CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS

Why the Interview

1. verify information gathered from written sources by having such data confirmed or
denied by direct sources;

2. clarify points of information on which written sources are evasive, ambiguous or

confusing;

3. update information by asking your direct source for the recent developments which
may not yet have been recorded on point.

Whom to Interview

1. Knowledgeable ; Does he have the information you need ? is his knowledge that of an
authority?

2. Reliable : an interviewee may have the information you need but he may not
necessarily give it to you.

3. Available : No matter how knowledgeable or reliable a resource person may be, he is

of no use whatsoever to you unless he is available for the interview.

How to Interview

1. Determine the people to interview.

2. Establish objectives for the interview.
3. Develop interview questions
a. open-ended questions – encourage spontaneous and unstructured
responses.
b. closed-ended questions – limit or restrict the response.
c. range of response questions – are closed ended questions that ask the
person to evaluate something by providing limited answers to specific
responses or on a numeric scale.

4. Prepare for the interview

5. Conduct the interview
6. Document the interview
7. Evaluate the interview

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

Reliability – refers to the consistency of scores obtained by the same persons when they
are reexamined with the same test on different occasions, or with different sets of
equivalent items, or under other variable examining conditions.

TYPES OF RELIABILITY

Test-Retest Reliability – This is where the same test is given to the same people after a
period of time. The reliability coefficient in this case is simply the correlation between
the scores obtained by the same persons on the two administrations of the test.

Alternate-Form Method – This is used in education to estimate the reliability of all

types of test.

Split-Half Method – This method can be conducted on one occasion. Specifically, the
total set of items is divided into halves and the scores on the halves are are correlated to
obtain an estimate reliability..

Validity – refers to that quality of research instrument or procedure that enables it to

measure what it is supposed to measure and to produce data that are true and accurate.

TYPES OF VALIDITY

Content Validity – involves the systematic examination of the test content to determine
whether it covers a representative sample of the behavior obtain to be measure.

Concurrent Validity – is the degree to which the test agrees or correlates with a
criterion set up a an acceptable measure.

Predictive Validity – is determined showing how well predictions made from the test
are confirmed by evidence gathered at some subsequent time.

Construct Validity – is the extent to which the test measures a theoretical construct or
trait. This involves such tests as those of understanding, appreciation and interpretation of
data.