Interview Guide By Annie Reid

How to choose your sample Firstly, the interviewer must realise that in order to save time and conduct efficient interviews, s/he must decide whether he is seeking quantitative or qualitative data. A smaller sample is more useful for qualitative data, and a larger sample is often used when structuring quantitative data.

What is your topic? If the information you are trying to collect from participants is sensitive, the limited extent of confidentiality needs to be made clear to the participants beforehand. Rosenhal (1966) has found that participants react differently to male and female interviewers in a session, therefore the gender of the interviewer must be considered.

Types of questions Descriptive – often used to obtain a “large amount of data” Structured questions – to “establish the meaning of important concepts Contrast questions – when the “words or ideas mentioned are different from each other” e.g differences between homework & studying.

Recording the interview Since participants tend to suffer demand characteristics when they are aware of being recorded, it must be considered that researchers build a trusting relationship with the participant to secretly record them in an interview which often leads to richer data. Social interaction in an interview is extremely important, therefore nowadays there is an increase in using the postmodern transcription technique. This is where notes are taken and the participants are videoed to asses body language, facial expression..ect

The interviewer Training is vital to conducting a successful interview. Often, untrained interviewers are unable to notice signs of the participant struggling and therefore do not provide guidance. Unskilled interviewers may also find that they are trying so hard to ask the question correctly that they forget to asses the participants full response.

Debriefing The last thing to remember about carrying out an interview is to debrief the participant for ethical reasons. It can also be extremely beneficial to the research if the interviewer discusses his/her findings to see whether the participant agrees or not.

Thank you