Interviewing and Questioning

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Interviewing and Questioning

• Hugh Willmott
• Research Professor in Organizational Analysis
• Cardiff Business School
• Home Page http//dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/clos
  e/hr22/hcwhome

If there is one thing that distinguishes the
social sciences from natural science, it is that
while both rely on questions to guide inquiry,
only social scientists ask questions in order to
produce data. We may want to know about atoms and
molecules but asking them how and why they behave
as they do is not an option (Thomas, 2004 151,
emphasis added)
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Outline of Session

• Questioning
• Interviewing
• Acquiring Data

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Questioning
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The Importance of Questioning

• Questioning is central to the research process
• Questioning of self
• Questioning of texts
• Questioning of authorities
• Questioning of research subjects or informants
  (and of course question-naires!)
• Questioning of data reliability, validity,
  interpretations, etc.

Can you think of any other kinds of questioning?
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What are Questions? (1)

• What is the ontology of a question posed in a
  questionnaire or by an interviewer?
• Possible answers
• 1. Question as a consistent stimulus
• Differences of response are wholly attributable
  to respondents or conditions in which they are
  asked
• Great care over wording of questions, their
  ordering and their presentation. Aspiration to
  standardize questions and interviewer behaviour
  (Thomas, 2004 151)

cont
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What are Questions? (2)

• 2. Question as a meaningful utterance
• Differences of response are attributable to the
  meaning ascribed to the question by the
  respondent
• What matters is not the that same words are
  used, or that questions are presented in the same
  order, but that the questioner and questioned
  share the same frame of reference and understand
  the meanings of their communication in the same
  ways (Thomas, 2004 151)

Exercise How likely is it that the questioner
and questioned share the same frame of reference
and understand the meanings of their
communication in the same ways? What are the
likely barriers? How might these barriers be
lowered? How does one know when a shared
understanding has (genuinely) been reached?
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Some Limitations of Question(naires)

• Respondents interpret the questions using their
  own frame of reference or agendas (presentation
  of self)
• Respondents answer questions regardless of how
  well informed they are
• Small changes in wording can produce big changes
  in the distribution of responses
• Answers to earlier questions can affect answers
  to later questions changes in the order of
  questions can affect responses
• Relationship between (i) what respondents say
  they do and (ii) what observers record of their
  behaviour is not necessarily strong
• Attitudes, beliefs, opinions, etc. may be much
  coloured by recent experiences and are not
  necessarily stable
• Adapted from Thomas, 2004, p 151

These kinds of limitations, which are compounded
by the use of closed-ended questionnaires - where
respondents are required to use the researchers
categories and scales of evaluation rather than
their own lead researchers to favour other
(e.g. interviews) ways of asking or exploring
questions.
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Interviewing
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Relevance and Contribution of Interviewing

• Interviewing, especially more open-ended
  methods, is valuable for
• Gaining insights into peoples understandings of
  events, issues and changes their social world
  and their frame of reference, including their
  priorities and preconceptions
• Studying the use of language to make
  (constitute?) sense of, and convey sense to
  others about, their experiences and their
  interpretations of events, etc.
• Accumulating background information that can be
  of considerable assistance in interpreting
  interviewees responses and developing further
  probes

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Types of Interview Questions

• Structured (oral questionnaires)
• Standardised, closed ended format
• Very similar to questionnaires but with personal
  touch
• Most relevant for surveys
• Semi-structured (more conversational)
• List of topics and sub-topics but flexibility of
  wording for different respondents. More natural
  than the structured approach
• Most use where a study has some comparatively
  standardised elements (e.g. asking all
  respondents questions about the same topic
  such as how they assess a recent change
  initiative)
• Open-ended (conversational)
• Assumes that the social world is highly complex
  and that this can be grasped on through methods
  that dig deeper than is possible using
  questionnaires or even more structured
  interviews.
• More informal and conversational
• Focus and scope depends upon the specifics of the
  interviewee and what s/he, not just the
  researcher, deems relevant or wants to explore
• More open to the possibility of an on-going
  relationship

