An interview and a questionnaire can clearly be distinguished based on the following:
By definition, a questionnaire is a form that comprises of a progression of printed or composed multiple questions in which informants are to answer (Johnson and Turner 2003, p. 304). An interview, on the other hand, is a formal discussion between the respondent and the questioner wherein the two participate in the inquiry-answer session (Johnson and Turner 2003, p. 305). As a consequence, gathering information using the questionnaire method includes mailing the written format of the questionnaire to the respondents while the interview technique requires oral communication between both the interviewer and the respondent. Thus, for interviews, the researcher must pay a visit to the respondent.
Due to the nature of questionnaires, they are always objective while the interviews are subjective. Also, during an interview, the interviewer employs questions which are open-ended whereas questionnaires use closed-ended ones (Silverman 2015, p. 166). As a result, the respondents filling questionnaires give fact-based information contrast to the gathered analytical information through the interviews. Therefore, the questionnaire has questions that are written in a specific order in a manner that cannot be altered whereas in an interview the order can be altered according to the inclinations and needs (Silverman 2015, p. 168).
The responses of an interview are provided spontaneously by the interviewee to the interviewer with the informant taking their time to provide a reply (Harris and Brown 2010, p. 1). However, for questionnaires, the responses are not obtained instantly as the researcher must wait for a specific period before they are filled and returned or collected by the individual. Also, a separate question can be mailed to several respondents at the same time while only a single person at any given moment can be interviewed during an interview. Furthermore, for the questionnaire case, the likelihood of non-responses is high as most participants can avoid to answer and return them without responding. Nonetheless, the non-response chances in an interview are nearly nil due to the direct interaction between the respondent and the interviewer (Harris and Brown 2010, p. 2). Lastly, a questionnaire is prepared concerning who will answer it, which is not accounted for in an interview.
References
Harris, L.R. and Brown, G.T., 2010. Mixing interview and questionnaire methods: Practical problems in aligning data. Practical Assessment, Research " Evaluation, volume 15, issue 1, pp. 1-19.
Johnson, B. and Turner, L.A., 2003. Data collection strategies in mixed methods research. In Tashakkori, A. and Teddlie C. eds., Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research, pp.297-319. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Silverman, D., 2015. Interpreting qualitative data. (5th edition). London: Sage Publications Ltd.
