Review and Revision

1. INTERVIEWS
© LOUIS COHEN,
LAWRENCE MANION &
KEITH MORRISON

2. STRUCTURE OF THE CHAPTER
• Conceptions of the interview
• Purposes of the interview
• Types of interview
• Planning interview-based research procedures
• Group interviewing
• Interviewing children
• Interviewing minority and marginalized people
• Focus groups
• Non-directive, focused, problem-centred and in-
depth interviews
• Telephone interviewing
• Ethical issues in interviewing

3. CONCEPTIONS OF THE INTERVIEW
• For information transfer
• A biased transaction
• An encounter like any other aspect
of everyday life

4. PURPOSES OF THE INTERVIEW
• To evaluate or assess a person in some
respect
• To select or promote an employee
• To effect therapeutic change, e.g. the
psychiatric interview
• To test or develop hypotheses
• To gather data
• To sample respondents’ opinions, as in door-
step interviews

5. INTERVIEWS
• Vary by degree of structure
• Quantitative to qualitative
• Closed to open
• Formal to informal
• Generalizations to uniqueness

6. PLANNING INTERVIEW-BASED
RESEARCH PROCEDURES
(Kvale, 1996)
1. Thematizing
2. Designing
3. Interviewing
4. Transcribing
5. Analyzing
6. Verifying
7. Reporting

7. 1. Thematizing
• Preliminary stage
• Decide on the purpose of the interview, its broad
aims, and general goals
• Most important step as it will determine the extent
to which researcher is able to obtain the data he/shs
needs

8. 2. Designing
• Refers to the preparation stage
• That is translating the research objectives into key
questions that the research will ask
• Form and format of the question is CRUCIAL
• That is questions should be broad enough to allow
respondent to provide relevant information yet
focus enough to remain on the key topic
• NB – use simple language, avoid prejudicial
language, avoid making assumptions

9. 3. Interviewing
• Important to note – an interview is a social, interpersonal encounter
involving other people and not merely a data collection exercise
• Thus cultural, language, etc impact on how interview should be
conducted
• Researcher generally selects the respondents
• Inform participant about purpose of interview
• Inform participant how interview will be conducted – i.e. what
happens, how data is recorded, seeking permission, ethics
information
• Sequence and framing of questions important – begin with easy, non
controversial questions first
• Important to note the effect of the researcher on the participant

10. TYPES OF INTERVIEW QUESTION
• Dichotomous
• Multiple choice
• Rating scales
• Open-ended
• Ranking
• Ratio data

11. TYPES OF INTERVIEW QUESTION
• Factual • Sensory
• Values/opinions • Background
• General • Demographic
• Specific • Introductory
• Descriptive • Follow-up
• Experience • Probe
• Behaviour • To give examples;
• Knowledge • Ask for information;
• Construct-forming • Interpretive
• Contrast • Interview control
• Feeling questions

12. KEY FEATURES OF INTERVIEWING
• An interview is a social and an emotional
encounter, not just a data collection exercise.
• Data are given – gifts – not the right of
researcher to have.
• Verbal and non-verbal behaviours are
significant.
• Context and dynamics exert an influence on
the interview.
• Age, gender, colour, class, dress, language,
appearance of the interviewers and
interviewees influence the interview.

13. KEY FEATURES OF INTERVIEWING
• Interviews must be conducted sensitively
• Some people (e.g. children) will say anything
rather than nothing
• Respondents may not be telling the truth
• It is the task of the interviewer to maintain
rapport
• It is the task of the interviewer to maintain
interviewee motivation and interest

14. RESPONDING TO THE INTERVIEWEE
• Make encouraging noises.
• Reflect on remarks made by the informant.
• Probe the last remark made by the informant.
• Probe an idea preceding the last remark by
the informant.
• Probe an idea expressed earlier in the
interview.
• Introduce a new topic.

15. ANTICIPATING PROBLEMS IN
INTERVIEWS
• Avoid interruptions and distractions;
• Minimize ‘stage fright’ in participants;
• Avoid asking embarrassing or awkward questions
unless they are important for the research;
• Avoid jumping from one topic to another;
• Avoid giving advice or opinions;
• Avoid summarizing too early or closing off an
interview too soon;
• Avoid being too superficial;
• Handle sensitive matters sensitively;

16. ANTICIPATING PROBLEMS IN
INTERVIEWS
• Keep being interested;
• Keep to the interview schedule in a structured
interview;
• Avoid giving signs of approval or disapproval of
responses received;
• Be prepared to repeat questions at the
respondent’s request;
• Be prepared to move on to another question if the
respondent indicates unwillingness or inability to
answer the question;

17. ANTICIPATING PROBLEMS IN
INTERVIEWS
• Ensure that the interviewer and interviewee
understand responses, checking if necessary;
• If the interviewer feels that the respondent may
have more to say, add ‘and could you please tell
me . . . .’;
• Give the respondent time to answer;
• Consider having a scribe to enable the interviewer
to keep eye contact and momentum;
• Respondents may become tired, embarrassed or
uninterested.

18. 4. Transcribing
• A critical step in the interview process given the large
amounts of data, and complexity of issues being addressed
• Note – transcripts do NOT tell everything that took place
in an interview as it only records data and NOT the social
encounter
– i.e. body language, tone, mood, etc cannot be
transcribed
• Transcripts can also be done by audio & video
• Important to note that there is no single correct
transcription, rather research must decide to what extent
and how useful the transcript will be the research study

19. TRANSCRIBING AND NOTING
• What was said
• The tone of voice of the speaker(s)
• The inflection of the voice
• Emphases placed by the speaker
• Pauses (short to long), hesitancies and silences
• Interruptions
• The mood of the speaker(s)
• The speed of the talk
• How many people were speaking simultaneously

20. 5. Analysing
• Involves coding large amount of data so that is
make sense
• Coding based on the interpretations of the
researcher
• Tension for researcher – maintaining a sense of
holism or to atomise and fragment data

21. ANALYZING INTERVIEW DATA
• Generate natural units of meaning.
• Classify, categorize, code and order these units of
meaning.
• Structure narratives to describe the interview
contents.
• Interpret the interview data.

22. 6. Verifying
• The process of verification occurs throughout the
all seven stages of the interview process
– Theoretical foundation of the research must be rigorous
and the questions must be linked to the theory
– The research design must be sound
– The data must be accurate, reliable and valid
– The translation of the data must focus on the key issues
of the research
– Validation process must be in place and be used
– The reporting should be fair

23. 7. Reporting
• The nature of the reporting will be determined by
the nature of the interview data collected – e.g. a
qualitative interview will comprise of mainly text
based reports while survey based interview will
comprise of numerical data
• Important to report:
– Context of study
– Methodology used
– How data were analyses
– Discussion of what the results mean

24. ADMINISTERING INTERVIEWS
Face-to face Remotely
Individual Telephone
Administering
interviews
Group E-mail
Alone or in the Online
presence of
others
Smartphone

25. ETHICAL ISSUES IN INTERVIEWING
• Informed consent
• Confidentiality, anonymity, non-identifiability
and non-traceability
• Consequences of the interviews
• Benefits from the interview (and for whom)
• Prevention of harm
• Access to data
• Respondent validation
• Respectful conduct of the interview