Research Methodology Survey Research Interviews Dr Richard Haigh

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Research MethodologySurvey Research -
InterviewsDr Richard Haigh
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Overview

• Background concepts
• Issues to consider when designing and conducting
  interviews / surveys

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Methodological assumptions of the main paradigms
e.g., Experimental studies e.g., Surveys
e.g., Action research e.g., Case studies e.g.,
Ethnography
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Survey Research
Surveys
Questionnaire
Interview
Closed
Open
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• Interviews are not neutral forms of data
  gathering
• But
• Active interactions between two or more people
  leading to negotiated, contextually based results
• (Silverman, 1993)

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Unstructured
Structured
Closed
Open
Hypothesis Testing
Emergent Exploratory Descriptive
There is no single interview style that fits
every occasion or all respondents (Schuman,
1974, p. 53)
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Structured

• Same series of questions with a limited set of
  response categories
• Little room for variation
• Use standard explanations
• Never deviate in introduction, sequence, or
  wording
• Never suggest an answer, or agree / disagree
• Never interpret the meaning of a question
• Never improvise, such as add an answer category

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Structured Interviews

• Interviewer plays a neutral role
• Balanced rapport (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998)
• Casual and friendly
• But
• Decisive and impersonal

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Unstructured Interview

• Access the setting
• Understanding the language and culture of
  respondents
• Presenting oneself
• Representatives from academia
• Dress down / up
• Locating an informant (translator)
• Gaining trust may need to spend time as a
  wallflower
• Establishing rapport to get more informed
  research
• Adapted from Gubrium and Holstein (2002)

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When is an unstructured interview more
appropriate than a structured one?

• for pilot work
• for exploratory work
• for emergent research
• to cover sensitive topics
• to deal with diverse groups
• for development of a more structured interview
  procedure

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Group Interviews

• Group interaction on a topic determined by the
  researcher
• Structured or unstructured

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If the interviewer influences that which is
measured

• People tell you what they think you want to hear
• or they tell you the opposite of what they think
  you want to hear
• the important thing is they dont tell you the
  truth

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Taking notes

• Keep to a minimum unless its a phone interview
  or a scheduled interview with a form checklist
• adds to the impact of social influence

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Taping an interview

• Ask permission
• Adds to the impact of social influence

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Phone interviews

• Reduces the impact of social influence since they
  cant see you
• No body language cues
• Impersonal

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Other ways to be less intrusive?

• make any response seem O.K.
• dont hint at what you are looking for
• but always think about ethics, should you lie to
  people?

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Open-ended vs closed-ended questions

• open ended (anything goes) allow for unexpected
  revelations
• closed ended--interviewee must choose between
  fixed alternatives

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Provides an opportunity to discover
information but comparability and quantification
are problems. You have to content analyse to get
numbers to compare groups
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An extreme of the open-ended approach is the
projective test
What do you see? What is it doing? Why? How?
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closed ended
Easier to analyse, quantify, and compare because
answers fit a standardised format, but you may
put words in their mouths. Also you arent
likely to discover anything unexpected.
a. b. c.
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The alternatives in a closed-ended question must
be

• exhaustive (there must be a place for
  everything)
• mutually exclusive (only one answer possible)
• sufficiently divided
• e.g. check your social class
• lower, middle, upper (get 90 saying middle)
• lower, working, middle, upper (50 say middle)
• (Baker, 1994)

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COMPARABLE ?????
Interview 1
Interview 2
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It all relates to standardisation

• But sometimes you have to ask different questions
  of different groups of people to get them to
  understand you the same.

