Chapter 4. INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION
4.2.3. Planning and Conducting Interviews
There are numerous practical suggestions in the literature for planning and conducting interviews, ranging from the sensible to the self-evidence. The following procedures are recommended by Cohen and Manion (1985), Bell (1987), and Spradley (1979).
Preparing the interview schedule
Once the research objectives have been established, the researcher has to translate these into interview questions. Cohen and Manion (1985, p.305) recommend that the variables under investigation be written down by name in order to facilitate this process. At this stage, the question format and response mode need to be considered. These will, of course, vary according to the nature of the variables under investigation, the type of subjects, the resources available to the researcher, and so on. However, regardless of the issues, the researcher will still need to decide on the type of questions to be used (open-ended versus closed, direct or indirect, etc.) and in what form the responses are to be collected and analysed.
Piloting
Because of the potential problems in the use of the interview that we have already identified, it is very important that interview questions are piloted with a small sample of subjects before being used. This gives the researcher the opportunity to find out if the questions are yielding the kind of data required and to eliminate any questions which may be ambiguous or confusing to the interviewee.
Selecting informants
Bell (1987) points out that efforts should be made to rescue a representative sample, even in a small scale study. This will involve selecting appropriate proportions of subgroups of the
56 population, using whatever variables you have determined to be important. In the selection process, it may be necessary to negotiate access to informants or data collection sites with individuals or institutions.
Elements of the interview
The structure of the interview itself will depend on the extent to which the sequence of questions is fixed. However, it is possible to delineate a number of key elements which may be present.
These are as follows:
Briefing and explanation: Before the interview begins, the researcher explains the nature of the research and the purpose of the interview to the interviewee and answers any question that he or she may have. This includes telling the interviewee how the data are to be used. If the data are to be recorded and, in particular, if the data are to be made available to other people, the interviewee's permission must be sought.
Questioning: In the less structured ethnographic interview a range of question types may be used. In order to encourage the respondent to recount his or her experiences, opinions, and so on, the researcher may also use a variety of other strategies. These are outlined by Spradley (1979, p.67).
Walker (1985) makes a number of practical suggestions about the actual conduct of the interview. He considers first of all the physical positioning of the interviewer and interviewee, suggesting that sitting side-by-side can often result in a more productive interview than sitting face-to-face (sitting side-by-side can convey the message that the interaction is meant to be cooperative rather than confrontational). The researcher must also decide how the interview is going to be recorded. While tape-recording is the obvious choice for someone collecting linguistic data, it is not the only option. The other option is for the interviewer to take notes and to use these to reconstruct the interview at a later date. Walker points out that tape-recording and note-taking are not simply alternative data collection techniques, but represent quite different ways of going about doing research. Some of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two recording devices are set out in the table below.
Instrument Strength Weaknesses
Tape-recording * Preserves actual language
* Naturalistic
* Objective record
* Interviewer's contributions recorded
* Data can be reanalyzed after the event
* Possibility of data overload
*Time-consuming to
transcribe
* Context not recorded
* Presence of machine off putting
* Core issues masked by irrelevancies
Note-taking *Central issues/ facts recorded
* Context can be recorded
* Economical
* Off-record statements not recorded
* Recorded bias
*Actual linguistic data not recorded
* Encoding may interfere with interview
*Status of data may be questioned
(Source: Nunan, 1992)
57 Preparing interviews
Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant's experiences. The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around a topic. Interviews may be useful as follow- up to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses. Usually open-ended questions are asked during interviews.
Before you start to design your interview questions and process, clearly articulate to yourself what problem or need is to be addressed using the information to be gathered by the interviews.
This helps you keep clear focus on the intent of each question.
(NOTE: Much of the information herein was adapted from Michael Patton's book, "Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods" (Sage Publications, 1990).
Step 1: Choosing Categories of Interviews
1. Informal, conversational interview — no predetermined questions are asked, in order to remain as open and adaptable as possible to the interviewees nature and priorities; during the interview, the interviewer "goes with the flow”.
2. General interview guide approach — the guide approach is intended to ensure that the same general areas of information are collected from each interviewee; this provides more focus than the conversational approach, but still allows a degree of freedom and adaptability in getting information from the interviewee.
3. Standardized, open-ended interview - here, the same open-ended questions are asked to all interviewees (an open-ended quest-ion is where respondents are free to choose how to answer the question, i.e., they don't select "yes" or "no" or provide a numeric rating, etc.); this approach facilitates faster interviews that can be more easily analysed and compared.
4. Closed, fixed-response interview - where all interviewees are asked the same questions and asked to choose answers from among the same set of alternatives. This format is useful for those not practiced in interviewing.
