TYPES OF INTERVIEWS Fundamentals of Research CSS 506 00!

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Interview An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee. Although interviews are a standard part of journalism and media reporting, the focus of this piece is on how interviews can be used as a tool for psychological research. Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant's experiences. he interviewer can pursue in!depth information around a topic. Interviews may be useful as follow! up to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses. "sually open!ended questions are asked during interviews. Inter#$e%$n& $s a meet$n& of t%o 'ersons to e(chan&e $nformat$on and $deas throu&h )uest$ons and res'onses* result$n& $n commun$cat$on and +o$nt construct$on of mean$n& a,out a 'art$cular to'$c-

. Interviews range from$ %tructured %emi!structured "nstructured &directed' &non!directed'

Structured Inter#$e%
Description and/or Aim of interview: (ormally, structured interviews are done in a face!to!face format or via telephone using a standard set of questions to obtain data that can be aggregated because identical questions have been asked of each participant. Nature of questioning route: fixed, given order, very standardi)ed Type of question format/structure: *pen!ended +losed!ended with ordered response choices +losed!ended with unordered response choices ,artially closed!ended Role of probing: -ittle or none, perhaps only repeating or clarifying instructions Aims of Analysis: Aggregate data across participants and hopefully be able to project data from a sample to a target population. *pen!ended data, which usually consists of phrases, sentences and short paragraphs, is usually subjected to content analysis and notions of inter!rater reliability are employed.

 Structured $nter#$e%s are* essent$all.* #er,all. adm$n$stered )uest$onna$res* $n %h$ch l$sts of 'redeterm$ned )uest$ons are as/ed* %$th l$ttle or no #ar$at$on and %$th no sco'e for follo%0u' )uest$ons to res'onses that %arrant further ela,orat$on- Conse)uentl.* the. are relat$#el. )u$c/ and eas. to adm$n$ster and ma. ,e of 'art$cular use $f clar$1cat$on of certa$n )uest$ons are re)u$red or $f there are l$/el. to ,e l$terac. or numerac. 'ro,lems %$th the res'ondents- 2o%e#er* ,. the$r #er. nature* the. onl. allo% for l$m$ted 'art$c$'ant res'onses and are* therefore* of l$ttle use $f 3de'

th4 $s re)u$red-

Sem$0structured Inter#$e%
Description and/or aim of interview: 01ore or less open!ended questions are brought to the interview situation in the form of an interview guide2 &3lick, #445 p. 46'. 3rom the beginning the focus is on gaining an understanding based on textual information obtained. he level of depth of understanding that the researcher pursues is used to characteri)e this type of interview. Nature of questioning route: flexible, but usually a given set of questions is covered, varying levels of standardi)ation Type of question format/structure: *pen!ended, yet directed at obtaining particular information &content, topic, aspects of theory, etc.' In some cases, closed!ended style of questions are used Role of probing: 7et the participant to expand upon their answer, give more details, and add additional perspectives Aims of Analysis: he method starts with the assumption that flexibility is needed in order that participants8 are not restricted by standardi)ed questions and closed!ended structured answering formats. 9ualitative analysis can be focused on coding text to identify ranges of responses often categori)ed according to themes, named code categories. It also can focus on describing events, situations, people or providing information sought from asking a particular question. (ormally, the goal is not to aggregate data across respondents, but rather explore things like similarities and differences of ranges across voices. %tandard practices of content analysis maybe employed as well as more qualitative approaches to data analysis such as open and axial coding.

Sem$0structured $nter#$e%s cons$st of se#eral /e. )uest$ons that hel' to de1ne the areas to ,e e('lored* ,ut also allo%s the $nter#$e%er or $nter#$e%ee to d$#er&e $n order to 'ursue an $dea or res'onse $n more deta$l- Th$s $nter#$e% format $s used most fre)uentl. $n healthcare* as $t 'ro#$des 'art$c$'ants %$th some &u$dance on %hat to tal/ a,out* %h$ch man. 1nd hel'ful- The 5e($,$l$t. of th$s a''roach* 'art$cularl. com'ared to structured $nter#$e%s* also allo%s for the d$sco#er. or ela,orat$on of $nformat$on that $s $m'ortant to 'art$c$'ants ,ut ma. not ha#e 're#$ousl. ,een thou&ht of as 'ert$nent ,. the research team-

