Transcript Chapter 6 File

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
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?
1)
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
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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.
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Establish some trust.
 Take full record of the interview. Use taperecorder/take notes
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Listen more than you speak.
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Put questions in a straightforward, clear and nonthreatening way.
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Stay curious and enjoy it (or at least look as though
you do).