Interviews

A topic in research methodology

Interviews are a class of data collection techniques, that are used in a wide range of research designs, within different research methodologies. Powney and Watts (1987, p.vii) consider research interviews as 'Conversational encounters to a purpose'. Such approaches have been considered to have been very valuable in social research:

"Much of our knowledge of social, political, and economic life [since the 1940s] was gained through interview surveys, a mode of active intervention shaped by specific needs and governed by pragmatically developed rules. 'Conversations with a purposes' or 'guided conversations', as the method was called, replaced ad hoc modes of questioning that ignored the Heisenbergian effects of the inquiry upon the information gathered."

Gollin, 1956/1990

Kvale (1996) refers to 'interViews':

"The qualitative research interview is a construction site for knowledge. An interview is literally an inter view, an inter-change of views between two persons conversing about a theme of mutual interest."

Kvale, 1996: 14

Bell (1995) suggests that: "In an interview situation the questions asked are 'genuine' ones – genuine in that we do not know the answer to our question when we ask it."

Some themes related to research interviews:

• Interview data
• Types of interviews
• Interview context
• Group interviews
• The interview schedule

Good interviewing practice

There are a number of practical issues to consider in being a good research interviewer

Before the interview: consider what you need to plan in advance.

At the start of the interview: brief and prepare your participant

During the interview:

• Pacing: do not rush through the questions
• Listening: do not do too much of the talking
• Build validity checks into your interview

At the close of the interview: thank and debrief your participant

Sources cited:

• Bell, Beverley (1995) Interviewing: a technique for assessing science knowledge, Chapter 15 of Glynn, Shawn M. & Duit, Reinders (Eds.) (1995) Learning Science in the Schools: Research Reforming Practice, Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp.347-364.
• Gollin, A. E. (1990). Foreword. In R. K. Merton, M. Fiske, & P. L. Kendall (Eds.), The Focused Interview. A manual of problems and procedures (2nd ed., pp. ix-xii). New York: The Free Press.
• Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
• Powney, J., & Watts, M. (1987). Interviewing in Educational Research. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.