Processes of interviewing in the urban context.

1. Chapter 15 in
Viv Grigg based on:

2. OBJECTIVES
After this session you will be able to:
 Describe and choose between structured, semi-
structured, non-directive, focused and informal
interviews on the basis of the objectives of the
research.
 Select between using interviews and self-
completed questionnaires.
 Produce valid and reliable interview schedules.
 Conduct an interview skillfully, tactfully, safely and
ethically.

4. Interviews:
•Need for highly personalised data.
•Opportunities required for probing.
•A good return rate is important.
•Best if respondents are often not
fluent in the native language of the
country, or have writing difficulties.
Questionnaires:
•Large numbers of
respondents must be
reached.
•Better reliability of data
is desired.
INTERVIEWS OR
QUESTIONNAIRES?

5. Pros:
•In depth exploration.
•Clarification of
answers.
•Probes.
•Eliciting perspectives
and stories.
Cons:
•Time (arranging then
conducting interviews).
•Costs.
•Sample size needs to be
limited.
•Transcription of data (10
hours for one hour
interview).
PROS AND CONS OF
INTERVIEWS
DATA ANALYSIS??????????

6. Getting an interview may depend on…
Your status. Are you ‘internal’ to the organization or
completing a research project for an external
client? If an internal researcher, how senior are you
in the organization – and how senior compared to
the interviewee?
The project. Is the project of interest to the potential
respondent? Is there a potential pay-off?
Yourself. Do you seem trustworthy, personable and
professional?
They never show up on time.
They are always travelling.
I travelled for two hours, waited three hours, interviewed for an hour, then
travelled home for three hours. How can I do thirty interviews????

7. TYPES OF INTERVIEW (1)
Structured. Pre-prepared, standardised
questions recorded on schedule.
Semi-structured. A list of questions, but
the order may change and not all
may be used.
Non-directive. No pre-prepared
questions, but getting the respondent
to talk about the subject. Check for
accuracy and rephrase answers.
Volumeofdata

8. TYPES OF INTERVIEW (2)
Focused. Interviewer has some prior
knowledge of respondent’s issues and is
able to refocus the interview if respondent
strays.
Informal conversational. No pre-planning.
Questions generated spontaneously as
interview progresses.
Volumeofdata

9. INTERVIEWING SKILLS
• Preparation (pens, paper, seating arrangements,
tape recorder).
• Building rapport with respondent.
• Use of language.
• Active listening skills.
• Improvising.
• Testing and summarising understanding.
• Recording data.
• Data analysis.
• Closing the interview.

10. TAPE RECORDING INTERVIEWS
• Tape record if possible.
• But ask permission first.
• Ensure equipment works.
• Doing own transcription allows for researcher
to interact with the data.

11. WHEN INTERVIEWING DO:
Seek permission to ask questions.
Ask mixture of open and closed
questions.
Listen carefully.
Repeat responses.
Ask additional probing questions.
Be sensitive to misunderstandings
and/or embarrassment.
Abandon interview if it is not
working.

12. When interviewing DON’T:
• Ask leading questions.
• Agree or disagree with the response.
• Rush the questions.
• Continue if the respondent appears upset, angry
or withdrawn.

13. QUESTIONING SKILLS
Avoid questions that:
• Contain jargon.
• Use prejudicial language.
• Are ambiguous.
• Lead the respondent.
• Include double questions.
• Contain hypothetical statements.
• Probe personal or sensitive issues.
• Require memory recall or knowledge the respondent does not
possess.

14. INTERNAL VALIDITY
Validity is strengthened by:
• Using interview techniques that build rapport and trust, thus
giving informants the scope to express themselves.
• Prompting informants to illustrate and expand on their initial
responses.
• Ensuring that the interview process is sufficiently long for
subjects to be explored in depth.
• Constructing interviewing schedules that contain questions
drawn from the literature and from pilot work with
respondents.
(Arksey and Knight, 1999)

15. EXTERNAL VALIDITY
• Select a sample that allows for a subject to be
viewed from all relevant perspectives.
• Keep increasing the sample size, or sub-samples
that represent different perspectives, until no new
viewpoints are emerging from the data.
(Arksey and Knight, 1999)

16. DANGERS OF BIAS
• Departures from the interviewing instructions.
• Poor maintenance of rapport with the respondent.
• Altering factual questions.
• Rephrasing of attitude questions.
• Careless prompting.
• Biased probes.
• Asking questions out of sequence.
(Oppenheim, 1999)

17. INTERVIEW ETHICS: DEALING WITH
PROBLEM RESPONDENTS
Acting ethically means being
sensitive to respondents who may
be:
Nervous
Stressed
Embarrassed
Lacking in subject knowledge
Be prepared to terminate interview.

18. SUMMARY
1. Interviews range from the informal conversational to the
completely structured.
2. The choice of approach will depend on the objectives of the
research, with structured interviews eliciting more
quantitative data and unstructured or focused interviews,
qualitative.
3. The danger of bias in interviews stems not only from the type
of questions asked but the way in which they are articulated
by the interviewer.
4. Interviewing is a skill and includes the ability to build rapport
with respondents while maintaining detachment, and
observing and listening in order to keep control of the
interview.
5. Ethical issues are of paramount importance since
confidentiality may be more difficult to maintain than in other
forms of data gathering, such as postal questionnaires.
DATA ANALYSIS