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Example of Planning and Preparation of
Qualitative Interviews (1)
Adapted from J. Mason (2002), Qualitative
Researching, London Sage, pp 69-70

• Step-by-step
• 1. Identification of big research question(s),
  such as
• a. How do families handle issues of
  inheritance?
• 2. Specification of mini-research questions that
  are subcategories of the big question(s), such
  as
• a. Are negotiations about inheritance treated as
  part of a wider set of negotiations about support
  in families or are they treated separately?
• b. Do people in any way take into account the
  possibility of inheritance when formulating their
  own life plans?
• 3. Articulation of specific topics and questions
  that could address 2), such as
• a. What happened in practice in relation to
  specific events?
• b. Do people have life plans? Have people
  thought about inheritance in relation to such
  plans?

cont
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Example of Planning and Preparation of
Qualitative Interviews (2)
Adapted from J. Mason (2002), Qualitative
Researching, London Sage, pp 69-70

• 4. Check that the topics and questions really do
  address the big question(s)
• 5. Develop a loose and flexible structure for
  the interviews that covers the topics in a
  logical manner.
• 6. Refine the structure through doing some
  pilot interviews.

Mason prepared (i) an index card containing a
flow chart of a possible interview structure (see
2002, p. 71) and a series of index cards
containing notes/issues on specific topics. For
example, one topic card was titled Experience.
It included the following key terms or memory
joggers personal/others as testator,
beneficiary, executor patterns characteristic of
own family how many generations experience of
legal procedures and services expected and
unexpected experience of will making when and
why. (Mason, 200271)
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Semi-Structured and Open Ended Interviews Some
Tips (1)

• Familiarise yourself with the context (e.g. if it
  is an organization, do some basic background
  research)
• Avoid the use of jargon. Ask questions employing
  everyday language
• At an early stage, and perhaps before the
  interview itself, assure the interviewee of
  confidentiality (it will go no further) and
  anonymity (it will not be possible to identify
  the respondent). Offer a brief account of what
  your research is about, why it is being conducted
  and how long the interview will take. Be prepared
  to answer other questions that the interviewee
  may have (e.g. what will be done with the
  results?)
• Begin perhaps with a straightforward biographical
  question that is relevant to your enquiry and
  will help to establish rapport and relax your
  interviewee (e.g. how long have you been in this
  job?). Leave more challenging questions for later
  in the interview. Your purpose is to establish a
  degree of trust and sense of competence as a
  basis for being taken seriously.

cont
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Semi-Structured and Open Ended Interviews Some
Tips (2)

• Show that you are interested in what your
  interviewee has to say in order to put him/her at
  their ease and encourage them to provide fuller
  responses to your questions
• Avoid leading questions that invite the
  interviewee to respond in a particular way
• Dont interrupt. Draw the interviewee back to the
  question if s/he begins to ramble in an unhelpful
  way (sometimes rambling can be illuminating)
  (e.g. I wonder if I could bring us back, for a
  moment, to the issue of)
• Dont be afraid to ask for clarification or to
  check your understanding. But avoid making any
  comment or giving your opinions unless asked or
  you believe it will be helpful in opening up
  the interview
• Keep an eye on the clock. Maintain pace so that
  you cover the key questions or issues.

cont
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Semi-Structured and Open Ended Interviews Some
Tips (3)

• If an interviewer is stone walling and it is
  impossible to gain any useful data, bring the
  interview to a close in a diplomatic way rather
  than waste any more of your time. Dont assume
  that it is your failure but review how you
  handled the interview and see what you can learn
  from it. Could you have done something to
  increase the chance of a more meaningful or
  productive exchange?
• Finish either with a question that clearly
  signals that you are drawing to a close (e.g.
  Finally, can I just check with you that
  perhaps returning to a point that was unclear or
  which you did not follow up on earlier) or ask a
  question that leaves open the possibility of
  contacting the interviewee in the future (e.g.
  Thank you for your help with my work. Would it
  be possible for me to contact you if I need to
  clarify my understanding of some particular
  point?)
• Make notes immediately after the interview to
  record your impressions of its progress/success
  how the interviewee responded to questions
  issues that might usefully be probed with
  subsequent interviewees, etc, etc.
• If you have taped the interview, ensure that you
  listen to the tape or at least read through your
  notes (see also later slide) as soon as possible
  after the interview. These will give you
  important feedback on your interview technique
  and spur you to refine your approach

