1. © LOUIS COHEN, LAWRENCE MANION & KEITH MORRISON
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. TYPES OF INTERVIEW Standardized Exploratory In-depth
Ethnographic
Elite
Life history
Focus groups
Semi-structured
Group
Structured
Unstructured
Exploratory
Informal conversational
Interview guide approaches;
Standardized open-ended
Closed quantitative
Non-directive
Focused

6. INTERVIEWS Vary by degree of structure Quantitative to qualitative
Closed to open
Nomothetic to idiographic
Formal to informal
Generalizations to uniqueness

7. PLANNING INTERVIEW-BASED RESEARCH PROCEDURES (Kvale, 1996)
Thematizing
Designing
Interviewing
Transcribing
Analyzing
Verifying
Reporting

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

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

10. RESPONSE MODES Unstructured ‘Fill-in’ (answer a direct question)
Tabular response (completing a table)
Scale (e.g. rating scale)
Ranking
Multiple choice
Dichotomous

11. PROMPTS AND PROBES Prompts: to clarify or explain to a respondent
Probes: to investigate further (‘why’, ‘when’, ‘how’, ‘give an example’, ‘how did you feel’, ‘what’

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. 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

19. 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.

20. GROUP INTERVIEWING
How to divide your attention and give everyone a chance to speak ?
Do you ask everyone in a group interview to give a response to a question?
How to handle people who are too quiet, too noisy, who monopolize the conversation, who argue and disagree with each other.
What happens if people become angry with you or with each other?
How to make people be quiet/stop talking whilst being polite?
How to handle differences in how talkative people are?

21. GROUP INTERVIEWING How to arrange turn-taking (if appropriate)?
Do you ask named individuals questions?
How can you gain answers without forcing?
How to handle a range of very different responses to the same question?
Why have you brought together the particular people in the group?
Do you want people to answer in a particular order?
What to do if the more experienced people always answer first in a group interview?
Be vigilant to pick up on people who are trying to speak.

22. INTERVIEWING CHILDREN
The importance of trust and a feeling of security and being comfortable
Group interviewing may help to ease the situation
Use natural/familiar surroundings
Use open-ended questions
Use projection techniques

23. DIFFICULTIES IN INTERVIEWING CHILDREN
Easily distracted.
Researcher seen as an authority figure.
Children are not always clear in their responses
Limited attention span.
Children may say what they think the researcher wants to hear rather than what they really think/feel.
Interview seen as a test.
Children may be unwilling to contradict an adult or assert themselves.
Children may be inarticulate, hesitant and nervous.

24. DIFFICULTIES IN INTERVIEWING CHILDREN
Keep the children’s teacher away from the children.
How to respond to the child who says something then immediately wishes she hadn’t said it.
Eliciting genuine responses.
Getting beyond the institutional, headteacher’s, or ‘expected’ response.
Avoiding receiving a socially desirable response.
Ensure that the child is giving a true opinion.
Keep children to the point.

25. DIFFICULTIES IN INTERVIEWING CHILDREN
Avoid children being too extreme or destructive of each other’s views.
Appropriate language level.
Children may take a question too literally.
Enable the children to see a situation through other people’s eyes.
Avoid the interview being boring.
Children may not remember/recall information.
Children may be too focused on a particular situation.
Children may say ‘yes’ to anything.

26. DIFFICULTIES IN INTERVIEWING CHILDREN
Children may say anything in order to please.
Children may say that they ‘don’t know’ when they actually do know.
Children may say anything rather than feel they do not have ‘the answer’.
Some children may dominate the conversation.
Children may feel very exposed in front of their peers.
Children may feeling uncomfortable or threatened.
Children may tell lies.

27. INTERVIEWING MINORITY AND MARGINALIZED PEOPLE
Use informal, open-ended interviews.
Follow the train of thought and response of the respondent.
Use age-appropriate and context-appropriate language.
Use qualitative and in-depth interviewing.
Give participants a ‘voice’.
Be non-judgemental.
Enable the participant to feel safe, secure and supported.
Be aware of asymmetries of power.
Use non-language based techniques.
Secure informed consent (e.g. from responsible adults).

