the blog, or schedule an appointment?
• Are our website’s loading speed and performance optimized for a better user experience?
• Do we have a mobile-friendly website that caters to the growing number of mobile users?
• Are we utilizing social media platforms effectively to engage with our target audience?
• Have we analyzed user behavior on our website through tools like Google Analytics to identify areas for improvement?
• Are we actively monitoring and responding to online reviews and comments about our business?
• Have we implemented effective link building strategies to improve our website’s authority and search rankings?
• How do our online advertising efforts compare with competitors in terms of reach and conversion rates?
• Are we using email marketing campaigns to nurture leads and maintain communication with our customers?
• Have we explored influencer marketing as a way to expand our online reach and brand visibility?
• Are we leveraging online customer feedback surveys to gather insights and improve our online presence?
• What type of content would you like to see more of on our website?
• How easy is it to navigate our website and find what you’re looking for?
• Are there any online channels (social media, forums, etc.) where you feel we should have a presence?
• How do you prefer to interact with us online – through email, live chat, social media, or other channels?

Related: How to Interpret Survey Results

Reputation Management

Customers today have extraordinary power to talk about a brand, and its products and services. Customers can choose dozens of social media sites or review sites like Yelp to share opinions.

A big part of market research today is to find out what customers think and say about your business (and also about your competitors). You want answers to the following market research questions:

• Do we have negative reviews online?
• Do we have any other type of reputation issue, such as poor word of mouth in our local community?
• Are competitors spamming with fake reviews?
• What can we learn from bad reviews?
• Do we thank those who give positive reviews and referrals, or do we ignore them?
• Do we address negative reviews or complaints by trying to make good or by correcting wrong facts?
• Can we use an app such as GatherUp.com to make it easy for customers to leave reviews?
• Does our website have compelling testimonials?
• What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear our brand name?
• How would you describe our company to a friend or colleague?
• Are there any misconceptions about our brand that you think we should address?
• How do you perceive our efforts in responding to and resolving customer complaints or issues?

Messaging and Advertising

Assess your current marketing messages. Brands will want to know that their messaging supports their marketing goals. Make sure to also assess advertising to make sure it is in sync with goals and performing well:

• Have we identified the milestones in the customer journey, and what customers looking for at each milestone? Are we addressing the milestones?
• What emotions drive our customers’ buying decisions? Fear? Aspirational desire? Does our messaging align with these emotional needs?
• What information sources do prospects rely on? TV, online digital, social media, radio, newspapers?
• Which marketing and advertising channels have been our top performers?
• Have we developed quality content to educate and persuade prospects?
• What are the best advertising methods and media outlets to reach our prospects?
• Are we using our advertising spend to precisely target our desired buyer, or is it spray and pray?
• Where and how frequently do competitors advertise, and what messages do they use?
• Do we have good assets such as display ads and landing pages to drive prospects to? How do they compare with competitors’ assets?
• What social media channels does our target market use? Should we boost our presence on those channels?
• What issues do our target buyers talk about on social media?
• Do we use heat maps, A/B testing or other measurements to test content and calls to action?
• Do our marketing messages align with the values and brand identity we want to convey to our target audience?
• How do our marketing messages address common pain points or challenges faced by our customers?
• Have we conducted focus groups or surveys to gather direct feedback on the effectiveness of our marketing messages?
• Are there any cultural or regional considerations that could impact the resonance of our messaging with different segments of our target audience?
• What unique selling points (USPs) do we emphasize in our advertising, and how well do they differentiate us from competitors?
• Have we tested various advertising messages to identify which ones resonate best with our target audience?
• Are we effectively utilizing storytelling techniques in our marketing messages to create emotional connections with our customers?
• How do we track the success of our advertising campaigns in terms of reach, engagement, and conversions?
• Have we analyzed customer journey data to identify potential gaps in our messaging at various touchpoints?
• Are there any specific keywords or phrases that our target audience commonly uses, and how can we incorporate them into our messaging?
• What messages in our advertising resonate with you the most?
• Are there certain advertising channels where you feel our presence is lacking?
• How do you usually respond to our advertising – visit our website, follow us on social media, make a purchase?
• In your opinion, what could improve the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns?

Related: 9 Strategies to Get More Customer Feedback and When to Use Online Surveys .

These 132 questions and examples of market research should give you plenty to explore. Always come back to the most important question of all: what can we do better? Answering this one question can put your brand well on the way toward long term growth.

Image: Depositphotos.com

Thanks for the questions. I guess this is good because you know what type of data that you like to get from your target market.

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