Chapter 2 Research Background and Methodology
2. Methodology
2.3 Semi-structured Interviews
2.3.1 Pilot Interviews
H. Russell Bernard (2000) believes semi-structured interviewing works very well in
projects where the researcher has to deal with bureaucrats and elite members of a
community, people who are accustomed to making efficient use of their time. 75 Thus the
semi-structured interview is well suited to this study, as most of my interviewees (police
72
Ibid. 214.
73
See Jacqueline Hodgson, 'The defence of criminal charges' [1988] PhD thesis of the University of Birmingham 115.
74
Martyn Hammersley and Paul Atkinson, Ethnography: principles in practice (Routledge 2007) 214.
75
H. Russell Bernard, Social research method: qualitative and quantitative approaches (Sage publications 2000) 191.
75
officers, prosecutors, judges and defence lawyers) in this project fall into such a category.
As a relatively informal style, semi-structured interviews enable the researcher to fully
control the content of what she wants to excavate from the interview but leaves both the
researcher and her respondents the ability to explore new leads.
In this study, a limited number of pilot interviews were conducted at a time when a
substantial amount of data had been obtained by participant observation and I was able to
focus attention on specific issues that had arisen. Semi-structured interviews require the
researcher to master the techniques of probing and actively procuring data from her
respondents. Also as a thematic, topic-centred approach, the semi-structured interview is
often built upon a fluid and flexible structure, so that in-depth data can be extracted from
the interactional exchange of dialogue. 76
Although I had familiarised myself with the ethnographic skills in the field and the data
that I had collected by observation boosted my confidence in qualitative fieldwork, my
first few interviews did not proceed smoothly due to a lack of experience and the use of
specific techniques. The interviews were carried out by following a written list of
questions and topics that I was eager to explore. The way that these questions were
designed was not effective enough to stimulate satisfactory replies. Some of the critical
questions were answered in such a brief manner that it closed the opportunity for me to
investigate in further depth. Furthermore, while I believed that the questions I asked were
crucial and easy to understand, a judge interviewee told me that some of my questions,
such as those concerning the admission of evidence and safeguards of the suspects' rights,
were 'strange' and he was puzzled why I was interested in such issues. Such a response was
beyond what I expected. I was also convinced that there exists an almost insurmountable
chasm between the 'western orientated' theory of due process and the real criminal trial in
China. Nevertheless, no matter if the respondent's reaction was astounding and problematic
76
(based on how the Chinese criminal process was actually operating, or based on the
presumption that a western model should never be imposed upon the Chinese
circumstances), the crucial factor is that the researcher must recognise it as such and adapt
the questions to the given scenario. With the help of my supervisor, I started consciously
tailoring the abstract questions to detailed practices, as well as improving my interview
tactics, thus enhancing my capacity to verbalise, interact and remember. I started to alter
the general script of questions, so that each topic was started with supportive open
questions without threat. People were able to take on board a focused topic in this way
whilst being given ample room to define the content of the discussion. Detailed issues,
such as questions concerning specific practice or statistical data were followed up by
seeking affirmative answers or exploring in greater depth, so that the list of topics were
accommodated during the interview but remained open ended.
The experience that was gained from the first few pilot interviews laid a solid foundation
for the main interviews conducted after the observation. Twenty-eight intensive semi-
structured interviews with police officers, prosecutors, judges and defence lawyers in ten
geographic areas (referred to as sites A-J) were undertaken, covering heterogeneous
regions across China.77 Good interviewing is 'hard, creative and active work'.78 It is a
complex and exhausting task to plan and respond quickly. Like many other crafts, one
would get better at interviewing the more she practices. As an interview involves reactivity
and subjectivity, the techniques can be improved by monitoring and reflective criticism,
mainly by the interviewer herself. The advice offered by Harry Wolcott (1995) on
interviews is pertinent, 'pay as much attention to your own words as you do to the words of
your respondents'. 79 Important as the relevant skills are, the greater challenge of
conducting interviews in this study was not simply about interview techniques. As the
77
These economic regions include developed East coast areas, the less developed Southern area, large sized urban city districts and relatively remote rural towns.
78
Ibid.
79
H. Russell Bernard, Social research method: qualitative and quantitative approaches (Sage publications 2000) 201.
77
interviews progressed, various dilemmas appeared. Nevertheless certain aspects of the
culture that was embedded in the Chinese criminal justice were able to be penetrated when
dealing with these unfavourable predicaments, leading to a better understanding of the
system.
