Planning and Conducting Interview

Generally, there is no specific step in planning and conducting an interview. Interviews are normally conducted based on several factors such as the type of interview, the circumstances of interview and the types of data being collected by the researcher.

Nevertheless, in conducting this qualitative stage, six key steps in planning and conducting

interviews as advised by Crowther and Lancaster (2009, pp. 149-50) were adapted. These six steps [Step (a) through (f)] will be discussed comprehensively in the following.

(a) Determine data objectives and topics for discussion

Green (2005) suggests that the key element of a good interview is the formulation of a set of good questions to ask interviewees. In this respect, choosing a topic or topics for discussion is crucial in determining the adequacy of research credibility and importance (Rubin & Rubin 2005). The main purpose of conducting the semi-structured interview in this thesis was to uncover main factors which may influence the sustainability in business amongst Malaysian Bumiputera NTBSFs. This process helped the researcher in making meaning of the interviews within the purview of the designated research topic (Warren 2001).

In practice, the determination of choosing a good topic and formulating a viable research question can take weeks or months as both the topic and questions emerge iteratively (Rubin & Rubin 2005). This is because the researcher wanted to ensure the interview process gave meaning within the purview of the sustainability of Bumiputera NTBFs. An interview guide was employed in this thesis to assist the researcher to effectively conduct semi-structured interviews, especially by gleaning all important concepts and views of the participants through the list of question developed in the interview guide (Bryman 2008;

Flick 2009). The researcher formulated and designed a list of interview questions of the interview guide based on relevance existing literature (Warren 2001) and outcomes from the pilot study. For illustration, Appendix C shows the interview guide that was specifically designed for in-depth interviews with Bumiputera technology entrepreneurs.

The application of the interview guide enabled the researcher to gain more freedom and flexibility to ask the participants strategically by probing relevant questions which would lead to explain the phenomenon understudied (Hair et al. 2007). Besides, it also guided the researcher to write analyses chapters in this thesis. Importantly, the application of this interview guide enabled the researcher to sustain the standardisation and comparability of the research and to increase the reliability of this thesis (Yin 2009).

(b) Identifying and approaching interviewees

The main objective of conducting interviews for this study was to acquire compelling and valid information from the right person (Ghauri & Grønhaug 2005). Rubin and Rubin

(2005) contended that the basic tenet in identifying potential interviews for a study is by selecting the interviews who are experienced and knowledgeable in the study undertaken.

The identification of interview respondents for this thesis was implemented via three different methods: purposive sampling, recommendation from key informants (gate keepers) and snowball sampling. Initially, the interviewees were selected based on a purposive sampling whereby the selections were based on an iterative process that aims to maximise the depth and richness of the data to address the research question understudied (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree 2006). In this respect, a small sample was chosen because of the expected difficulty of obtaining the sample for this study. For instance, the selection of Bumiputera new technology entrepreneurs for this thesis was based on several criteria as follows: (1) the firm was founded and was still controlled by the Bumiputera entrepreneur interviewed; (2) the firm was involved in technology-based industries; (3) the firm was a new venture, not an acquired business, and operating not more than eight years; and (4) the group of firms was small-sized enterprises that employed less than 20 full-time employees.

By doing this, purposive sampling allows the researcher to choose a specific case as it illustrates some related features or process in which the researcher is interested, yet this sampling type requires the researcher to think critically about the parameters of the population under study and choose the sample case carefully on this basis (Silverman 2010). According to Di Domenico, Haugh and Trace (2010), ‘the purposive sample was used to identify common behaviour patterns among units of analysis that face diverse resource conditions and constraints, thus allowing for greater claims to theoretical extraction than with a more homogenous sample’.

Nevertheless, slow responses from the potential participants required the researcher to employ another two strategies to increase the respond rate of the interviews. Several key informants amongst the government officers and academics were asked to give several suggestions of any potential interviews. Besides that, some entrepreneurs also suggested their business partners who were also doing similar business in the technology-based industries. Hence, the semi-structured interview session was conducted amongst the selected respondents in this study with a selection of the participants, especially among the founder of high-technology entrepreneurial firms and the authority bodies with an interest in the technology entrepreneurial activities in Malaysia. As suggested by Sieber (1978), by

conducting an interview with the people with a central leadership role in an organisation, it would be easier for the researcher to circulate a questionnaire to the followers or subordinates as it being endorsed or supported by their leaders. For example, by conducting an interview with one of the directors in the SME Corporation, the tendency for the researcher to get any information from other entrepreneurial agencies would be easier.

