Interviews and focus groups

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Interviews and focus groups

• Lesley Jolly
• ljolly_at_bigpond.net.au

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Semistructured interviews

• attempts to understand the world from the
  subjects' point of view, to unfold the meaning of
  peoples' experiences, to uncover their lived
  world prior to scientific explanations." (Kvale,
  1996).
• NOT for finding out about population parameters

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When to use interviews

• to generate ideas
• to develop a greater understanding of an issue or
  topic
• to refine a research question
• to evaluate the impact of a particular program,
  policy or issue
• to gain key stakeholder support

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Circumstances calling for interviews

• High status people are involved as respondents
• People with extensive knowledge or expertise are
  involved
• The population to be interviewed is small and
  homogeneous
• You need in-depth information
• The topic is sensitive, or the operating
  environment is sensitive and discretion is
  important

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How to use interviews

• Mix with other methods
• Eg early in research to design surveys or late in
  research to explore issues raised by surveys
• Use interview guide
• List of topic areas to be covered
• Ask good questions
• Concrete, concise, probing

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How to probe

• Getting more information without injecting
  yourself too much
• Silent probe wait for answer/expansion
• Echo probe repeat whats said and ask for more
• Back channel uh-huh
• Tell-me-more why do you feel that?
• Long question you elaborate
• Phased assertion reveal what you know

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Focus groups

• Not just a group interview members chosen as
  representative of sub-group in factorial design
• Should be done in series balanced with other data
  gathering techniques
• Members should be homogenous on independent
  variables and not know each other.
• See The Focus Group Kit by D. Morgan et al

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Analysing data

• Coding (Berkowitz, 1997)
• What patterns and common themes emerge?
• Are there any deviations from these patterns? If
  so, how can these be explained?
• What interesting stories emerge from the
  responses?
• Do any of these patterns suggest that additional
  data may be needed?
• Do the patterns that emerge corroborate the
  findings of any corresponding qualitative
  analyses that have been conducted?
• If not, what might explain these discrepancies?

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Some references

• Kvale, S. (1996). Inter Views An Introduction to
  Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand
  Oaks, CA Sage.
• Rubin, H.J. Rubin, I.S. (2004). Qualitative
  Interviewing The Art of Hearing Data (2nd ed.).
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
• Denzin, N.K., Y. S. Lincoln (ed). 1998. The
  Landscape of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks,
  CA Sage.
• Minichello, V., R. Aroni, E. Timewell and L.
  Alexander. 1995. Indepth Interviewing
  Principles, Techniques, Analysis. Melbourne
  Longman.