Week 2: Interviews

Definition and Types  What is an interview? Conversation with a purpose  Types of interviews 1. Unstructured 2. Structured 3. Focus Group 4. Semi-structured

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Interviews Advantages: Interview is a flexible and adaptable way of finding things out. It has the potential of providing rich and highly illuminating material.

Disadvantages  It can be difficult to obtain cooperation from potential interviewees.  Can be time consuming.  Careful preparation which takes time: Arrangements to visit, securing necessary permissions, confirming arrangements, notes need to be written up, tapes if used require whole or partial transcription.

Unstructured Interviews  Very flexible way of getting interviewees to reveal their opinions, knowledge and experience.  Three to four questions.  Probes and prompts without interrupting the flow and the focus of the conversation.  Good communication, listening and facilitation skills.  Experience in conducting interviews!

Structured Interviews  Total control over the topic areas and the interview process through predetermined and standardised set of questions.  Read out each question and then record the response on a standardised schedule, usually with pre-coded answers.  Helps you to boost up the response rate, maximise the reliability and validity of the findings.  Easier to code, analyse and compare the data.

Focus Group Interviews  Focus group – group of informants selected purposively and interviewed collectively because they have common experience, come from a similar background or have a particular expertise in an area.  Main research questions but new ideas for further investigation.  Good listening skills, careful management of group dynamics, differences in terms of power, status, job, income, education, personal and cultural characteristics.

Semi-structured interviews  The interviewer has worked out a set of questions in advance but  Free to modify their order based upon her perception of what seems most appropriate in the context of conversation.  Can change the way they are worded.  Can give explanations.  Can leave out particular questions which seem inappropriate with a particular interviewee. …………… link to the purposes of research

Semi-structured interviews are used:  To find out what is happening and to seek new insights.  To identify general patterns and understand the relationship between variables. “The need for consistency between the research question and objectives and the methods for data collection used – their fitness for purpose”.

Content of the Interview 1) Open ended and closed ended questions Open questions:   Allow participants to define and describe a situation or event.   Start with “how”, “why” and “what” questions. e.g Why did the organisation introduce marketing strategy? How has corporate strategy changed over the past five years?

2) Probes  is a device to get the interviewee to expand on a response when you feel that she or he has more to give.  Can be used to explore responses that are of significance to the research topic.  These may be worded like open questions but request a particular focus or direction.  e.g How would you evaluate the success of this new marketing strategy? What external factors caused the corporate strategy to change?

May be prefaced with ‘That is interesting ….’, ‘Tell me more about it …..’ ‘Anything more?’ ‘Could you go over that again?’ ‘What is your personal view on this?’ There are also very general tactics such as the use of: A period of silence, an enquiring glance, repeating back all or part of what interviewees has just said.

The sequence of questions Introduction:   Short briefing about the aim of the research, purpose of the interview,   A statement of confidentiality and request for permission to use the tape recorder,   General questions about informants’ backgrounds, roles and their experience.

Main body of interview:   Interview questions which would allow the construction of a channel leading to knowledge with regard to your topic. List of topic headings and possibly key questions to ask under these headings.

Closure   Thank for the contribution   Ask whether informants would like to add anything else.   Ask for relevant documents.   Other key informants for the researcher to contact who they believed would contribute to the research topic.

Questions to avoid in interviews   Long questions: The interviewee may remember only part of the question and respond to that part.  Double-barelled questions: e.g What do you think about current pop music compared with that five years ago? Break this down into simpler questions. What do you think about current pop music? Can you recall any pop music from five years ago? How do you feel they compare?

  Avoid too many theoretical concepts or jargon.   Leading questions Why do you like London?   Biased questions: Try to avoid appearing to share or welcome the informants’ views.

General Advice for Interviewers   Make sure that interviews take place in a quiet meeting rooms in an uninterrupted environment.   Schedule the interviews to allow enough time for such exploration to happen.   Establish some trust.   Take full record of the interview. Use tape- recorder/take notes   Listen more than you speak.   Put questions in a straightforward, clear and non- threatening way.   Stay curious and enjoy it (or at least look as though you do).