Chapter 18 Interviewing in qualitative research

Question 1

two types of interviews in Qualitative research

Answer 1

1. unstructured
2. semi-structured

Question 2

Qualitative interview, how is it different from quantitative?

Answer 2

Quantitative interviews: extremely structured to guarantee reliability and validity of concepts.
VS.
Qualitative interview: much less structure, generalization is encouraged in the initial research

Question 3

What are qualitative interviews like?

Answer 3

• highlight the interviewee’s POV
• Rambling is encouraged
• Rich detailed answers are wanted
• Interviewers have total freedom as to depart from any schedule or guide, e.g. ask new questions, change the order of questions etc.
• flexible — responds to the direction the interviewee takes the interview.

Question 4

Unstructured interview

Answer 4

Single question the interviewer asks and comes up with follow-up questions based on the interviewee’s answers.

Question 5

Semi-structured interview

Answer 5

List of questions for specific topics to be covered (interview guide), but the interviewee has a great deal of leeway in how to reply.

Question 6

Life history (biographical method) interview

Answer 6

a type of interview method that asks open-ended questions focusing on the individual’s life experiences. Interviews can be structured or unstructured, depending on the research goals and the participant’s preferences.

Question 7

Oral history interview

Answer 7

a type of interview method that focuses on the collective experiences of a group or community. The interviews can also be structured or unstructured, depending on the research goals and the participant’s preferences.

Question 8

What is an interview guide?

Answer 8

a tool designed to help the interviewer collect the information they need in a structured and systematic way, while also allowing for flexibility and exploration of topics that may arise during the interview.

Question 9

Could semi-structured interviewing stand in the way of flexibility in qualitative research?

Answer 9

NO, instead the semi-structure itself provides the researcher with a framework that gives a deeper insight without limiting the flexibility needed for rich, in-depth exploration of participants’ perspectives.

Question 10

What are the differences between life history and oral history interviews?

Answer 10

Focus: Life history interviews focus on a person’s entire life, from childhood to the present day, while oral history interviews focus on a specific event or time period.

Narrator: In life history interviews, the narrator is the person being interviewed, while in oral history interviews, the narrator can be anyone who has relevant information about the event or time period being studied.

Purpose: Life history interviews are often used to explore the experiences and perspectives of a single individual in depth, while oral history interviews are often used to gather information from multiple narrators in order to create a more complete picture of a particular event or time period.

Question 11

What kinds of considerations need to be borne in mind when preparing an interview guide?

Answer 11

• values: of interviewee, of group, of organization;
• beliefs: of interviewee, of others, of group;
• behaviour: of interviewee, of others;
• formal and informal roles: of interviewee, of others;
• relationships: of interviewee, of others;
• places and locales;
• emotions: particularly of the interviewee, but also
  possibly of others;
• encounters;
• stories.

Question 12

What kinds of questions might be asked in an interview guide?

Answer 12

1. Introducing questions: These are questions that initiate the conversation and encourage the interviewee to start talking about a particular topic.
2. Follow-up questions: These are questions that prompt the interviewee to elaborate on their initial answer, allowing the interviewer to gather more detailed information.
3. Probing questions: These are direct questions that aim to gather more detailed information from the interviewee.
4. Specifying questions: These are questions that ask for specific details about a particular event or situation.
5. Direct questions: These are straightforward questions that ask for a specific answer from the interviewee.
6. Indirect questions: These are questions that indirectly ask for the interviewee’s opinion or perspective on a particular topic.
7. Structuring questions: These are questions that help the interviewer move the conversation onto a different topic.
8. Silence: This is a technique where the interviewer stays quiet for a moment, allowing the interviewee to reflect and elaborate on their answer.
9. Interpreting questions: These are questions that seek clarification and help the interviewer understand the interviewee’s perspective better.

Question 13

What kinds of skill does the interviewer need to develop in qualitative interviewing?

