Communicating Culture

interviewing

Interviewing: Definition

Interviewing is a meeting of two persons to exchange information and ideas through questions and responses, resulting in communication and joint construction of meaning about a particular topic.

Janesick (2004): 72

Interviewing: preliminary thoughts

Material gathered through interviews is one of the most common methods in field research

Often used as a primary method or a way of further focussing participant-observation

Interviews allow material to be accessed from social situations where the researcher was not/cannot be present

Key participants are individuals who appear to have a wide knowledge of the social situation you are interested in

Sometimes they are individuals who stand at the of the ‘culture’ you are investigating

Useful in establishing the most important research questions May enable access to other situations, people or organisations Dangers: Do interviews offer a biased view? Do interviewees

have their own agenda? Ethical issues: Are interviews exploiting these individuals?

Interviewing: procedures (1)

Establishing relationshipsThe key is ensuring the person you are

interviewing is at ease. How do you do that?Tell them what you are doing and whyAsk for permission to use a tape recorder/take

notesEnsure confidentiality …Be sensitive to body language and tone of voiceAsk non-threatening questions first

Interviewing: procedures (2)

Use a schedule which specifies the topics or themes to be coveredFor structured interviews this lists the

questions to be askedFor unstructured interviews it

reminds you which topics/issues to cover (these might not occur in the same order in the interview).

Types of interview

Interviews range from:

Structured Semi-structuredUnstructured

(directed) (non-directed)

Structured Interviews

Structured Interviews have explicit research goalsAre similar to a verbal approximation

of a survey questionnaireAllow for easy comparison between

participantsResponses are shaped by the

researcher

Unstructured Interviews Unstructured Interviews

have an implicit research agenda Are similar to ‘steered conversations’ or

‘conversations with a purpose’ Questions emerge typically from the conversation Skill is in finding the most appropriate time to ask

questions

Choosing which type of interview to use depends on the nature of the research and who you are interviewing.

Interviews can move from being structured at the beginning to more unstructured at the end

Interview Task

Find someone you know to interview. The interview should last approximately 15 minutes.

What are your beliefs about friendship?

Types of Interview Questions (1)

Degree of focus‘grand-tour questions:

Could you show me around the building?’‘What are the general purposes of this room?’

These enable a broad picture to be obtainedSpecific questions:

‘Please tell me more about …’

These help to find out more specific information

Types of Interview Questions (2)

Degree of open-endednessOpen-ended

‘How do you feel about …’ Used to discover participant’s perception of

the situation. Allows participants to interpret questions their own way. Allows new questions to be generated.

Closed questions‘Do you agree with the idea that …’

Restricts participant’s response. Useful to confirm findings

Types of Interview Questions (3)

Types of information Descriptive

Could you tell me what happened that evening? Structured

‘What factors do you think are involved in …?’ Contrast

‘In what way has the course improved since last year?’ Clarification

‘You talk about how objects represent people. Can you clarify for me what you mean?’

Follow-up ‘You mentioned organising space in the gallery. Can

you tell me how you organise the display space?’

Understanding interview material

Knowledge is gained from the interviewee’s viewpoint Research material is gathered from the interaction

between the interviewee and the researcher The primary goal is to understand and interpret these

materials in terms of the context in which they were produced: Was the interview pre-arranged? Was the interviewee at ease? What type of questions were asked? When and how were they asked?

We will do more work on what to do with material collected from interviews in a later session