What is an interview guide?

An interview guide serves as a structured framework that outlines the specific questions or topics to be covered during an interview. This tool is crucial for ensuring consistency across interviews, helping interviewers to stay focused on relevant areas while allowing for a comprehensive exploration of the subject matter. By using an interview guide, researchers can better control the data collection process, ensuring that each participant is asked similar questions, which facilitates more straightforward comparisons of responses.

The inclusion of a structured list of questions also allows interviewers to probe deeper into particular topics as necessary while maintaining a clear direction for the interview. This balance between structure and flexibility makes the interview guide an essential part of qualitative research methodologies. It enhances the reliability of the data collected by minimizing variations in questioning that might arise from different interviewers or unstructured formats.