5. Designing your research entail i.e.:
• Deciding on the phenomenon
• Selecting relevant theories
• Creating a research question
• Devising research protocol
• Interview questions (what type of interviews)
6. Steps in your research
1. Decide on the research question. These questions are open-ended,
general, and focused on understanding your central phenomenon in the
study.
2. Decide on interview questions that will be answered during the interview
3. Identify interviewees who can best answer these questions based on one
of the purposeful sampling procedures mentioned in the preceding
discussion
4. Determine what type of interview is practical and will net the most
useful information to answer research questions. Assess the types
available, such as a telephone interview, a focus group interview, or a
one-on-one interview.
7. Steps in your research
5. Use adequate recording procedures when conducting one-on-one
interviews. (recording on your phone)
6. Design and use an interview protocol, or interview guide a form about
four or five pages in length (with space to write in answers), with
approximately five to seven open-ended questions and ample space
between the questions to write responses to the interviewee’s
comments
8.
9. Steps in your research
7. Refine the interview questions and the procedures further through pilot
testing.
8. Determine the place for conducting the interview. Find, if possible, a
quiet location free from distractions.
9. After arriving at the interview site, obtain consent from the interviewee
to participate in the study. Have the interviewee complete a consent
form.
10. During the interview, use good interview procedures. Stay to the
questions, complete the interview within the time specified (if possible),
be respectful and courteous, and offer few questions and advice.
10. Types of interviews
• Structured interviews have predetermined questions in a set order. They are often closed-ended,
featuring dichotomous (yes/no) or multiple-choice questions.
• Do you like dogs? Yes/No
• Do you associate dogs with feeling: happy; somewhat happy; neutral; somewhat unhappy; unhappy
• Semi-structured interviews are a blend of structured and unstructured interviews. Interviewer has
a general plan for what they want to ask, but questions do not have to follow a particular phrasing
or order.
• Do you like dogs? Yes/No
• If yes, name one attribute of dogs that you like.
• If no, name one attribute of dogs that you don’t like.
• Unstructured interview is the most flexible type of interview. The questions and the order in
which they are asked are not set. Interview can proceed more spontaneously, based on the
participant’s previous answers.
• What feelings do dogs bring out in you?
• When you think more deeply about this, what experiences would you say your feelings are rooted in?
11. Creating a research protocol
• On a piece of paper write down:
• Your research question:
• Characteristics of your respondents:
• Where will you do the interview:
• Interview questions (4-5 questions):
1. …
2. …
3. …
4. …
5. …
15 minutes
12. Discussion
• Share your interview questions with your peer.
• Is anything missing?
• Are the questions clearly phrased?
• Are the questions likely to elicit the desired information?
5 minutes
13. Research protocol creation
• Which information do you need from your participants in order to
answer your research question?
• What will your interview schedule look like?
• Which closed questions will you ask? Which answer options will you
provide?
• Which open questions will you ask? Which follow up questions will
you ask? Which probes might be required?
• Which order of questions makes most sense?
14. Testing the questions
• Choose another partner and practice asking your questions to
her/him
15 minutes
15. Interview questions
• Begin with easier question, then move to more difficult or abstract
ones.
• In the end, questions are summary, reflective nature
• Special sequence
• Questions that need to be asked in specific order
• Questions that need to be asked apart, because one answer may influence
the other answer
16. Selecting respondents
• Sample: A small set of cases a researcher selects from a large pool
and generalizes to the population
17. Qualitative sampling
• In qualitative research, the purpose of
research may not require having a
representative sample from a huge
number of cases.
• A nonprobability sample often better fits
the purposes of a study.
• You do not have to determine the sample
size in advance nor have knowledge about
the larger group or population from which
the sample is taken.
18. Next seminar
• Research ethics and informed consent
• TASK: finalise your research protocol (incl. interview questions). You
can bring your interview questions to class if you want me to
comment on it
• Geurge Ulrich (2017), Chapter 9: Research ethics for human rights researchers.
In Andreassen, B. A., Sano, H.-O., & McInerney-Lankford, S. Research Methods
in Human Rights. Cheltenham, pp. 192-221
• Mack, N. et al (2005). Qualitative research methods: A data collector’s field
guide. Pp. 8-12: Available here.
19. Things to keep in mind:
• You have to have a clear sense of what you want to ask, but you can
also be guided by how the interview develops
• Research questions are not interview questions
• Your research questions identify the things that you want to understand; your
interview questions generate the data that you need to understand these
things
• Don’t make your questions overly broad, be specific on what you are
looking for
• Make sure your questions are informed by implicit and explicit theory
