Unstructured Structured Semi-structured

1. Interviews Method
Muhammad Saleem
Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad

2. Interviews

3. Interview
Data collection tool

4. The Interview
Interviewer Interviewee
Interview

5. Interviews
 Unstructured
 Structured
 Semi-structured

6. Interviews
 Unstructured Interviews
 Researcher has a small set of self-prompts to help
investigate the research question, but questions are
not fixed. One question can lead to a number of
follow-up questions depending on the response.
They tend to be more like conversations than
interviews.
 Useful when exploring a new area.

7. Interviews
 Structured Interviews
 The questions are fixed and predetermined as is the
sequence of questions. No new questions can be
added during interview.

8. Interviews
 Semi-Structured Interviews
 Some interview questions are fully decided,
whereas others might not be fixed. The researcher
has leeway in asking follow-up questions.
 This is the ideal compromise, it gives a structure
to the interview, but also gives flexibility.

9. Interview Questions
 Introductory
Questions
 Warm up questions
 Followup Questions
 Listen for “Red Lights”
 Probing Questions
 Unlimited scope
question
 Specifying
Questions
 Exact information
 Direct Questions
 Introducing a new topic
 Indirect Questions
 Projective questions
 Structuring
Questions
 Transitioning to new
topics
 Interpreting
Question
 Clarifying questions
 Silences

10. Kvale’s Seven Stages
1 • Themazing
2 • Designing
3 • Interviewing
4 • Transcribing
5 • Analyzing
6 • Verifying
7 • Reporting

11. 1. Themazing
 What is the theme of the interview?

12. 2. Designing
 How will the intended knowledge be obtained?
 Design your Interview Questions

13. 3. Interviewing
 Conduct the interviews carefully
 Establish a rapport
 Treat interviewees with respect
 Think about your appearance
 Think about body language
 Maintain firm eye contact
 Don’t Invade their space

14. …Interviewing
 How are you going to record?
 Tape recorder
 Pen and paper – must be verbatim
 Video recorder
 But whichever you use, you must do a
verbatim recording of the interview, both
questions and answers.

15. 4. Transcribing
 Converting interview into written text
 Must include everything said. Can be in appendix of
thesis or on a CD.

16. 5. Analyzing
 Based on the appropriate type of
investigation

17. Simple Analysis

18. Analysing Text
Faced with the lack of organisation of
data and the sheer amount of rambling
can be somewhat overwhelming
With the best will in the world about
trying to avoid bias, when there is
multiple interpretations of data, selecting
the one that best matches your research
question becomes very tempting.

19. Simple Tabulation
Interviewe
e
Money Fame Power Social Fulfilme
nt
Other
Person 1 15 6 4 0 1 38
Person 2 5 3 6 5 4 27
Person 3 1 0 3 12 21 46
.....
…..
.....
…..
.....
…..
.....
…..
.....
…..
.....
…..
.....
…..

20. Choosing categories
 Use ones from the literature
 They will have validated the categories, and you
will have something to compare with.
 Use categories connected with your
research question
 Derive categories from data

21. How to analyse?
 Colour Coding

22. Advanced Analysis

23. Meaning Analysis
 Meaning Coding
 Adding tags or keywords to text segments that
represent the main themes of the interviews
 Meaning Condensation
 Summarising larger sentences into short, simple
sentences.
 Meaning Interpretation
 Adding more details, background and context to
specific parts of the interview

24. Language Analysis
 Linguistic Analysis
 Looking at the linguistics and grammar
 Conversation Analysis
 Treating the interview as a conversation
 Narrative Analysis
 Treating the interview as a story
 Discourse Analysis
 Try to evaluate the truth of the responses
 Deconstruction
 Taking the interview apart and putting together
again

25. Eclectic Analysis
 Bricolage
 Using a collection of techniques as a collage
 Theoretical Reading
 Creating your own reading on the text

26. 6. Verifying
 Checking that validity, reliability, and generalizibility of the findings

27. …Verifying
 Validity
 Can you check the truth of the statements? e.g.
number of employees in organisation, number of
customers
 Reliability
 Are there any internal contradictions? Did you
include the same question twice expressed in
different ways to check the truthfulness of the
responses?
 Generalizibility
 How do the answers agree with broader research
and other interview answers?

