Interviewing

Question 1

Qualitative research methods:

Answer 1

• Qualitative methods offer a (different) lens to explore, understand, interpret or explain phenomena in real-world contexts and settings (Jones & Smith, 2017).
  
  • A range of different methods and techniques to collect (e.g., interviews) and analyse data (e.g., thematic analysis, discourse analysis).

Question 2

Interviews

Answer 2

• Data collection technique/method.
  
  • Involve a conversation with a purpose (Burgess, 1994).
  • Open-ended questions and probes yield in-depth responses about people’s experiences, perceptions, opinions, feelings, and knowledge (Patton, 2015).

Question 3

When to use interviews?

Answer 3

• The aim is to provide rich, detailed, and in-depth information about a topic.
  
  • The research question is idiographic (i.e., relating to the study of particular facts or processes).
  • What? (e.g., individual experience, voice)
  • How? (e.g., social construction)
  • Exploring particular cases and subjective/personal experiences.
  • Interest in and respect for participants’ own language, concepts and categories.

Question 4

Steps in an interview-based study

Answer 4

1. Framing your research question
   
   2. Choosing the type of interview
   3. Defining your sample and strategy for recruiting participants
   4. Developing an interview guide
   5. Conducting the interview
   6. Transcribing the interview

Question 5

Research questions in qualitative interviewing

Answer 5

• Types of questions:
  
  • Avoid questions that ask about causal relationships or correlations between variables.
  • Avoid questions that seek to establish general trends.
  • Focus on people’s experiences, perceptions, opinions, feelings, and knowledge.
  • Avoid research questions that may be leading (e.g., what were the benefits of your participation in the intervention?).
  • Scope of your question:
  • Focus on the particular (e.g., a particular group, community, organisation)
  • Avoid questions that are broad in scope.
  • Context matters in qualitative research

Question 6

Research questions vs interview questions:

Answer 6

· Interview questions may seem quite different from your research question.
· They should address the topic but in an indirect manner.

Question 7

Buckingham et al (2018):

Answer 7

· Study aims - explored how recent immigrants and more established community members develop a sense of community in Italy and the USA.
· Research questions - To which communities do immigrants, children of immigrants, and receiving community members report belonging?
· Interview questions - How are you influenced by members of your community? How do you influence your community?

Question 8

Fernandes-Jesus et al (2021):

Answer 8

· Study aims - explored how to sustain solidarity over time in COVID-19 mutual aid groups in the UK.
· Research questions - How to sustain COVID-19 solidarity over time?
· Interview questions - Have you had any previous experience of organising groups like this? What strategies did you use to keep the group going?

Question 9

Choosing the type of interview:

Answer 9

· More than the ‘default’ option (i.e., face-to-face, on-to-one).
- Remote interviews (e.g., zoom, by email).
· Informal, controversial (no interview guide).
· Tailored, customised, thematic (not a numbered sequence of questions).
· May involve more than one interviewee/interviewer.
· Doing more than talking (e.g., walking interviews):
- Ethnographic style
- Taking pictures, filming
- Photo and object elicitation

Question 10

Sample and recruitment

Answer 10

· Recruit participants who represent a variety of positions.
· ‘Fix’ key aspects that define the group you are looking at (e.g., age, gender).
· Sharing a similar background as the group you are studying may be advantageous (i.e., insider researcher).

Question 11

Recruiting participants

Answer 11

· Purposive sampling - participants are chosen ‘on purpose’, not randomly
· Gaining access is a crucial step:
- Working with gatekeepers
- Insider assistance
- Advertising for participants
· Snowballing sampling - using the initial few interviewees to recommend other potential participants (King et al, 2019).

Question 12

The interviewer guide

Answer 12

· Funnel structure (from broad to narrow):
- Start with an introductory question, which should be open-ended (yet not too open!).
- Flow logically and clustered around topics.
- From general to specific questions – It helps in gathering details and checking out all possible responses.
· The interview guide outlines the main topics to be covered, but it should be flexible (e.g., phrasing and order).
- The format may vary according to different epistemological and methodological traditions.