(c) Seeking permission

Initially, an email was sent to prospective participants inviting them to participate in this research. The email was attached together with a formal invitation letter explained the background of the research undertaken, the Plain Language Statement of this study (Appendix D) and contact information of researcher. Once the researcher managed to secure an interview session with respondents for conducting interviews, a letter containing the RMIT University consent letter as well as Interview Guide (Appendix C) was sent to interviewees. These documents were sent to interviewees prior to their interview sessions to ensure their understanding of the subject matter of research before the research conduct the interview. Moreover, interviewees prepared all the necessary information related to interview questions as mentioned in the Interview Guide.

(d) Arranging interviews

Before contacting the interviewees, several issues were discussed prior to the interview sessions, specifically in regards to resources (e.g. time, location, costs) available in performing the interview. First, the researcher expected that the time taken for the interview session to be approximately 45 minutes to one hour based on the pilot study.

This was crucial as most participants considered that ‘Time is money’ and might decline to participate if the time taken for the interview affected their business routine activities (Ghauri & Grønhaug 2005). In fact, throughout the conduct of the main qualitative study, three potential interviewees declined to participate due to time constraint and other business commitments at the very last minute. This was really frustrating, yet this taught the researcher to be more prepared in dealing with this kind of situation. There was one situation where the researcher needed to wait for almost four hours in a coffee shop in order to interview one respondent due to his hectic life and other business commitment.

Nonetheless, eventually the interview outcome proved very informative and he even recommended one of his business partners to be a potential interviewee.

Secondly, the arrangement of the interview would also need to consider the venue or location of the interview session. For this study, the researcher covered two federal territories; Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and three main states in Malaysia; Selangor, Malacca and Johor. The interviews were normally conducted at either participant’s business premises or coffee shops. Being aware of the tight schedule of the respondents, the final decision of location and time of an interview session was made with the participants, even though these matters were initially proposed by the researcher.

(e) Conducting the interviews

The success of the semi-structured interview method relies upon the skills of interviewer in facing a number of difficult field decisions, specifically in ensuring the validity and reliability of the research data collected. Thus, thorough training is one thing that needs to be considered by the interviewer before collecting or conducting the interview. As recommended by Barriball and While (1994), the researcher employed two strategies in preparing himself to conduct the interview. First, the researcher tried to fully understand the interview schedule and gain competence by doing an extensive review of the existing literature on business survival or continuity and different factors that might affect the sustainability of Bumiputera NTBSFs. Secondly, it helped the researcher to identify and be aware of the errors or bias that might occur with the personal interview technique.

Furthermore, before conducting interviews for the main qualitative study, ten preliminary interviews were implemented with the Bumiputera technology entrepreneurs to help contextualise preliminary ideas on the each topic uncovered in this thesis.

The consent form was signed by the interviewees before the start of the interview in order to demonstrate informed consent by the participants. Interviews were conducted using both English and Malay as medium of conversation. Further, semi-structured interviews that consisted of open-ended questions were conducted with all interviewees in this study. The interview questions were designed to stimulate respondents to share their opinions and comments on factors influencing business sustainability of Malaysian Indigenous NTBSFs. The researcher would ask the same questions of all the interviewees, yet not necessarily in the same order as the outlined questions were supplemented by either planned or unplanned probing questions (Richards & Morse 2007). As a result, the discussion that went beyond the interview guide was also asked in order to get the in-depth information as well as identify any emerging themes.

All interviews took place in participants’ offices and the interviews lasted between 45 and 90 minutes. Nine interviews were conducted in Malay in order to ensure interviewees’

ability to communicate effectively and steer clear of any misunderstanding by having to converse in a language with which they were less familiar (Bryman & Bell 2007).

(f) Recording the interviews

In this thesis, all interviews were conducted by using an MP3 digital recorder. Each participant granted permission for the audio-taping of the interview sessions. The employment of a digital device in recording all interview conversations was chosen because the recorded interviews could be stored, archived and transmitted electronically.

Moreover, the usage of this device allowed greater flexibility in conducting interview sessions as the researcher could concentrate on the participants’ answers and responses without any distraction. As a result, the researcher could also maintain the interview focus and pose several probing questions to obtain in-depth insights and rich dialogue with the interviewees. In fact, by taking notes only during the interview instead of also making recordings, would not be sufficiently accurate or detailed for most qualitative projects (Bailey 2008) and would disturb the concentration during the conduct of an interview.

Upon the completion of the interview session, the recording files were transferred to a laptop that allows the researcher to listen and transcribe the interviews simultaneously. On top of that, the researcher also save the recording files at an external hard disk for the back-up purposes.

The two-stage data collection process will be discussed in the next section.