Managing the interview process

A topic in research methodology

"…the interviewer must develop the practice of continuously assessing the interview as it is in process."

Merton., Fiske & Kendall, 1990

Pacing the interview

The purpose of asking questions in research interviews is to elicit high quality data that can be interpreted in order to answer research questions – so there is no value in getting through the interview questions without regard to the clarity, relevance, and detail of the responses.

"In our experience, nearly all interviewers…proceed through the interview too quickly;
they ask questions at a rapid rate,
permit no pause between response and the next question,
and jump into the interaction with fast feedback.
The atmosphere created is hasty and casual.
The interviewer's major goal seems to be to finish the interview."

Cannell, Miller & Oksenberg, 1981: 414-415

This is especially important in interpretive research where getting insightful high quality responses is more important than asking all your questions. As Merton and colleagues (1990) note: "…there is small point in nominally covering an extended series of topics, if the interview data on each of these are negligible".

Listening in interviews

It is east to do too much of the talking in an interview. Inexperienced interviewers may even lead the respondent, and complete their responses for them!

"An interview may be viewed as a conversation with a student or with a group of students in order to listen and to find out what they are thinking. A characteristic of the interview is that the students are doing most of the talking and the [researcher] most of the listening…

Bell, 1995, p.353

Bell seems to be stating the obvious when she points out that:

"The interview is a teaching situation only in that we are listening to the student; it is not an opportunity to guide students by careful questioning to the 'right answer' "

Bell, 1995, p.353

However, interviewers (perhaps especially interviewers who are experienced teachers!), are tempted to offer their own evaluations of responses, or even to add their own views and ideas: i.e., "jump into the interaction with fast feedback". (That may be more appropriate in research undertaken from a social constructivist perspective than from a personal constructivist perspective).

Decision-making in the interviews

In some kinds of interviews, structured interviews used in some survey work, it is important to follow the precise script when asking the interview questions. However, usually in interviewing the interviewer has more discretion in directing and managing the conversation.

Interviews are usually used in an interpretive ('qualitative') mode, where the purpose is to understand participants' ideas, views and experiences in their own terms (rather than to classify responses into predetermined response categories). In such interviews the researcher usually carries out their own interviews (rather than employing research assistants to do the interviewing) that they will analyse. Analysis begins in the interview itself, as the interviewer has to make decisions about when to move on the the net question, and whether to drop or resequence questions, or add follow up questions to clarify some responses. All this requires real-time reflection on the responses elicited.

Make use of validity checks

There are simple techniques that can be used to check the researcher's interpretation of participant responses during interviews of this kind:

"By using substantial interviews … as the main research technique there is scope for considerable 'internal validation' of the interviewer's interpretations of the co-learners comments during a single interview.
Such validation takes several forms…

confirming responses by repeating or rephrasing questions…

clarifying ideas by asking follow-up questions…

paraphrasing what one believes to be the co-learner's argument, and seeking confirmation…

returning to the same point in the same context later in the interview, to see if a consistent response is given by the co-learner…

approaching the same point through a different context later in the interview, to see if the co-learner gives a consistent response in the different contexts…"

Taber, 1993

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.
• Cannell, C. F., Miller, P. V., & Oksenberg, L. (1981). Research on Interviewing Techniques. Sociological Methodology, 12, 389-437.
• Merton, R. K., Fiske, M., & Kendall, P. L. (1990). The Focused Interview. A manual of problems and procedures (2nd ed.). New York: The Free Press.
• Taber, K. S. (1993). Stability and lability in student conceptions: some evidence from a case study. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference.