Lecture 3: Interview and Focus Groups

What is an Interview

• “a conversation that has a structure and a purpose”

• research interviews are not counselling, radio/TV interviews, or any assessment

• a conversation, designed (structure) to elicit the interviewees’ knowledge or perspective on a topic

• a co-construction between two participants (interview x interviewee)

Why interview?

• to understand individuals’ beliefs, values understandings, feelings, experiences, perspectives

• to enable the researcher to learn local (cultural) understandings rather than imposing pre-defined (theoretical) categories. Etic and emic

• To allow probing and exploration of a complex issue rather than finding simple answers

• To save time (compared to participant observation)

Types of Interviews

Structured

• Knowledge elicitation

• Experts

Semi-Structured

• 1-1 interviews with participants who are recruited according to certain specifications set by the researcher

• Last an average of an hour (must be recorded and transcribed)

• Can be conducted at a participant’s home or office, or a setting related to the topic

• Establishing rapport with participants is central to the success of interviews

• Exploring emotions, thoughts, attitudes, behaviours

• Exploring the story of participants

Unstructured

• Life history, narrative

Other types of interviews

• Problem-Centered Interview

• Focused Interview

• Expert Interview

Interview Research Design

• Develop a research question(s) that can be answered through an interview project

• Be knowledgeable about the topic

• Define sample

• Plan practicalities: location recording, consent

• Write topic guide/interview schedule, and continue to revise throughout the process

• Record

• Transcribe

• Analyse

Be Knowledgeable about the Topic

• Create an exhaustive literature review about your research topic; it helps to define the domain that the interview will explore

• Examine your personal experiences and associations with the topic in question. What is your understanding?

• Based on the two previous points, create some topic areas to explore in your interview (which will help you in developing your interview guide)

Sampling

Basics of Sampling

• Qualitative sampling usually entails selecting cases that represent the heterogeneity of the research field/the phenomenon of interest

Sampling for Interviews

• aims to identify “key informants“

• goal is the breadth and not representativeness

• size varies depending on the complexity of the inquiry

• determined by ‘theoretical saturation’