Interviews

Interviews

• An introduction to using interviews in your
• Supported Independent Study Project.
• Read these notes and be able to discuss with another student the advantages and
• disadvantages of using interviews both generally, and to gather data for your specific SIS project.
• 
• Caption: " Se poser des questions en regardant plus haut" by Bernard Lamailloux Licensed under CC BY 2.0

What are interviews useful for?

• They can produce qualitative data which is deeper,
• more detailed, and more personal than that from a questionnaire.
• Interviews
• give the researcher a chance to ask follow-up questions and gain a better
• understanding of an answer. You may need to be flexible by responding to
• previous answers.

When you prepare for interviews

• The questions must be clear and easy to
• understand.
• Ensure all questions are relevant to your
• research question.
• Avoid sensitive or potentially embarrassing
• questions.
• You should give the interviewee the chance to
• prepare in some way, for example by sending them the questions before the
• interview or asking them to do a short questionnaire.
• Have a logical sequence of questions. Start with
• easier questions.
• Interview a friend first to see how long it
• takes and to check that they understand the questions.
• Dealing with interview data can be
• time-consuming, so don’t try to interview too many people.
• Interviews can be difficult to arrange: be flexible
• and patient. The interviewee may be very busy.

In the interview

• At the beginning of the interview, introduce
• yourself and thank the interviewee for their time.
• Make sure the interviewee is aware of the
• interview aims and purpose.
• Say what you will do with the data.
• Confirm that the interviewee is happy to
• continue and that they don’t need to answer questions if they don’t want to.
• Say who to contact for more information. If they
• have any concerns they should contact the Course Director.
• Remind them that their information will be
• confidential and anonymous.
• You should listen actively and respond to the
• interviewee.
• Record the interview. You can transcribe it
• (write it out). Take notes during the interview.
• 

Different types of interview

• Structured
• Follows a list of specific questions written before
• the interview. Makes answers easier to compare, but less personal and relevant
• to the individual.
• Semi-structured
• Uses questions written before the interview but may
• be adapted in the interview. The interviewee answers freely, with more
• developed answers.
• Unstructured
• Uses less prepared questions which may be more
• relevant to each interviewee. Natural answers but they may not all answer your
• questions. May be hard to analyse.

Some interview question types

• Introducing questions eg “Could you tell me
• about…”
• Follow-up questions eg “what did you mean by…”
• Specifying questions eg “what did you do after
• that?”
• Closed questions eg “have you ever used Skype?”
• Checking questions eg “so you mean that…”
• (adapted from Kvalde, 1996, in
• http://www2.open.ac.uk/students/skillsforstudy/conducting-an-interview.php)
• 

Bibliography

• Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. (2000).
• Research Methods in Education. (5th Edition). Routledge.
• Open University. Skills for OU Study: Using a questionnaire. Available from: http://www2.open.ac.uk/students/skillsforstudy/using-a-questionnaire.php
• Accessed 10.4.16
• UCL. Public Engagement Evaluation Toolkit:
• Questionnaires. Available from: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/public-engagement/documents/evaluationtoolkits/evaluationmethods/Questionnaire Accessed
• 10.4.16