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Sequence

• determines part of the context for the current
  question
• it puts the interviewee into a frame of mind
• timing is crucial (knowing when to pop the
  question is part of sequencing)

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Funnel (general to specific)(beat around the
bush)

• can reduce amount of unneeded specificity
• helps interviewee remember details because train
  of thought can be more natural
• doesnt close off the train of thought

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Inverted Funnel (specific to general)(get right
to the point then beat around the bush)

• use when you want focus (e.g. focused interview)
• or to help interviewee form an opinion
• or to avoid the tendency to answer future
  questions in light of previous general answers
  (which are like self-stereotypes or trying to be
  consistent)

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Contingency questions

• the answer to one question determines whether or
  not you ask the next one or which of the next
  ones you ask

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Clarity

• avoid long questions
• avoid ambiguity and double meanings avoid
  negatives (e.g. Do you not favour....)
• avoid two part questions (Do you favour smaller
  classes in larger rooms?)

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Precision

• specify time and place precisely in terms of
  actual experience (not When you were young...
  rather When you were in grade school...)
• principles of specification and tacit assumption

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Principle of Specification (part of precision)

• specify the context precisely
• very important for memory
• like setting the stage
• dont assume you are both in the same church

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Principle of Tacit Assumption (part of precision)

• any communication involves unspoken
  understandings
• if I ask why you drink coffee, you may compare it
  to Coke, but if I ask why you drink Maxwell House
  you may compare it to Nescafe

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Bias

• avoid loading the deck by suggesting an answer
• e.g. Do you agree with Blairs proposal...
• e.g. Do you get audited occasionally/frequently?..
  .How often?
• e.g. How short/tall was the robber?
• e.g How fast was the car going when it
  smashed/bumped the barrier?

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Tact

• protect interviewees self esteem
• what is your educational background? not did
  you go to university?
• use face-saving phrases
• do you happen to know the name of ...?
• make it easy to express unpopular opinions
• some people feel X, some feel Y...how do you
  feel?

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Help interviewees to open up and clearly express
their ideas (Probes)

• Clarification Getting the person to clearly
  explain himself."Could you tell me more about
  the part about xxx
• Reflection Reflecting back something important
  the person just said in order to get them to
  expand on that idea."So you believe that xxx
• Encouragement Encouraging them to pursue a line
  of thought."The part about xxx is interesting.
  Could you say more about that?
• Comment Injecting your own idea or feeling to
  stimulate the person into saying more."I always
  thought that ..."
• Spur Saying something to tease, spur, or
  challenge the person (in a friendly way) to say
  more."But isn't it true that ...?
• Summary Try to summarize the person's ideas to
  see if you really understood what he or she was
  saying."So what youre saying is ..."

Adapted from Denzin and Lincoln ( 1998)
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Cautions in using probes

• Always keep probes neutral
• Record the probe along with responses
• Regarding silence - Gorden (1969) found that if
  the interviewee didnt break the silence in 2 to
  9 seconds, he/she probably wont break it, and 15
  seconds of silence disrupts the interview

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Some personal experience / advice

• Youre dealing with people!
• Do the interview away from a persons desk
• Confidentiality
• Who will get access to the information
• If their comments are to be used as quotes, get
  their written permission to do so
• Background information
• Who are you?
• What are you doing?
• What is the purpose of the interview?
• How long will it take?
• How is the information going to be used?

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Some personal experience / advice

• Bring some one along to take notes / tape record
• Set a realistic timetable
• Be organised
• Protocol for recording information
• Provide some information for the interviewee to
  take away
• Details of the department
• Contact details / business card
• background information on your research
• Website

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References

• Baker, T. (1994) Doing Social Research. McGraw
  Hill, Singapore.
• Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (1998) Collecting and
  interpreting qualitative materials. Sage
  Publications, London.
• Silverman, D. (2001) Interpreting qualitative
  data. Sage Publications, London.
• Gubrium, J. and Holstein, J. (2002) Handbook of
  interview research. Sage Publications, London.

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References

• Yin, R. (1994). Case study research Design and
  methods (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA Sage
  Publishing.
• Stake, R. (1995). The art of case research.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications.
• Miles, M., Huberman, M. (1984). Qualitative
  data analysis A source book for new methods.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications.
• Feagin, J., Orum, A., Sjoberg, G. (Eds.),
  (1991). A case for case study. Chapel Hill, NC
  University of North Carolina Press.