The interviews of the case study

Gorman and Clayton (2005) said that the interview case study uses data collected

from the individual interviews linking the research and the subjects in general.

Additionally, Denscombe (1998) pointed out that the interview does not need to

collect much technical information but the basic technical skills are required for

research interview, the researcher can use a tape recorder to record the conversation

and save it, and then listen to it to write their research report. Without doubt,

conversational skills are very significant between researchers and interviewees. The

researcher has to describe very clearly the questions to let the interviewee answer

them, leading to more accurate responses.

In addition to this, the conversation is not a general and relaxed interview; it is a

part of the research process to express the social phenomena and present the

respondent’s knowledge and produce findings that can contribute to both the

academic and practice areas. Therefore, the interview must be very careful and

serious. It is of considerable importance when choosing to use interview surveys

that the researcher thinks of his or her research purpose, especially when they want

to know more details and gain in-depth answers to analyse from the interviewee.

Gorman and Clayton (2005) referred to the benefits of an interview survey in

qualitative research; the interviewees can be encouraged to answer open-ended

questions face-to-face and it also can let the interviewees better understand the

research topic and context. The interview can also produce very in-depth and

directly sympathetic research questions and can prove a very direct method of

Fontana and Frey (edited by Denzin and Lincoln, 2005) declared that an interview

includes broad selection methods and a variety of types; the methods include

individual, face-to-face vocal transactions, but the interviewing involves face-to-

face group exchanges and telephone surveys. Denscombe (1998,p.112-115) stated

the different interview types: structured interviews, semi-structured interviews or

unstructured interviews, one-to-one interviews, group interviews, and focus groups,

as outlined below:

1. Structured interviews: the researcher asks the same questions to the limited

response group. In other words, the respondents are given the same questions; there

is very little flexibility about which questions are asked or answered in the

structured interview (Fontana and Frey edited by Denzin and Lincoln, 2005).

Denscombe (1998, p.112) pointed out that structured interviews provide the

collection of quantitative data. The reason for this is that the researcher prearranges

the questions and answers which allow more control over the wording and the same

questions are asked of every interviewee, making it easier to analyse the data. The

structured interviews are used with a broad number of respondents to collect the

data.

2. Semi-structured interviews: the semi-structured interviews are open-ended

more widely. But the researcher using the same structured interview processes, has

to prepare a clear list of questions to be answered.

3. Unstructured interviews: unstructured interviews are more encouraging to allow

the interviewees to extend their thoughts. The main difference from the semi-

structured interviews is they do not really need a list of questions in advance and

allow more in-depth investigation to explore the interviewee’s experiences and

feelings. The same aim of semi-structured and unstructured interviews is to

“discover” their interviewees’ thoughts rather than “check” them (Denscombe, 1998,

p.113).

4. One-to-one interviews: the ordinary way to conduct semi-structured or

unstructured interviews is one-to-one. It is easy to arrange a meeting for the

researcher and interviewee. The benefit is to catch very direct thoughts during the

interview. In addition, one to one interviews can get more detailed ideas from a few

people.

5. Group interviews: some researchers need more numbers to collect their data. The

numbers research, such as group interviewing, engages four to six people to do the

survey. Nevertheless, it is difficult to gather the people to argue about one topic and

may influence the other people in the group interview and one cannot get the

original voices from the other people.

6. Focus groups: Denscombe (1998, p.115) said that focus groups interviews have

become more popular. The focus groups contain between six and nine people. They

are brought together with the researcher acting as a mediator to discover the manner,

comprehension and judgment in relation to the research topic. The main point is that

they only focus on one subject to discuss. It is more the contribution of the

interviewees.

Ultimately, from the above interview types’ investigation, the research that focuses

on the interview case study has a more flexible process but this still have to be

planned. Gorman and Clayton (2005) suggest that the researcher has to get ready a

list of questions before the interview but that extra questions are allowed during the

interview to reply to the research subjects. When the questions go forward to the

interviewing process, if some answers are not very clear, it is necessary to go back

to the earlier interviewees to ask the questions. It is very significant to draw out

more information for the research subjects to expand the research topic.

Nevertheless, the interviewing case study is a structured process to allow the

researcher to ask about their research questions to support what cannot be observed.

face interviews and can also discover other related resources for the research

subjects. When the questions are more formal, then the responses will be more

correct and effective. The interview case study is based on the two conversations,

and the researcher’s role is to encourage the interviewee to speak out more about

their experience and events. Thus, the interview case study can produce high-quality

research to develop the research findings.