Consideration

Interview

Questionnaire

1 Personal need to collect data

2 Major expense

3 Opportunities for response-keying (personalization)

4 Opportunities for asking

5 Opportunities for probing

6 Relative magnitude of data reduction

7 Typically, the number of respondents who can be reached

8 Rate of return

9 Sources of error

10 Overall reliability

11 Emphasis on writing skill

Requires interviewers

Payment to interviewers

Extensive

Extensive

Possible

Great (because of coding)

Limited

Good

Interviewer, instrument, coding, sample

Quite limited

Limited

Requires a secretary

Postage and printing

Limited

Limited

Difficult

Mainly limited to rostering

Extensive

Poor

Limited to instrument and sample

Fair

Extensive

Type of interview

Characteristics

Strengths

Weaknesses

1. Informal conversational interview

Questions emerge from the immediate context and are asked in the natural course of things; there is no predetermination of question topics or wording.

Increases the salience and relevance of questions; interviews are built on and emerge from observations; the interview can be matched to individuals and circumstances.

Different information collected from different people with different questions. Less systematic and comprehensive if certain questions don’t arise ‘naturally’. Data organization and analysis can be quite difficult.

2. Interview guide approach

Topics and issues to be covered are specified in advance, in outline form; interviewer decides sequence and working of questions in the course of the interview.

The outline increases the comprehensiveness of the data and makes data collection somewhat systematic for each respondent. Logical gaps in data can be anticipated and closed. Interviews remain fairly conversational and situational.

Important and salient topics may be inadvertently omitted. Interviewer flexibility in sequencing and wording questions can result in substantially different responses, thus reducing the comparability of responses.

3. Standardized open-ended interviews

The exact wording and sequence of questions are determined in advance. All interviewees are asked the same basic questions in the same order.

Respondents answer the same questions, thus increasing comparability of responses; data are complete for each person on the topics addressed in the interview. Reduces interviewer effects and bias when several interviewers are used. Permits decision makers to see and review the instrumentation used in the evaluation. Facilitates organization and analysis of the data.

Little flexibility in relating the interview to particular individuals and circumstances; standardized wording of questions may constrain and limit naturalness and relevance of questions and answers.

4. Closed quantitative interviews

Questions and response categories are determined in advance. Responses are fixed; respondent chooses from among these fixed responses.

Data analysis is simple; responses can be directly compared and easily aggregated; many short questions can be asked in a short time.

Respondents must fit their experiences and feelings into the researcher’s categories; may be perceived as impersonal, irrelevant, and mechanistic. Can distort what respondents really mean or experienced by so completely limiting their response choices.

• Interviews are an interpersonal matter.
• Avoid saying ‘I want to know . . .’; the interviewee is doing you a favour, not being interrogated.
• How to follow up on questions/answers?
• How to keep people on track and how to keep the interview moving forward.
• How to show respect.
• How to divide you attention as interviewer and to share out the interviewees’ responses – giving them all a chance to speak in a group interview.
• Do you ask everyone in a group interview to give a response to a question?
• If there is more than one interviewer, what are the roles of the ‘silent’ interviewer, and do the interviewees know the roles of the interviewers?
• Who is looking at whom.
• If you need to look at your watch then maybe comment on this publicly.
• Try not to refer to your interview schedule; if you need to refer to it then comment on this publicly (e.g. ‘let me just check that I have covered the points that I wanted’);
• Avoid using your pen as a threatening weapon, pointing it at the interviewer.
• Consider your non-verbal communication, eye contact, signs of anxiety, showing respect.
• Give people time to think – don’t interrupt yourself if there is silence.
• How to pass over from one interviewer to another and from one interviewee to another if there is more than one interviewer or interviewee.
• How to give feedback and acceptance to the interviewees.
• Should you write responses down – what messages does this give?
• Put yourself in the shoes of the interviewee.
• What are the effects of losing eye contact or of maintaining it for too long?
• Think of your body posture – not too laid back and not too menacing.
• How to interpret and handle silence.
• Avoid looking away from the respondent if possible.
• Avoid interrupting the respondent.
• Avoid judging the respondent or his/her response.
• The interviewer should summarize and crystallize issues and build on them – that is a way of showing respect.
• How to give signs of acceptance of what people are saying, and how to avoid being judgemental.
• Take care of timing – not too long to be boring.
• Give interviewees the final chance to add any comments, and thank them at the end.
• Plan how to hand over the questions to the next interviewer.
• How to arrange the chairs and tables – do you have tables (they may be a barrier or a protection)?
• Identify who controls the data, and when the control of the data passes from the interviewee to the interviewer.
• What to do with ‘off the record’ data?
• Take time to ‘manage’ the interview and keep interviewees aware of what is happening and where it is going.
• Vary the volume/tone of your voice.
• Avoid giving your own view or opinion; be neutral.
• Who is working harder – the interviewer or the interviewee?
• Who is saying more – the interviewer or the interviewee?
• If there is more than one interviewer, how to avoid one interviewer undermining another.
• Think of prompts and probes.
• How to respond to people who say little?
• Consider the social (and physical) distance between the interviewer and interviewee(s).
• Consider the layout of the furniture – circle/oval/straight line or what?
• Have a clear introduction which makes it clear how the interview will be conducted and how the interviewees can respond (e.g. turn taking).
• Make sure you summarize and crystallize every so often.
• How to handle interviewees who know more about the topic than you do?
• Do you have males interviewing females and vice-versa (think of age/gender/race etc of interviewers and interviewees)
• Give some feedback to respondents every so often.
• What is the interview doing that cannot be done in a questionnaire?
• If there are status differentials then don’t try to alter them in the space of an interview.
• Plan what to do if the interviewee ‘turns the tables’ and tries to be the interviewer.
• Plan what to do with aggressive or angry interviewees.
• Plan what to do if powerful interviewees don’t answer your questions (maybe you need to admit that you haven’t understood very well, and ask for clarification, i.e. that it is your fault).
• Be very prepared, so that you don’t need to look at your schedule.
• Know your subject matter well.
• If people speak fast then try to slow down everything.
• As an interviewer, you have the responsibility for making sure the interview runs well.

1 Iwas looking at Mary and 2all of a sudden I knew 3I was looking at her like I never looked at anybody in my whole life – and 4my eyes were sort of just kind of staring at her and the reason that 5I realized that it was tremendous was that she said to me – what are you doing – 6and I just said I’m looking at you – 7and so we just sat there and she 8 sort of watched me look at her – and 9she was getting kind of uncomfortable 10and yet also kept saying – what’s going on 11but not really wanting to hear – 12just letting me – have enough sensitivity to let me experience it – 13a lot was going on – 14Ididn’t realize what – what it was – 15Iwas just sort of sitting there – 16I couldn’t move – 17Ididn’t want to move – 18Ijust want to continue looking at her.

1 Was looking at Mary

2 suddenly he knew

3 He was looking at her like he never looked at anybody in his whole life

4 His eyes were just staring at her

5 Realized it was tremendous when she said ‘What are you doing?’

6 He just said, ‘I’m looking at you.

7 Both just sat there

8 She sort of watched him look at her

9 She was getting kind of uncomfortable

10 She kept saying ‘What’s going on?’

11 She didn’t seem to want a response

12 She had enough sensitivity to let him experience it

13 A lot was going on

14 Hedidn’t realize what was going on

15 He continued to just sit there

16 He couldn’t move

17 Didn’t want to move

18 Just wanted to continue looking at her.

Source : Hycner, 1985