Step 2: Defining Types of Topics in Questions One can ask questions about:
1. Behaviour - about what a person has done or is doing 2. Opinions/ values - about what a person thinks about a topic
3. Feelings - note that respondents sometimes respond with ”I think ...", so be careful to note that you are looking for feelings
4. Knowledge - to get facts about a topic
5. Sensory - about what people have seen, touched, heard, tasted, or smelled
6. Background/ demographics - standard background questions, such as age, education, etc.
Note that the above questions can be asked in terms of past, present or future.
(Source: McNamara, 1999) Conducting the interview
1. Establish rapport: Introduce yourself. Be polite, friendly, but also professional. Establishing good rapport will help the interview along. Casual chit-chat (about the weather, etc.) at the very beginning of the session is usually O.K.
58 2. Describe the project: Tell the person who you are, what requirements the project fulfills for you (e.g., independent study), who is working with you on the project, why you are interested in this project, and so on. Tell the person what your project is about, what the interview entails, and the purpose of the interview for your project. Ask the person if it is O.k. to tape record the interview. If they say no, just drop the topic.
Some components of steps 1 & 2 may occur over the phone when you make the initial contact to ask people to participate. But repeat these steps again (especially #2) when you meet with them in person.
3. Obtain informed consent: To stick to the ethical standards for psychological research, you should obtain informed consent from the person. A written consent form will contain the types of information you described in #2 above. Be sure the form clarifies that the interview entails and how the information from it will be used in your project. Be sure it informs the person that you would like to tape record the session. Be sure it informs the person that you might be quoting them in your paper.
It should be noted that ethical standards do not require that informed consent be written. Many researchers in the past have simply relied on a verbal consent. Feel out how your interviewees will react to written consent. To make sure the interviewee understands the project, it's often best that they see the information about the project in written form. It's usually best to have written consent.
4. Go ahead with the interview: The goal is to get the person to express their ideas about particular issues. Everyone is different and everyone reacts to an interview differently. As the interviewer, your learning how to deal with these differences is an ART. You will be trying to help the interviewees to: (1) open up and express their ideas, (2) express their ideas CLEARLY, (3) explain and elaborate on their ideas, (4) focus on the issues at hand rather than wander to unrelated topics.
Tips to Carry out the Interview a. Occasionally verify the tape recorder (if used) is working.
b. Ask one question at a time.
c. Attempt to remain as neutral as possible. That is, don’t show strong emotional reactions to their responses. Patton suggests to act as it “you've heard it all before."
d. Encourage responses with occasional nods of the head, "uh huh’s”, etc.
e. Be careful about the appearance when note taking. That is, if you jump to take a note, it may appear as if you're surprised or very pleased about an answer, which may influence answers to future questions.
f. Provide transition between major topics, e.g., "we've been talking about (some topic) and now I’d like to move on to (another topic)”.
g. Don’t lose control of the interview. This can occur when respondents stray to another topic, take so long to answer a question that times begins to run out, or even begin asking questions to the interviewer.
Here are some basic techniques and statements that can help you help interviewees to open up and clearly express their ideas:
Clarification: Getting the person to clearly explain himself / herself:
"Could you tell me more about the part about xxx”
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"I'm not sure understood the part about xxx - could you explain that some more?"
Reflection: Reflecting back something important the person just said in order to get them to expand on that idea:
"So you believe that ...?”
"Then you do disagree with Dr. Smith."
Encouragement: Encouraging them to pursue a line of thought:
"The part about xxx is interesting. Could you say more about that?“
“l find that fascinating! Tell me more."
Summary: Try to summarize the person‘s ideas to see ii you really understood what he or she was saying:
"So what you are saying is ...”
"So your major point is that ..."
"Let me see if I can summarise what you have said ...”
5. Ending the interview: Be sensitive to the person's schedule and time limits. Try to "wind down" rather than end abruptly. See if you can summarize their major points. Ask them again if they have any questions about the project. Let them know how to contact you if they need to.
Thank them for their help.
6. Take notes: Always sit down immediately after an interview and jot down your impressions of the interview-things that the tape recorder could not pick up. These notes will help you remember and explore the "process" of the interview.
After an interview
1. Verify if the tape recorder, if used, worked throughout the interview.
2. Make any notes on your written notes, e.g., to clarity any scratchings, ensure pages are numbered, fill out any notes that don't make senses, etc.
3. Write down any observations made during the interview. For example, where did the interview occur and when, was the respondent particularly nervous at any time? Were there any surprises during the interview? Did the tape recorder break?
REFLECTION
1. What do we do when we prepare the interview schedule?
2. Why is it necessary to pilot interview questions?
3. What should we do before the interview?
4. What should we do during the interview?
5. How should we start and end the interview?
6. What should we do after the interview?
7. What do we need to consider about the sequencing of questions that are to be asked?
8. What do we need to consider about the wordings of questions that are to be asked?
9. Skilled interviewers use a variety of types of questions to draw the most information from the interviewee. Match each type of question with its examples
a. Permission questions demonstrate concern for the other party. They are used at the beginning of the interview to put the other
i. Is this what you mean?