28. 7. Reporting
 Communicate findings in a scientific and ethical
manner.
 In the dissertation document

29. Are there situations where I
shouldn’t use interviews?
 Yes, loads of situations, e.g. electoral voting
behaviour, or capturing a person’s attitudes
and interactions with their environments.

30. Are there software packages that
can help me ?
 Loads
 ATLAS.ti
 nVIVO
 MaxQDA
 NUD*IST
 HyperRESEARCH
 But, do not underestimate the power
of Excel, it’s a brilliant tool when used
well

31. Further Tips
 Decide on an order of questions that easily
flows one to the next
 Try to use language that is easy to
understand and relevant to the interviewee
 Avoid Leading questions
 Try to stop the interviewee using qualifiers
 Add a few control questions into the
interview for validation
 Avoid small talk during the interview
 LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN

32. Advantages
1. Opportunity for Feedback – Interviewer can provide direct
feedback to the respondent, give clarifications and help
alleviate any misconceptions or apprehensions over
confidentiality that the respondent may have in answering the
interviewer’s questions
2. Probing Complex Answers – Interviewers can probe if the
respondent’s answer is too brief or unclear. This gives
interviewers some flexibility in dealing with unstructured
questions and is especially suited for handling complex
questions
3. Length of Interview – If the questionnaire is very
lengthy, the personal interview is the best technique for
getting respondents to cooperate, without overtaxing
their patience

33. Cont..
4. Complete Questionnaires – Personal ensures ensure
that the respondent will answer all questions
asked, unlike in telephone interview where the
respondent may hang up or in mail questionnaire
where some questions may go unanswered
5. Props & Visual Aids – Interviewers have the
opportunity of showing respondents items such as
sample products, graphs ands sketches, which can
aid in their answers
6. High Participation – Interviewing respondents
personally can increase the likelihood of their
participation, as many people prefer to
communicate directly verbally and sharing
information and insights with interviewers

34. Disadvantages
1. Cost – Personal interviews are usually more expensive than
mail, telephone and internet surveys. Factors influencing the
cost of the interview include the respondents’ geographic
proximity, the length and complexity of the questionnaire,
and the number of non-respondents
2. Lack of Anonymity – Respondents are not anonymous in a
personal (face-to-face) interview and may be reluctant to
disclose certain information to the interviewer. Hence,
considerable must be expended by the interviewer when
dealing with sensitive questions to avoid bias effects on the
respondent’s part
3. Necessity for Callbacks – When a person selected for
interview cannot be reached the first time, a callback has to
be scheduled which result in extra cost and time spent

35. Cont..
4.Variance Effects – It has been shown that the
demographic characteristics of the interviewer can
influence the answers of the respondents. In one
study, male interviewers had a much larger variance
of answers than female interviewers in a sample of
most female individuals
5. Dishonesty – Interviewers cheat to make their life
easier and save time and effort
6. Personal Style – The interviewers individual
questioning style, techniques, approach and
demeanor may influence the respondents’ answers
7. Global Considerations – Cultural aspects may
influence peoples’ willingness to participate in an
interview (e.g. repressive Middle Eastern cultures
discourage females from being questioned by male
interviewers)

36. Conclusion
So we can use the interview technique
as one of the data collection methods
for the research.
It makes the researcher to feel that the
data what he collected is true and
honest and original by nature because
of the face to face interaction.

37. Resources
 Anything and everything by Steinar Kvale
 “Interpreting Qualitative Data” by David Silverman
 “Research Design” by John Creswell

38. Bibliography
 Kothari, C.R. (2009). Research methodology. New Delhi: New Age
International.
 Krishhnaswami, O.R., & Ranganatham, M. (2009). Methodology of
research in social sciences. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.
 Panneerselvam, R. (2008). Research methodology. New Delhi:
Prentice Hall of India.
 Ramachandra.. Chandrashekara., & Shivakumar. (2006). Business
Research Methods. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.
 Gupta, Shashi., & Rangi, Praneet. (2010). Business Research Methods.
New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers.
 http://www.public.asu.edu/~kroel/www500/Interview%20Fri.pdf