An interview is a structured conversational method for gathering information, designed by humans for research, journalism, recruitment, and investigation. It operates through a planned sequence of questions posed by an interviewer to an interviewee, governed by protocols that ensure consistency, relevance, and ethical standards. The mechanism of persistence is institutional training — taught in research methodology programs, journalism schools, and HR departments — and codified in professional standards that vary by domain (clinical, journalistic, academic, corporate). [formal: interrogatio | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
interview
An interview is a structured conversational method for gathering information, designed by humans for research, journalism, recruitment, and investigation. It operates through a planned sequence of questions posed by an interviewer to an in…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A structured conversational method for gathering information — designed by humans for research, journalism, recruitment, and investigation. Built to persist through training protocols, institutional practice, and standardized question design.
Names and aliases
- interviewen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrviak1701982cei7dl4hieqINSTANCE_OF →
Interview is a specific kind of inquiry — a structured conversation for gathering information. Clean specific→general per Law 9. A competent speaker would call an interview 'a kind of inquiry'.
Relations to this entry
- cmrvv13g802g62ceihs3gfs95← INSTANCE_OF
Semi-structured interview is a specific kind of interview (specific→general). It is an interview variant with predefined open-ended questions plus flexible probing.
- cmrvwysh702n82ceikjnste69← INSTANCE_OF
structured-interview INSTANCE_OF interview per Law 9: a structured interview is a specific kind of interview (one using a fixed question set in standardized manner). A competent speaker would call a structured interview 'an interview.' Specific→general.
- cmrvvpzxu02iq2cei5vrmcjij← INSTANCE_OF
A focus group is a specific kind of group interview — it uses guided conversation with multiple participants to gather data. Per Law 9, a competent speaker would call a focus group 'a type of interview' (specifically a group interview format).
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 22, 2026, 8:19 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 7d7e578f062bfc5364753ff2c4d39ae2b5435f05a060bafab0bee78a1d2ec363