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Interviewee Selection
Acknowledgement Adapted from Sarah Jenkins notes

• Be attentive to, and explicit about, how
  interviewees are selected or sampled.
• There are numerous possibilities
• Convenience those who are most approachable,
  accessible, cooperative, etc
• Snowball you are referred, or ask to be
  referred to others
• Theoretical you target those whom you believe
  will best enable you to test/challenge your
  theory or help you to build your theory
• Probability you stratify your sample for
  example, you arrange interviews with a
  predetermined number of people from different
  categories (e.g. by job title or rank)
• Purposeful similar to theoretical but it may be
  driven more by a concern to cover a wide (or
  narrow) spectrum of people rather than to
  interrogate or develop a theory

Whatever the basis of interviewee selection, the
number of interviews will be limited by the
resources available and/or by an assessment of
when there are diminishing returns (or
saturation). That occurs when you find that
little new is emerging from interviews that is,
you appear to have reached saturation.
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Acquiring Data
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Challenges of Interviewing

• Multitasking listening, interpreting,
  assessing, reflecting, anticipating, note-taking,
  etc.
• At any one time you may be
• listening to what the interviewee is currently
  saying and trying to interpret what they mean
• trying to work out what they are saying has any
  bearing on what your really want to know
• trying to think in new and creative ways about
  what you really want to know
• trying to pick up any changes in your
  interviewees demeanour and interpret
  thesereflecting on something that they said 20
  minutes ago
• formulating an appropriate response to what they
  are currently saying formulating the next
  question which might involve shifting the
  interview onto new terrain
• keeping an eye on your watch and making decisions
  about depth and breadth given your time
  limitsmaking notesdealing with distractionsand
  so on
• (Mason, 2002 74)

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Note-taking or Recording? Some Pros and Cons
Acknowledgement Adapted from Sarah Jenkins notes

• Note-taking
• Pros
• Unobtrusive, flexible, forces discipline,
  manageable
• Cons
• Selective collection, distraction during
  interview, not verbatim

• Tape Recording
• Pros
• Complete record, reassuring to interviewee,
  concentrate on interviewing rather than
  note-taking
• Cons
• Obtrusive, time-consuming to transcribe,
  reliance upon technology, data overload

Tip Even if you decide to use a recorder, take
brief notes so that you have a readily accessible
summary of key points and a basis for determining
which parts of the tape to listen to or to have
transcribed, assuming that you have limited time
and resources for undertaking transcriptions,
much of which will probably never be used.
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Final Thought What Makes Interviewing Appealing?

You may choose semi-structured or open-ended
interviewing because you conceptualize yourself
as active and reflective in the process of data
generation, and seek to examine this rather than
aspiring to be a neutral data collector. While
most qualitative researchers have this kind of
aspiration, it is important not to underestimate
the reflexive challenge posed by analysing your
own role within the research process (Mason,
2002, p. 66, emphasis added) have a particular
view of research ethics and politics which means
that you believe interviewees should be given
more freedom in, and control of, the interview
situation than is permitted with structured
approaches (Mason, 2002, p. 66)
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Additional Recommended Reading

• S. Kvale (1996), InterViews An Introduction to
  Qualitative Interviewing, London Sage
• J. Spradley (1979), The Ethnographic Interview,
  New York Holt, Rinehart and Winston
• R. Legard, J. Keegan and K. Ward (2003), In-depth
  Interviews in J. Ritchie and J. Lewis, eds.,
  Qualitative Research Practice, London Sage
• H. Arksey and P. Knight (1999), Interviewing for
  Social Scientists, London Sage
• Holstein, J. and Gubrium, J. (1995), The Active
  Interview, London Sage