Interviewing

In a broad sense, the term interviewing refers to a situation in which an individual poses questions on a specific event, topic, or issue to another individual and the other individual responds. In the field of mass media studies and social research, interviewing concerns both a form of journalistic communication and a methodological and research tool of inquiry.

Journalistic interviewing, a fundamental method in journalism and media reporting, consists of a conversation between the journalist and the interviewee (or more than one interviewee). The journalist asks questions with the aim of gathering information (e.g., facts or statements) from the interviewee or interviewees. In social science research, primarily qualitative inquiry, interviewing is a method with which to understand social reality (e.g., through interviewees’ representations, experiences, opinions) by ...