* As I understand it, your plan of action is this. Am I right?
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person at ease. * Are you saying that was a negative
experience?
b. Factual questions are low-risk attempts to obtain objective data about the informant.
They are intended to give you a picture of the status of the other party. These questions can be used to help make the informant feel comfortable and are good to use at the beginning of the interview and after a particularly difficult or threatening question.
ii. How did you feel about that reaction?
31.!What do you like best (least) about your present job?
32.!How would you feel if this were to occur?
c. Tell Me About Questions ask the informant to describe their past experience.
iii. Can you be more specific?
33.!What other approaches did you consider before you tried that?
34.!Then what happened?
d. Feeling questions are designed to obtain subjective data on the other party’s feelings, values, and beliefs. They are useful as follow- ups to Tell Me About or Factual Questions.
Make sure that the informant responds by describing an emotional state, not by describing what they thought.
iv. What do you do in your reading lessons?
35.!How long have you worked as a teacher of English?
e. Magic Wand Questions encourage the other party to speculate or dream. They give you an idea of the creativity and aspiration of the informant.
v. Tell me about a recent important decision you made and how you went about it.
* Walk me through the first and last half hour of your most recent normal workday. What did you do first, second, etc.?
* Tell me about a recent writing assignment that made you look forward to going to the writing class.
f. Tell Me More Questions are used as follow- up to any of the other kinds of questions.
vi. Are there any questions you have about the process before we begin the interview?
36.!Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable before we begin?
g. Checking questions allow you to make sure you understand the other person’s answer.
They are useful at any point in the interview but most useful at the end to help you check any assumptions you have made about the interviewee.
vii. If you could change anything in your present reading lessons, what would it be?
37.!What would a perfect relationship with your teacher be like?
38.!If you were put in charge of a volunteer program, what would you do first?
REFLECTION
1.! How can we integrate the interview data into our research report?
2.! How should we identify the informants in our research report?
61 GLOSSARY
Informed consent: Obtaining permission from individuals to participate in research before the research begins.
Interview: A method of data collection involving an interviewer asking questions of another person (a respondent) either face-to-face or over the telephone.
Interview probes: Brief questions or phrases that elicit elaboration of detail, further explanations, and clarifications of responses.
Interview schedules: A formal instrument that specifies the precise wording and ordering of all the questions to be asked of each respondent.
Structured interview: The interviewer asks the respondents the same questions using an interview schedule.
Semi-structured interview: The researcher asks open-ended questions which give the respondent considerable freedom to talk freely on the topic and to influence the direction of the interview since there is no predetermined plan about the specific information to be gathered from those being interviewed.
REFLECTION
Task 1: Supposed you want to conduct a research study to find out what makes students in a specific school want to learn and what puts them off learning. You decide to interview a number of randomly selected students.
What type of interview would you conduct? Why? Then brainstorm all the questions you might want to ask. Write these questions down. Use the following checklist to evaluate your questions.
Circle Yes or No
My questions are free from offensive language. Yes No My questions are free from technical terms. Yes No My questions are not too long that confuse interviewees. Yes No
I don't ask ambiguous questions. Yes No
I don't ask double-barreled questions. Yes No I don't ask WHY questions. Yes No I don't ask questions with “NO” and “NOT”. Yes No
I ask one question at a time. Yes No
Task 2: Below are some of the students’ comments on what makes them want to learn and what puts them off learning. Read the comments and work out the common themes that emerge from them.
62 What makes students want to learn? What puts students off learning?
"The school is good. The teachers are nice"
"It I'm taught well and enjoy the lesson"
"If teachers are fun and humorous"
"I'm able to sit next to my friends"
"I feel secure with the teachers”
"If the teacher isn't too strict"
"If the subject is interesting"
“l have a cooperative class"
"You don't have to work in complete silence"
"I have humorous teachers who don't lose control"
"Knowing your friends are there”
"Sitting where you want"
"If I’m allowed to talk with my friends”
"Having conversations with teachers”
"If l have a lot of fun work to do in the class"
"If the teacher is not nice"
"When teachers can't control the lesson"
"A strict teacher who shouts when you get the answer wrong"
“It I'm treated like babies"
"The teacher talking for the whole lesson"
"If I can't sit with my friends"
“When the teacher is grumpy”
“Boring lessons, boring subject”
"Teachers continuously talking”
“If I have to sit next to people I don't like”
"When teachers don't help everybody equally"
“If I'm under strict control"
"When I don't like the teachers"
"If I have a bad class atmosphere”
"Working in complete silence”
(The data is taken from Acikgoz, 2005) o0o
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