Question 13

Structure in interview guides:

Answer 13

· Structured:
- Same questions (pre-formulated), same order.
- Participants may be provided with a set of possible answers.
- The researcher has all the control.
- Constrains the interviewer-interviewee relationship.
· Semi-structured:
- A set of pre-formulated questions (main and follow-up).
- Interviewer can improvise questions.
- Mostly open-ended questions.
- The order of questions is less important.
· Unstructured:
- An initial question or prompt.
- Questions emerge from the immediate context.
- Participants explore their stories and experiences on their own terms.
- The researcher may have a shortlist of issues as a reminder

Question 14

Interview guides are often a mix of…:

Answer 14

· Main questions (i.e., the ‘skeleton’ of the interview).
· Different categories of questions (Patton, 2015):
- Experience/behaviour
- Opinions/values
- Feelings
- Knowledge
- Sensory
- Background/demographic questions
· Follow-up questions – Specific to the comments made by the participants.
· Probes – Techniques to keep a discussion going while providing clarification.

Question 15

Example of interview questions:

Answer 15

· Introductory - designed to get the best possible start
· Main questions - informed by your research question; the purpose of your research
· Follow-up - allows elaboration; communicates that the interviewer is an active/attentive listener.
· Probing - promotes elaboration and greater details but without necessarily specifying what has interested the interviewer.
· Closing - questions to signal that the interview is coming to an end.

Question 16

How not to ask questions?:

Answer 16

· Leading questions (e.g., ‘Didn’t that make you furious?’)
· Over-complex and multiple questions? (e.g., ‘Ok, let’s imagine…’)
· Double-barrelled questions (e.g., ‘Do you think marijuana and gambling should be banned?’)
· Do not introduce assumptions (e.g., ‘How effective do you think the program is?’).
· Complex or jargon words (e.g., ‘What do you think about ingroup bias?’)
· Double negatives: (e.g., ‘Do you think that not many people wouldn’t know what “ingroup bias” means?’).
· Judgmental responses (e.g., ‘Really? I would have been made as hell’).

Question 17

Piloting the interview guide:

Answer 17

· It will help you identify problems with the wording
· It will also help you memorise the interview guide and develop your skills as an interviewer.

Question 18

Conducting the interview:

Answer 18

· Introducing your project and self-presentation.
· Building rapport:
- Create a relaxed and open atmosphere.
- Trust  disclosure: Create a space in which participants can speak openly.
- Give people the opportunity (e.g., space, time) to bring up interesting material that you might not have anticipated.
· Good interviewing skills:
- Retaining control of the agenda.
- Judgement in recognising when they are straying or saying something important.
- Tact in keeping them on topic.
- Managing power imbalances.

Question 19

Recording

Answer 19

· Taking careful notes in the session? (vs rapport)
- Concentrate on listening, not writing
· Audio-recording - remember to test your recording devices (and microphones)
· Video? -> can capture non-verbal communication (NVC). Only if really needed

Question 20

Transcription

Answer 20

· It prepares your data for the next phase – analysis.
· What are you transcribing?
- Meanings?  The ‘gist’ of what people say?
- Words?  All the exact utterances?
- Non-verbal communication (NVC)?
· At least verbatim transcription is necessary for most forms of analysis (e.g., TA, IPA).
· Jefferson transcription system for most forms of discourse analysis.

Question 21

Ethical issues to consider

Answer 21

· Informed consent – After having received and understood all the research-related information, participants can voluntarily provide their willingness to participate in the research.
· Confidentiality and anonymity - Including a ‘right to waive’ confidentiality.
· Right to withdraw – How long after the interview?
· Assessing the risk of harm – Do not ignore participants’ emotions.
· Deception – It should be avoided!
· Debriefing – It should be provided!
· Use of incentives – Compensating participants for their time.
· Physical safety and welfare of the researcher - Have a safety protocol in place!