28. FOCUS GROUPS
Focus groups are contrived settings, bringing together a specifically chosen sector of the population, previously unknown to each other to discuss a particular given theme or topic.
The interaction with the group leads to data and outcomes.
They are unnatural settings focused on a particular issue.

29. FOCUS GROUPS ARE USEFUL FOR . . .
Orientation to a particular field of focus.
Developing themes, topics, and schedules for subsequent research.
Generating hypotheses.
Generating and evaluating data from sub-groups of a population.
Gathering qualitative data.
Generating data quickly and cheaply.
Gathering data on attitudes, values and opinions.

30. FOCUS GROUPS ARE USEFUL FOR . . .
Empowering participants to speak out.
Encouraging groups, rather than individuals, to voice opinions.
Encouraging non-literate participants.
Providing greater coverage of issues than would be possible in a survey.
Gathering feedback from previous studies.

31. RUNNING A FOCUS GROUP
Decide the number of focus groups for a single topic.
Decide the size of the group.
How to allow for people not ‘turning up’ on the day.
Sampling.
Ensuring that participants have something to say and feel comfortable enough to say it.
Keeping the meeting open-ended but to the point.

32. NON-DIRECTIVE INTERVIEWS
The respondent is responsible for initiating and directing the course of the encounter.
Useful for probing deeper attitudes and perceptions of the person being interviewed.
Reduces interviewer bias.
Can lead to changes in respondent’s behaviour.

33. THE FOCUSED INTERVIEW
The persons interviewed are known to have been involved in a particular situation.
Content analysis of prior data sets agenda for interview.
The investigator constructs the interview guide.
The actual interview is focused on the subjective experiences of the people who have been exposed to the situation.
Responses enable the researcher to test the validity of hypotheses, and to ascertain unanticipated responses to the situation.

34. THE PROBLEM-CENTRED INTERVIEW
A ‘problem-centred orientation’ toward socially relevant problems.
Methodological flexibility.
A ‘process orientation’ to reconstruct the actions and orientations of the participant.

35. TELEPHONE INTERVIEWING
Cheaper and quicker than face-to-face interviewing.
Enables researchers to reach a widely dispersed population.
Travel costs are omitted.
Useful for brief surveys.
Protects the anonymity of respondents.
Can gather rapid responses to a structured questionnaire.
Monitoring and quality control are undertaken more easily since interviews are undertaken and administered centrally.
Interviewer effects are reduced.
Greater interviewer control of the interview.

36. TELEPHONE INTERVIEWING
Greater uniformity in the conduct of the interview and the standardization of questions.
Results tend to be quantitative.
Quicker to administer than face-to-face interviews.
Call-back costs are so slight.
People can be reached at times more convenient to them than if a visit were to be made.
Safer to undertake than visiting dangerous places.
Can collect sensitive data.
Does not rely on the literacy of the respondent.
May put pressure on the respondent to respond.
Response rate is higher than, e.g. questionnaires.

37. TELEPHONE INTERVIEWING
Will the people have the information that you require? Who will you need to speak to on the telephone?
There is a need to pilot the interview schedule and to prepare and train the telephonists.
Keep to the same, simple response categories for several questions.
Keep personal details until the end of the interview.
Keep to no more than, at the most, 35 questions, and to no more than, at the most fifteen minutes.

38. TELEPHONE INTERVIEWING
Clear with the respondents at the start of the interview that they have the time to answer and that they are suitable respondents.
Ask to speak to the most suitable person.
Keep the terminology simple and to the point.
Keep the response categories very simple and use them consistently.
Rather than asking direct personal questions, ask about groups (e.g. which age group do they fall into (and give the age groups) or income brackets (and give them)).

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

40. 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