Interviewing for Dissertation Research

But these ideas apply to many types of interviewing

Gathering Evidence

• Ethnography– Rituals, beliefs (norms), and artifacts

• Narrative– Personal stories

• Phenomenology– Lived experiences

• Case Study– Anything that leads to assertions about the case

Gathering Evidence

• Depending on the purpose of your study:– Interviews

– Observations

– Document analysis

• Each source has its own methodology for data gathering and analysis, although there are commonalities among them.

Interviews

Some Purposes of Interviews

• Hiring

• News interviews

• Product evaluation or development

• Activity feedback

• Teacher evaluation

• Polling or opinion research

• Hypothesis testing

• Hearing life stories

Interviewing

While all interviews are used to get to know the interviewee better, the purpose of that knowing varies according to the research question and the disciplinary perspective of the researcher.

The purpose of the qualitative research interview is to contribute to a body of knowledge that is conceptual and theoretical and is based on the meanings that life experiences hold for the interviewees.

(DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree, 2006)

Where to Start

• Interviews have to be tied to research questions

• You need a grounding in the topic before interviewing

• Institutional Review Board

Interview Types

• Structured– Adherence to an interview protocol

• Semi-Structured– Allowing for follow-up questions

• Unstructured– Guided conversation

• Focus Group– Usually semi-structured with a moderator

Who to Interview?

• What is the purpose of your study?

• Who has the data you need?

• Do you feel like all points of view have been explored?

• Are you continuing to hear new ideas?

• Particularly at first, try to talk with people who are likely to be comfortable responding.

Interview Questions

• Eliciting individual’s experiences and understanding (Can you tell me about …)

• An interview protocol is a must

• Beware the grand tour question

• Broad and open-ended (avoiding yes or no)

• Avoid bias (communicating a correct answer)

• Question order is important

• End with a question about the interview?

Interview Setting

• Privacy

• Convenience

• Go to the interviewee

• Make the interviewee comfortable before beginning questions

• Look professional

Conducting the Interview

• Designed opening and closing

• Minimize frowning or negative reactions

• Body language is everything• Be careful not to ask follow-up questions if you already

have the information

• Follow-ups and probes including silence– Using the informant’s own language

– Avoiding why questions

• Prepare to reframe questions

• Don’t interrupt

Spradley’s Stages of Rapport (1979)

• Apprehension– Uncertainty

• Exploration– Engaged in the description: still apprehensive

• Co-operation– Comfort: trust

• Participation– Guiding the interview: taking charge

Field Notes

• Record the interview

• Notes while interviewing– Notes about the setting (attribute coding)

– Any communication that won’t be obvious in the recording

– Notes for follow-up questions

– Notes about ideas for analysis

– Notes about the process

• Review notes immediately after the interview

Reflections on how you did

• Voice tone

• Eye contact

• Nonverbal communication (Body language)

• Interest level

• Flow of the interview• Did the opening and closing work?

• Rapport (was it established and how)

Ethics of Interviews

• Reducing the risk of unanticipated harm

• Protecting the interviewee’s information

• Effectively informing interviewees about the nature of the study (IRB again)

• Reducing the risk of exploitation

• Enhancing the interviewee’s life more than the interviewer’s

Interviewing Summary (Seidman, 2006)

• Listen more, talk less

• Ask questions when you don’t understand

• Use your intuition to know when to ask to hear more about a subject

• Cautiously explore, don’t probe

• Ask real questions

• Avoid leading questions

• Ask open-ended questions

• Follow up, but don’t interrupt

• Tolerate silence

Exercise• The topic you are studying is bicycling in Portland.• Design a series of questions for an interview that will last

around 5–10 minutes—don’t forget to design an opening and closing.

• Find a partner. Interview your partner using the questions. Take field notes during the interview.

• After the interview have your partner respond to the interview reflections (3 slides ago). Take notes on the reflections.

• Switch places.

Recording Interviews

• You must have permission to record. Stop if you don’t. Thank the respondent and say you are open to coming back another time if he or she has a change of heart.

• Or, take a second person who is good at writing verbatim notes. It is almost impossible to do this yourself.

Recording Interviews

• Know your equipment!

• Pick settings with minimal background noise

• Make the respondent comfortable about recording–Most people quickly forget about the recorder

Transcription

• You must do this

• 1 hour interview = 6 hours of transcription

• Good quality recording is a must

• Field notes should be combined with the transcription as soon after the interview as possible

Software

• Audio Control– Free software• Quicktime

• Audacity

– Commercial software• f5

• InqScribe

• DragonDictate

Interviewing as an Iterative Process• Design the best questions you can

• Review the interview for:– Quality of answers

– New topics

– Problematic questions

– What you still need to know

– Problems in conducting the interview

• Redesign for better questions

• This will be important when you get to coding

What goes wrong in interviews

• Problems are usually your fault

• Not enough time or taking too much time

• Equipment failures

• Interruptions

• Rapport is not developed

Pilot Test Your Interview

And don’t forget to

Practice with a friend