Answer 13

The interviewer needs to develop active listening skills, be attentive to the interviewee’s verbal and non-verbal cues, and strike a balance between being engaged and not too intrusive. It is important to maintain focus throughout the interview, even if it is being audio-recorded. (listening skills)

Finally, you must think about how to end interviews satisfactorily, making sure that your interviewees have had a chance to comment fully on the topic concerned and giving them the opportunity to raise any issues that they think you have overlooked in your questions. (opportunity to add beyond framework)

Question 14

Why is it important to tape-record and transcribe qualitative interviews?

Answer 14

Importance of Recording and transcribing:
- Correct the natural limitations of our memories
- More thorough examinations of what people say/repeated examinations
- Opens up the data to public scrutiny by other researchers (secondary analysis)
- Counter accusations that analysis might have been influenced by the researcher’s biases or values
- Allows data to be reused in other ways from the original intentions

Question 15

What are the basic elements of an interview guide?

Answer 15

• A structured order of topic areas, with flexibility for alterations during the interview
• Questions or topics that help answer research questions, but not too specific or leading
• Language that is comprehensible and relevant to the interviewees
• Face sheet information such as name, age, gender, and relevant context for the interviewee’s answers.

Question 16

theoretical sampling

Answer 16

purposive sampling approach that is guided by the researcher’s emerging theoretical focus. The aim of theoretical sampling is to select participants based on the emerging theories and hypotheses, rather than random selection. Aims to develop theory that explains the data.

The researcher starts with a small number of participants and then selects additional participants based on their relevance to the emerging theory.

Question 17

participant observation.

Answer 17

Participant observation is a qualitative research method where the researcher actively engages with the participants in their natural setting, observing and taking part in their activities and interactions. This method involves the researcher immersing themselves in the culture and social context of the group being studied, to gain a deep understanding of their behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs.

Arguments for participant observation:
- Seeing through others’ eyes: the researcher adapts to see things from the perspective of the participants
- Learning the native language: participants get the opportunity to learn about the formal and specific language of the topic.
- The taken for granted: participant observation is better suited to capture implicit features of social life that interviewees may take for granted, which may not surface through interviews.
- Deviant and hidden activities: participant observation allows for the uncovering of deviant and hidden activities that insiders may be reluctant to talk about in an interview context.
- Sensitivity to context: the participant observer’s extensive contact with a social setting allows the context of people’s behavior to be fully mapped out.
- Encountering the unexpected and flexibility: participant observation may uncover unexpected topics or issues, and its unstructured nature allows for greater flexibility in data collection.
- Naturalistic emphasis: researcher confronts members of a social setting in their natural environments.

Question 18

snowball sampling

Answer 18

a non-probability sampling technique that is used when the researcher wants to study a group of people for whom there is no sampling frame. In this approach, the researcher starts with a small group of participants and then asks them to suggest other potential participants who may be relevant to the study.

Question 19

compare theoretical vs snowball sampling.

Answer 19

snowball sampling is useful for accessing hard-to-reach populations, while theoretical sampling is useful for refining theories and hypotheses based on the data collected.

Question 20

arguments for qualitative interviews over observations

Answer 20

Arguments for qualitative research:
Resistant issues: Some issues may be difficult to observe, and asking people about them represents the only viable means of finding out about them within a qualitative research strategy.

Reconstruction of events: Qualitative research frequently entails the reconstruction of events by asking interviewees to think back over how a certain series of events unfolded in relation to a current situation. This reconstruction of events is something that cannot be accomplished through participant observation alone.

Ethical considerations: Participant observation raises ethical issues relating to the observation of criminal activity and the extent to which the researcher actively participates in it.

Less intrusive in people’s lives: Interviews are less intrusive in people’s lives in that the impact on people’s time will probably be less than having to take observers into account on a regular basis.

Longitudinal research easier: Interviewing can be carried out within a longitudinal research design somewhat more easily, because repeat interviews may be easier to organize than repeat visits to participant observers’ research settings.

Greater breadth of coverage: In participant observation, the researcher is invariably constrained in his/her field of vision, but interviewing is not subject to the same constraints, which allows for a greater breadth of coverage.

Summary:
1. lack of observaability in observations
2. more ethical
3. easier/cheaper to do longitudinal research
4. breadth of coverage