In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) | Provide Detailed and Comprehensive Findings

First things first, you might be asking yourself what is an in-depth interview (IDI)?  An IDI is a conversation between a researcher and a single respondent with the purpose of exploring issues or topics in great detail.  The interviewer encourages participants to freely discuss their feelings and opinions, and probes on questions to gain insight and depth to responses.  IDIs can last anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour depending on the topic.  A script is developed in advance to help guide the interview process and ensure that essential information is captured.

When it comes to qualitative research, most people will immediately think of focus groups.  Although focus groups are a great source to gain exploratory feedback in a group setting, IDIs can provide the same type of results in a more unbiased one-on-one setting.  If you conduct a series of IDIs you can also report findings cumulatively, which may give you a pool of respondents as large as multiple focus groups. 

There are a lot of methodologies to choose from when you want to do qualitative research, but the Bunker often argues that not many offer as much bang for your buck as a good collection of IDIs.  The immediate attraction with IDIs is the engagement with respondents.  In most cases, you are discussing topics that are pertinent to the respondent, something that they can speak in great detail about.  Obviously you hope to achieve the same engagement with more mass-scale surveying, but the truth is it is very difficult to do all the time.

"This is the point when we engaged RMS to do the IDIs."

IDIs can be conducted with both business and consumer interviewees.  With B2B interviews, the researcher often visits the workplace of the employee to discuss topics relevant to their job at-hand.  Being on-site to conduct these makes it more convenient for the respondent and, if applicable, offers the researcher observational findings from the workplace.  For example, let’s say RMS was conducting a series of IDIs with employees who work in the registrar’s department at a college to determine better ways to streamline the registration process for students.  It may be beneficial to be on-site to conduct these IDIs so the employees can walk you through their current registration process and you can ask questions as you go.

Another major benefit of IDIs is they can be conducted on any scale to fit any budget.  RMS can customize a market research study with 5, 15 or 50+ IDIs.  The length of interview can also be modified to reduce the project cost for your budget as well (15 minutes versus 1 hour – however much depends on the talkativeness of the respondent).  Focus groups do not offer that flexibility, as in most cases you’ll have to pay for room rentals and a moderator’s time at a higher hourly rate.  Therefore, focus groups have more of an attached lump sum, IDIs are more adaptable. Another benefit is the ability to spend one-on-one time with each respondent.  In a typical focus group of 8-12 people, each respondent will have on average 10 minutes to talk.  IDIs allow for more probing and greater detail from each individual.

Visit our other related IDI blog posts here:

• Focus Groups & IDIs: Rich Sources of Information
• Web-Assisted TDIs (Tele-Depth Interviews)
• 9 Reasons to Choose In-Depth Interviews (IDIs)

To discuss your market research needs or if you are interested in conducting IDIs, contact Research & Marketing Strategies (RMS) at 1-866-567-5422.

Read Full Post »

9 Reasons to Choose In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) | Market Research in Upstate NY

A previous post discusses how focus groups still have curb appeal among market research agencies – click here to read it. Projects at our QualiSight focus group facility in Syracuse, NY cover everything from advertising message development, new product concept testing as well as many other applications. There’s no question this market research technique has delivered useful insights to countless decision-makers. But it’s also true that the market research industry sometime uses focus groups without due consideration of an alternative form of qualitative research: in-depth interviews (IDIs).

The advantage of IDIs over focus groups include the following:

1. Better rapport. In a one-on-one setting, the interviewer can devote complete attention to each research participant, listen actively and take time to establish good rapport. Also researchers can make the surroundings more relaxing for individual interviews. This makes respondents feel more at ease and facilitates a good bond.
2. Better sampling. Many focus group facilities have compiled lists of willing focus group participants (qualitative panel) that are used to reduce costs of purchasing new lists. Because recruiting is easier when scheduling IDIs and researchers need fewer respondents to attain the same results, random sampling is employed more often, increasing the general confidence in findings.
3. Useful with Difficult Recruiting. When recruiting hard to reach individuals, setting up IDIs is a better option than a focus group because you only need to accommodate one individual. IDIs also elicit candid responses in a private setting regarding personal and/or professional topics of discussion.
4. Fewer distractions. It is not unusual for one or more participants in a focus group to be especially talkative or try to dominate the discussion. A good moderator can manage these situations, though this usually has some effect on other respondents. IDIs eliminate the distractions.
5. Faster and cheaper. IDIs are usually quicker and less expensive than focus groups. Special facilities are unnecessary, researchers need fewer participants and scheduling is more flexible. Participation commitments are easier to obtain resulting in lower incentive payments for IDI participants.
6. More productive. Compared with non-response among focus group members, there are relatively few unproductive IDIs. As a result, researchers only need about half as many respondents to accomplish the same objectives.
7. Deeper Insights. In a typical focus group, respondents have an average of 10 minutes each to talk (~120 minutes divided by ~12 people). With IDIs, each participant has more time and opportunity to share feelings, perspectives, and attitudes. The interviewer has plenty of time to probe and obtain in-depth responses since respondents tend to express themselves more freely.
8. More flexible. Focus groups limit location options. In contrast, IDIs offer greater flexibility in location because researchers can set up almost anywhere or conduct the interview over the phone.
9. Faster adaptation. In many projects, researchers make findings during the interview that lead to discoveries. It usually requires only a few IDIs to make the discovery and implement change, where at least one focus group is required to do so, and in some cases two are needed. The sooner researchers can identify an issue, the fewer resources it will spend on a flawed design.

In-Depth Interviews work best in B2B research where you are interviewing someone with specific knowledge or if the situation is better suited to sitting down one-on-one. When the market research involves B2C research, focus groups are often the preferred mode.

Need some help defining which method works best for your needs?  Visit our website by clicking here or by calling our Business Development team at 315-635-9802.

Read Full Post »