Asynchronous or non real-time interviewing involves the use of e-mail and sometimes discussion threads within a designated area. Questions are sent or posted into the designated space and respondents can add their reply at time. of all the data collection techniques available it is possibly the online interview and online observation (for different reasons) that are the most controversial. You will need to weigh up the benefits and disadvantages of using CMC in your research and decide for yourself if this is appropriate for your research study and research participants.