1. INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods 5 March 2008
Interviewing - II
What are we doing when we interview? A reminder.
we started by talking about aspects of ordinary conversation, the Suchman and Jordan article highlighted some of the resources we rely on to realize mutual understanding and to avoid miscommunication between conversation partners
survey interview practices interfere with many of these ordinary practices (but has other strengths)
systematic bias – a line of questioning that ‘escalates’ health events
qualitative interviewing allows the interviewer and the interviewee to make use of these resources – consequently an interview is a negotiation between interviewer and interviewee. The interviewer sets the topic and provides the framework.
so what is the knowledge produced? The knowledge produced is the social justification of belief. It is not an objective representation of some event. Along with this notion that knowledge is about the social justification of belief there is a corresponding and compatible notion of identity underlying this approach. We accept a sense of individual identity as fluid, you are glimpsing a dimension of identity in the interview – but this is of course subject to variation depending upon this setting. You are not looking for an static underlying identity.
keeping in mind – your social location matters, mediation through memory, through interviewees self-perception, in relation to other people around. It is not biased from some pure objective reality rather it is a “situated knowledge” and the ways you account for that ‘situation’ in your analysis are important

2. the Interview Guide Your list of questions (try to keep it short!)
provides a structure, serves as a memory jog -- a checklist not a script
- So first things first, before you go out to do your interviews…
- Why keep it short? Because if it’s too long you may be tempted to charge through it without asking follow up questions, without adequately using probes. A long interview guide can create an oppressive sense of time pressure. Your focus in constructing the interview guide is setting priorities and thinking about the kinds of questions that will get people to speak openly and at length.

3. the Interview Guide
think about question groupings and sensible ordering, but don’t hold yourself to that order
chronological
specific to general
most to least important
Remember that while you are not engaging in an ordinary conversation -- you can make use of the resources of ordinary conversational interaction.
Local control, question redesign, answer elaboration, detection and repair of misunderstandings, etc.
the interview guide is not in control – you and your interviewee share control

4. the Interview Guide
demographic facts (ask at the end) – age, education, ethnicity, place of birth, occupation, religion
meta-questions - what questions do you think I should have asked? Do you have any questions for me?
change as needed after a couple of interviews
changing the interview as needed – more of the iterative process
what might you change? Drop questions that don’t produce much of an answer [family living abroad in Uganda]
questions that are routinely rejected, redesigned, cause confusion, require clarification.
interesting themes that emerge, things you hadn’t anticipated.

5. Interviews on Sensitive Subjects
Ordering of questions
Body language and vocal inflection
Don’t apologize, don’t flinch, don’t squirm

6. Quality Criteria
the extent of spontaneous, rich, specific, and relevant answers from the interviewee
the shorter the interviewer’s questions and the longer the subjects’ answers, the better
[Kvale, pg. 145]
* The issue of spontaneity – where people volunteer information that you hadn’t asked for. When a theme emerges from this material, that is a good sign.
* This second point highlights where interviews diverge from ordinary conversational interaction. You are attempting to create a highly asymmetrical conversation

7. Quality Criteria
the degree to which the interviewer follows up and clarifies the meanings of the relevant aspects of the answers
the interviewer attempts to verify his or her interpretations of the subject’s answers in the course of the interview
[Kvale, pg. 145]
- Jordan and Suchman’s paper highlighting detection and repair of miscommunication as a process of conversational interations – but you want to be even more rigorous about this, don’t let things slide.

8. Quality Criteria
the interview is “self-communication”—it is a story contained in itself that hardly requires much extra descriptions and explanations
[Kvale, pg. 145]
- additionally, about keeping a flow going, maintaining the momentum of the conversation, the fluid segue from one topic to another.

9. Exercise
Some good and bad interviews

10. Common Mistakes Ignoring prime opportunities for probing Interrupting
Unshakeable assumptions
Embedding answers in your questions