Virtual Interview

A virtual interview is any form of interview that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as email, discussion board, and real-time chat. It is a specific form of virtual research that enables researchers to use the immediacy of the internet to access participants and gather data for qualitative research investigations. Virtual communication has become one of the main forms of human engagement and is used in the transmission and exchange of ideas, experience, and attitudes. It follows that ICTs provide unique and inventive opportunities for qualitative researchers.

The types of virtual interviews include structured unstructured, and semi-structured interviews, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and group interviews. Each follows the same logic in terms of suitability of method for types of data collected. For example, [Page 925]structured interviews can be used for large data collection on attitudes; focus group interviews for an in-depth understanding of attitudes, perceptions, and opinions as well as for evaluation purposes; and in-depth interviews for accessing experiential data. To this extent, each technique can be targeted and directed at specific individuals or interest groups, or it can be circulated more broadly to assess attitudinal responses.

One-on-one real-time virtual interviews provide focused and spontaneous responses, as do synchronous virtual focus group interviews. The former aim to closely replicate the discursive nature of face-to-face interviews, whereas the latter can be “fast and furious” so that threads may be difficult to follow with multiple participants responding simultaneously, thereby disrupting the sequential nature of interaction. Asynchronous responses, on the other hand, provide participants with the opportunity to reflect on their own responses and those of others. This enables participants to monitor what information they are prepared to share, and this is ethically important when discussing sensitive issues. In the virtual setting, participants have a choice of responding to a question or withholding a response, thereby providing a noncoercive discursive environment. With asynchronous virtual interviews, the ongoing discussion is structured by specific questions during a set period of time (usually several days to a week).

One main difference between face-to-face and virtual interviews is the somewhat changed role of the interviewer or moderator. The interviewer must construct the environment for discussion and explicitly set the rules of engagement prior to the interview because the interviewer's role is less interventionist and less directive than in conventional interviews. Virtual listening cues, the insertion of probes, and additional questions need to be developed both to enhance the steering role of the interviewer and to replace visual nonverbal cues, such as nods and facial expressions, of the face-to-face interviewer.