Which type of interview employ verbal questioning as its principal technique of data collection?

A personal interview is a primary data collection method where an interviewer engages in a direct, face-to-face, or voice-based conversation with a respondent. Its principal technique is verbal questioning to gather in-depth information, opinions, and experiences. This method allows for probing, clarification of questions, and observation of non-verbal cues, making verbal interaction its core component. The term "personal" emphasizes the direct, person-to-person nature of this verbal data collection technique.

A. Private interview: This term describes the setting or condition of an interview (i.e., conducted with confidentiality and without others present), not the fundamental data collection technique itself. A personal interview can be conducted in private, but "private" is an attribute, not the method.

1. Kothari, C. R., & Garg, G. (2019). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques (4th ed.). New Age International Publishers. In Chapter 7, "Methods of Data Collection," the personal interview method is defined as a process where an "interviewer asking questions generally in a face-to-face contact to the other person" (p. 111). This highlights the verbal, person-to-person nature of the technique.

2. Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E., & Chadwick, B. (2008). Methods of data collection in qualitative research: interviews and focus groups. British Dental Journal, 204(6), 291–295. The article describes interviews as a method to "conduct a conversation with a purpose" (p. 291), reinforcing that the technique is fundamentally a verbal exchange for data collection. https://doi.org/10.1038/bdj.2008.192

3. University of Leicester. (n.d.). Social Science Research Methods: Interviews. Courseware. The university's materials on research methods describe interviews as a classic qualitative research technique involving a researcher asking questions and a participant providing answers, which is inherently a verbal process. This distinguishes the method (personal interview) from its potential context (private).