Depth interviews

Depth interviews

Depth interviews are typically a one-to-one discussion but can also be paired interviews

When to use depths.

Depth interviews are typically used in the business arena for interviewing busy, hard-to-reach professionals or senior personnel with time constraints which mean they would be unable or unwilling to attend a focus group.

They can also offer a good alternative to a focus group amongst consumers if insufficient respondents of interest live in close enough proximity to each other. Finally, they can be a good method of drawing out views on sensitive topics which respondents might not wish to discuss in front of others.

Interviewing respondents

Interviews can be conducted face-to-face, online or by telephone. Wherever possible, the face-to-face approach is preferred as it helps to establish rapport and ensures that the respondent is free of other distractions.

The moderator plays a very important role in establishing the rapport and encouraging the respondent to think deeply about the subject under review.

The moderator should be skilled at drawing out the views of the respondent and needs to understand the issues so that the comments made can be probed further if necessary. PCP’s vast experience in moderating both depth interviews and focus groups across a wide variety of product fields ensures that we are ideally placed to take on this role.

Discussion is recorded (with the permission of the respondent) to allow the final report to illustrate the views expressed with many verbatim quotations.

Using incentives

Incentives can play an important part in encouraging a respondent to take part, but should not be so generous that people with little to contribute are tempted to “invent” characteristics which they believe would ensure they were selected.

Depending on the project, a suitable incentive might take the form of sight of key results, a membership subscription, a charity donation or cash/gift voucher. We have found that a donation to a charity of the respondent’s choice can be particularly useful in a business-to-business context; respondents can feel guilty about refusing to help their favourite charity.

To explore further take a look at the Examples of Our Work.

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