1. How to conduct in-depth interview(IDI)
Experience from Field
Kumar Gaurav
MLE Manager- MNCH
2. What is In-depth
Interview???
It is a qualitative research technique that
allows person to person discussion.
It can lead to increased insight into people's
thoughts, feelings, and behavior on
important issues.
This type of interview is often unstructured
and therefore permits the interviewer to
encourage an informant (respondent) to
talk at length about the topic of interest
3. Cont…
Its offer the opportunity to capture rich,
descriptive data about people‟s behaviors,
attitudes and perceptions, and unfolding
complex processes.
In-depth interview uses a flexible interview
approach.
It aims to ask questions to explain the
reasons underlying a problem or practice in
a target group
4. How to Be an Effective
Interviewer???
• Be familiar with research documents
• Practice interviewing (zero round or
mock sessions)
• Practice using the equipment
5. Key skills for in-depth interviewing
Rapport-building
Be friendly, smile, use a pleasant tone of voice, use
relaxed body language, incorporate humor, be
humble, do not scold, coerce, or cajole participants,
be patient
Emphasizing the participant’s perspective
Treating the participant as the expert
Keeping the participant from interviewing you
Balancing deference to the participant with control
over the interview
Being an engaged listener
Demonstrating a neutral attitude
Adapting to different personalities
and emotional states
Quickly adjust your style to suit each
individual participant
Know how to tone down heightened
emotions, such as when a participant
starts crying or becomes aggressive
7. Question types
1. Main questions
2. Prompt+Probes
Extensions of main question
Aimed to encourage respondents to
share more information and touch on
areas they did not initially address
May reflect statements or use vocabulary
of respondent
• Open ended,
• Neutral,
• Sensitive,
• Clear to respondent
8. Techniques for effective questioning
• Keep track of which questions have and have not been asked and answered
• Know how to phrase questions that encourage participants to provide
elaborate, detailed (rather than brief) responses;
• Ask questions that elicit the participant’s own views and experiences as
opposed to reflecting the convictions of the interviewer.
• Ask one question at a time, verifying unclear responses,
• Ask open-ended questions, avoiding leading questions, and using follow-
ups and probes
9. The "Do’s"
• Begin interview with a friendly and familiar greeting.
• Listen with attention to capture every piece of information from
respondents.
• Explore key words, phrases, terms as they occur in the discussion.
• Listen to impressions, topics avoided by informant, deliberate
distortions and misconceptions or misunderstandings.
• Take prompt action to explore each of these.
• Where appropriate, use "probes
• Ensure a natural flow of discussion by guiding informant from one
topic to the next.
• "Play dumb"(be silent) to give the respondent plenty of room to
talk.
• Be open to unexpected information
The “Don'ts
• Influence or bias responses by introducing one's
own perceptions or asking leading questions
which encourage a particular response.
• Move too quickly from one topic to the next
Interrupt the informant.
• Do not mislead about the subject matter in
order to obtain information
10. Note taking to report writing………….
• Try to take short notes
• Write down all important phrases/words/local words
• Note down all expression/emotion of respondents
• Observe the body language
• Expansion of short notes with 24 hours of completion of interview
• Transcribed the audio (if recorded) and complete coding preferably withing 24 hours.
• Analysis and Report writing