A topic in research methodology
It is important that a participant in a research interview is at ease, and is comfortable about the purpose and nature of the interview. It can be good practice to have a short script which reiterates the purposes of the activity, and reminds the respondent that they do not need to answer any questions they are not comfortable answering, and can ask to stop or have a break at any time.
You should keep in mind that being interviewed makes demands on your participant – demands of concentration, recall, expression…and in some cases questions may seem sensitive or even threatening.
Cannell et al., (1981) suggest:
“To improve the validity of the survey interview, new techniques and new standards of measurement are required. To translate these objectives into operations, one can say that the questionnaire and interviewing techniques should:
Teach the respondent what is expected of him or her in general in order to perform the task properly.
Inform the respondent and provide cues as to how to be most efficient in answering specific questions.
Encourage the respondent to work diligently to recall and organize information and to report even potentially embarrassing material.
Ensure standard techniques for greater comparability among interviews."
Cannell et al.,1981: 405
Some of these suggestions seem somewhat more relevant for those interviewing in positivistic, rather than interpretive, studies, in keeping with the authors' concerns with survey interviewing (i.e., using interviews as the data collection technique within survey methodology).
Source cited:
- Cannell, C. F., Miller, P. V., & Oksenberg, L. (1981). Research on Interviewing Techniques. Sociological Methodology, 12, 389-437.
My introduction to educational research:
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