 Coded Sem$0structured Inter#$e% 6CSSI7 Description and/or aim of interview: 0:xpert coders make judgments about particular psychological constructs and a flexible semistructured interview method is used to generate information from which to make these judgments2 &;eis < =udd &eds.' p..5>' (ormally, these approaches begin with a theory as opposed to the idea of theory generation. It is over all much more quantitative in its orientation. Nature of questioning route: flexible, but usually a given set of questions is covered, varying levels of standardi)ation are employed to obtain textual information about a particular construct. *nly questions that aid the researcher in understanding the construct of interest are asked. Type of question format/structure: *pen!ended, yet directed at obtaining particular information &content, topic, aspects of theory, etc.' In some cases, closed!ended style of questions are used Role of probing: 7et the participant to expand upon their answer, give more details, and add additional perspectives to construct of interest Aims of Analysis: :xpert raters using a codebook code the textual material obtained from interviewees. In fact, the development and implementation of a reliable coding system is a dominant element of this approach. raining interviewers and coders is a big part of this approaches effort to enhance validity and reliability.

 8nstructured Inter#$e%
Description and/or Aim of interview: (ormally, unstructured interviews are done in a face!to!face format and some would say you are trying to get participants to share stories. he researcher starts from a position of wanting to be sensitive to how participants construct their views and perspectives of things. herefore, a goal is to allow the participant8s structure to dominate. Nature of questioning route: ask questions to get people to talk about constructs@variables of interest to the researcher. Type of question format/structure: *pen!ended A descriptive ;eactions to a given situation presented by the researcher Role of probing: %imply to get the participant of talk about a topic area, normally probing questions are not directed, but rather asked to encourage the participant to keep talking or to get back to the subject of interest. Aims of Analysis: ;ich, in!depth textual data is what is available for analysis which usually consists of some approach to coding such as the open, axial and selective coding as described by %trauss and +orbin &#44B'. Also, it is common to see discourse analysis techniques employed to analy)e this type of rich textual data. 8nstructured $nter#$e%s do not re5ect an. 'reconce$#ed theor$es or $deas and are 'erformed %$th l$ttle or no or&an$9at$on- Such an $nter#$e% ma. s$m'l. start %$th an o'en$n& )uest$on such as 3Can .ou tell me a,out .our e('er$ence of #$s$t$n& the dent$st:4 and %$ll then 'ro&ress ,ased* 'r$mar$l.* u'on the $n$t$al res'onse8nstructured $nter#$e%s are usuall. #er. t$me0consum$n& 6often last$n& se#eral hours7 and can ,e d$f1cult to mana&e* and to 'art$c$'ate $n* as the lac/ of 'redeterm$ned $nter#$e% )uest$ons 'ro#$des l$ttle &u$dance on %hat to tal/ a,out 6%h$ch man. 'art$c$'ants 1nd confus$n& and unhel'ful7- The$r uses* therefore* &enerall. onl. cons$dered %here s$&n$1cant 3de'th4 $s re)u$red* or %here #$rtuall. noth$n& $s /no%n a,out the su,+ect area 6or a d$fferent 'ers'ect$#e of a /no%n su,+ect area $s re)u$red7-

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;7$n0de'th $nter#$e% his is a semi!structured interview. he candidate has to give detailed information about his background, special interest, etc. Ce also has to give detailed information about his subject. Depth interview tries to find out if the candidate is an expert in his subject or not. Cere, the interviewer must have a good understanding of human behavior. 7focus &rou' $nter#$e% Cere, all the candidates or small groups of candidates are interviewed together. he time of the interviewer is saved. A group interview is similar to a group discussion. A topic is given to the E

group, and they are asked to discuss it. he interviewer carefully watches the candidates. Ce tries to find out which candidate influences others, who clarifies issues, who summarises the discussion, who speaks effectively, etc. Ce tries to judge the behaviour of each candidate in a group situation. !7narrat$#es <7oral h$stor$es