Sociology -- Social Work All interviews have a precise purpose and are more often than not constructed within an exact context. Even though there are forms of interviews other than the research interview, like job interview, assistance interview, journalist interview, investigative interview and entertainment interview, the research interview is designed to acquire information pertinent to investigating a scientific question (Neuman, 2006). One type of research interview is that of a survey interview.

Telephone or face-to-face interviews are a universal means of conducting survey research and are almost certainly the most frequent form of research interview. Survey interviews are utilized to evaluate a range of information, including behaviors, attitudes, preferences and intentions, frequently with the goal of generalizing the findings to a particular population. The survey interview is intended to collect information on variables that are comparatively circumscribed and to which...

On the other hand, the interview arrangement does give the interviewer some flexibility to clarify questions or answers if needed and to deal with exclusive interview situations. Because the goal of such interviews is to gather information that can be generalized to a particular population, key issues are sampling methods, ways to make the most of participant response rates and the most favorable design of questions in order to attain valid information (Neuman, 2006).
The main difference between survey interviewing and other types of interviewing is what it is that one wants to know when they are done. In survey interviewing the main point, especially in conducting research is to attempt to gather data in regards to a specific question with the intention of…