1. Technique Isn’t Everything, But It Is a Lot
A Jessie
A Doris
A Annie

2. Listen More, Talk Less
Listening is the most important skill in interviewing.
The hardest work for most interviewers is
to keep quiet and to listen actively.
Interviewers must listen on at least 3 levels:
1. listen to what the participant is saying
2. listen to the “inner voice”
3. listen while remaining aware of the process
and the substance ― like a good teacher

3. Help interviewer in active listening:
a. tape recording
b. take notes
the function of take notes:
1. help interviewers concentrate on what
the participant is saying
2. keep interviewers from interrupting the
participant

4. Follow up on what the participant says
Follow up-additional remark or footnote
1.There are three things that interviewers
should do:
a. ask for clarification
b. seeks concrete details
c. request stories

5. 2. interviewer’s basic work in the process of
interviewing:
a. listen actively
b. move the interview forward as much as
possible
what the participant has begun to share

6. Ask Questions When You Do Not Understand
unclear
a. context, specific referent, chronology
slide means ignore or skip
a. slide may decrease interviewers’
understanding about the context in the
process of interview.
 interviewers might miss the significant
part

7. 3. ask questions
a. respect your participants
 let participants know you’re
concentrate on what they say

8. b. use vague words
Ex:
Q: How do you feel about the online
grammar learning website?
Participant: It’s so so!
ask a further question: What is so so?
In order to get more details from your participant’s experience

9. ASK TO HEAR MORE ABOUT A SUBJECT
→interviewers get generalities, want to get more information from participants
→interviewers are interested in participant’s story

10. EXPLORE, DON’T PROBE
Using word ”probe” could make participants feel uncomfortable
Ill-timed words make participants defensive or shift the meaning
Little exploration
　→make interviewers unsure participants’ real meaning
→let participants use abstractive words

11. LISTEN MORE, TALK LESS, AND ASK REAL QUESTIONS Real Questions
→ interviewers cannot expect the response from participants
AVOID LEADING QUESTIONS
Intonation→ implies the expectations
EX. What was your student teaching placement like for you?
→ How satisfied were you with your student teaching placement?

12. ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
1. Grand tour
→ask participant to reestablish a specific part of an experience
Mini-tour
→ask participant to reestablish the detail of a limited time of an experience
2. More focus on participant’s subjective experience

13. FOLLOW UP, DON’T INTERRUPT
→ jot down the key words then follow up later
ASK PARTICIPANTS TO TALK TO YOU AS IF YOU WERE SOMEONE ELSE
→a step to get familiar with participant
→use role-playing way

14. ASK PARTICIPANTS TO TELL A STORY
→what participants are discussing
→to describe participants‘ experience concretely
→have a memorable meaning
CANNOT use this way too much
KEEP PARTICIPANTS FOCUSED AND ASK
FOR CONCRETE DETAILS
* Before exploring attitudes and opinions

15. Do Not Take the Ebbs and Flows of
Interviewing too Personally
First: engrossed and share a lot of experiences
Second: pull back
Third: share within a zone that participants are comfortable

16. Share Experiences on Occasion
sharing interviewer’s experiences may encourage participants
overused → 1. distort interview
2. distract participants

17. Ask Participants to Reconstruct, Not to Remember
Don’t ask participants if they remember
something.
→avoid impediments to memory
Reconstruct experiences

18. Avoid Reinforcing your Participants’ Responses
avoid reinforcing participants’ saying
→avoid short affirmative response
refer what participant said later in the interview

19. Explore Laughter
Participants’ laughter →worth for interviewer to explore
EX. self-evidently funny, nervous or ironic

20. Follow Your Hunches follow hunches →
Try to ask what you think and difficult questions when you have doubt.
→may get different result

21. Use an Interview Guide Cautiously
Interviewers present questions that follow from what participants had said
raise questions that reflect areas of interest
avoid manipulating
avoid imposing

22. Tolerate Silence participants’ silence → follows a question
→ within reconstruction
tolerate silence
→ heard things that would never have heard

23. Conclusion effective question →concentrated listening
→interested in what is being said
→purpose in moving forward
Interviewers must have interest in participants
→foundation to learn interview techniques