Interviewing in Research

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Interviewing in Research
Ross McGarry PhD Research Student AJB
209 S.R.Mcgarry_at_liverpool.ac.uk
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Overview
My Research Why interview? Prior
Considerations Interviews in context Positivism
Quantitative Interviews Positives
Negatives Interpretivism Qualitative
Interviews Positives Negatives My Method -
BNIM The bits books dont always
mention Questions
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My Research
Victims of Crime or Conflict? A Study of British
Veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Qualitative Phenomenological Research Developed
from a Criminological Victimological
framework - Critical Criminology - Radical
Victimology Influenced by my service in the
British Armed Forces before University Aim To
gain the opinions experiences of British
Veterans who have served in the British military,
participated in the conflicts in Afghanistan
Iraq since 2001 and returned to civilian
life. Purpose To see if some experiences of
British Veterans from Afghanistan Iraq can be
understood in terms of Victimization to help
identify areas where the MoD are failing British
troops e.g kit, pay, difficulties following their
service, injuries and coping with their injuries
on the NHS.
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Why interview?
The special quality of the interview is that it
is designed for a specific purpose. It is the
particular group of respondents...the particular
individual, that is of paramount importance in
determining both the content and style of the
interview (Keats, 2000, p. 4).
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Prior considerations
Before interviewing takes place much research,
organization and planning are needed (Davies,
2004. cited in Jupp, Davies Francis, 2004, p.
84). Forward planning process What is your
research question? What is your research aiming
to achieve? Do you want amounts, opinions or
both? Who do you want to interview random or
representative? What is your REALISTIC time
frame? Will you need a Pilot Study?
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Interviews in context Positivism Quantitative
Research
Positivism defined Positivists Comte, Popper
Durkheim Positivist Methodology Objectivism
Empiricism Science? Quantitative Research
defined Types of Quantitative Interview Face-to
-Face Telephone Computer based Structured
Interview Schedule (Closed ended
questions) Survey Questionnaire
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Positives Negatives of Quantitative Interviews

• Positives
• Surveys are cheap to administer and conduct
• Respondents may divulge more personal details in
  a questionnaire
• Structured interview schedules can have probing
  questions
• Can ensure the exact sample are responding to
  questionnaires
• Data analysis more structured and less time
  consuming
• Negatives
• Low response rates from surveys
• Participants cant give their detailed opinion in
  a structured interview
• No guidance in-case of misinterpretation during
  a questionnaire
• Participants may not be honest
• Understanding of ranking responses (Likert
  Scale) will vary
• Too standardized questions of lacking validity

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Interviews in context Interpretivism
Qualitative Research
Interpretivism defined Interpretivists Vico,
Weber, Schutz Giddens My Methodology
Constructivism Interpretivism
Phenomenology Qualitative Research
defined Types of Qualitative Interview Face-to-
Face Telephone Focus Group Semi-structured
(Narrative Probing questions) Unstructured
(Open ended questions)
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Positives Negatives of Qualitative Interviews

• Positives
• Can elicit authentic accounts of subjective
  experience (Miller Glassner, 2004, cited in
  Silverman, 2004, p. 125)
• High response rate
• Flexible to allow exploration into participants
  responses
• Confirm Clarify points made in the interview
• Negatives
• Radical Social Constructionists suggest that
  reality out there cannot be gained by
  interaction between the interviewer and
  interviewee as both create constructions of the
  world they are exploring (Miller Glassner,
  2004)
• Not standardized questions of reliability
• Difficult to compare findings
• Time consuming

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My Method BNIM Biographical-Narrative Interview
Method (Wengraf, 2001)
Developed from the work of Shutze (1992) 3
subsessions over 2 interviews Interview 1 1st
subsession asks 1 open-ended question (SQUIN) 20
min recess 2nd subsession (after a break) probes
the topics raised in 1st subsession Interview
2 3rd subsession uses semi-structured open-ended
narrative questions (IQs) This approach was
vitally important to not impose a potential
victim status onto ex-members of the British
armed forces!
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The bits books don't always mention
Verbal non verbal messages a discussion over
meatballs Presentation of self Ross Kemp
Louis Theroux Power Struggles Us Them Be
respectful Don't forget they are giving their
time experiences for free to help YOU with YOUR
qualification Transcription it take ages!
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Questions?
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References
Brewer, J. (2003). Positivism. In R. L. Miller.
J. D. Brewer. (Ed.). (2003). A-Z of Social
Research. (pp. 235 - 237). London
SAGE. Bryman, A. (2005). Quality and quantity in
social research. Oxon Routledge. Crotty, M.
(1998). The Foundations of Social Research
Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process.
London SAGE. Daly, M. (2003). Methodology the
quantitative and qualitative approaches. In R.
L. Miller. J. D. Brewer. (Ed.). (2003). A-Z of
Social Research. (pp. 192 - 194). London
SAGE. Davies, P. (2004). Doing interviews with
female offenders. In V. Jupp., P. Davies. P.
Francis. (Ed.). (2004). Doing Criminological
Research. (pp. 82-96). London SAGE. Denscombe,
M. (2003). The Good Research Guide for small
research projects. (2nd ed.). Maidenhead Open
University press. Gray, D. E. (2004). Doing
research in the real world. London
SAGE. Hughes, J. (1990). The philosophy of social
research. London Longman Group. Keats, D. M.
(2000). Interviewing a practical guide for
students and professionals. Buckingham Open
University Press. Leonard, M. (2003).
Interviews. In R. L. Miller. J. D. Brewer.
(Ed.). (2003). A-Z of Social Research. (pp.
166-171). London SAGE. Marshall, G. (Ed.).
(1998). Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. (2nd
ed.). Oxford Oxford University Press. Miller, J.
Glassner, B. (2004). The inside and the
outside finding realities in interviews. In
D. Silverman. (2004). (Ed.). Qualitative
Research theory, method and practice. (2nd Ed.).
(pp. 125-139). London SAGE. Schutze, F. (1992).
Pressure and guilt war experiences of a young
German soldier and their biographical
implications (part 1). International Sociology,
7, 2, (pp. 187 208). Wengraf, T. (2001).
Qualitative research interviewing. London SAGE.