2.3.2 Interviewing: Obstacles and Probing Skills
Gathering empirical data in China has never been easy. As one scholar stated, 'useful data
is generally not available, and the available data is not very useful'80. Such obstacles were
most evident when conducting interviews in the field. The tip of being open about the
intention of shopping for information, promoted by certain western researchers, failed to
apply to the situations that I encountered in China when I sought to interview several
defence lawyers in a criminal law firm. 81The defence lawyers that I approached in the law
firm were not impressed with the fact that I wanted to study the dilemma they were facing,
which was that a large proportion of defence lawyers had suffered prejudice by the State
officials in the Chinese criminal process. Some defence lawyers I approached claimed to
be too busy to be interviewed, although I discovered later the same day that they were
reading a newspaper or playing computer games. Most of the defence lawyers were
anything but friendly, with some expressing annoyance at my research project subject
matter. I spent three afternoons sitting in the reception halls of several criminal law firms
in vain. I realised that without any pragmatic approaches, such as using the help of
established relationships, interviews were simply unavailable. This impediment also
hampered Mike McConville et al's (2011) study, and they lamented that the collection of
data through official channels in China is fraught with hurdles.82 For this reason, my
80
Donald Clarke, Empirical research into the Chinese Judicial System (Stanford University Press 2003)165.
81
See H. Russell Bernard, Social research method: qualitative and quantitative approaches (Sage publications 2000) 195.
78
subsequent respondents were approached by using informal relationships, which seemed to
be the only viable path to access informants in the field.
Even though personal contacts had paved the way for many successful interviews, it could
not always guarantee access. This was particularly the case when I returned to the field in
2013. Ninety per cent of potential interviewees (most of them were judges) declined my
request. In one instance, when I approached a relative who worked in the court for help by
introducing some judges for me to interview, I was warned and refused by this relative that
'I should never try to get someone into trouble'. In another case, a defence lawyer had
agreed to be interviewed the next day via the help of a previous colleague. I then received
a phone call at midnight from my previous colleague who cancelled the forthcoming
interview. I learned from the conversation that the defence lawyer had a previous traumatic
experience with the public authority which prevented him from saying anything critical to
the status quo. Whilst it was a shame to lose the opportunity of interviews which could be potentially valuable, the fact that these interviews were cancelled transmitted a stronger
meaning in relation to the unbalanced contest of the coercive state power and civil liberty
in the daily struggle. As a popular Chinese journalist remarked:
'The Chinese are losing their ability of utterance. […] I personally believe the root of the problem has originated from the public system which has a major fault in its design. […] It (the system) believes that people enjoy no freedom of speech in the public domain whilst it has the power to punish those who do speak. It is arrogant, sensitive and self-imposed…It is a self-deceptive giant. '83
The invisible repression of the liberty of speech from the Party-state is omnipresent
throughout my study. Out of 28 interviewees only a very few, with a strong sense of
political liberalism, spoke fearlessly during the interview, despite the promise that
anonymity and confidentiality of their personal information had been repeatedly
83
Li Chengpeng's public speech in Peking University 2012 <http://www.impactchina.com.cn/ guandiankuaibao/ shizheng/2012-11-20/14286.html> accessed 20 November 2012.
79
confirmed. Vigilance and over-cautiousness were constantly present during most of the
interviews, lest any unguarded or inappropriate remarks would procure retaliation from the
authorities. Yet in spite of these impediments, I was satisfied that a picture of the Chinese
criminal justice was crystallised, by piecing together the data collected from both the
observation and the interviews. Thus I am deeply indebted to the generous openness of the
few interviewees, who imparted valuable information to me. Without their courage and co-
orporation this research would not have been concluded.
Besides gaining access to the respondents, successful interviewing also hinges on the
techniques of effective probing, that is, 'to stimulate a respondent to produce more
information, without injecting the [researcher] so much into the interaction'.84 The skills of
probing are not easy to grasp and some of them have to be learnt from mistakes. As a
fledgling interviewer, one of my least satisfactory interview experiences came from an
interview by telephone rather than a vis-à-vis situation. During the interview with a
defence lawyer, I found it very difficult to pace the conversation with my respondent, who
was used to taking time to reflect before speaking. Instead of using the 'silent probe' and
waiting for him to continue, I jumped in with verbal prodding as soon as the silence
occurred. When listening to the recorded interview afterwards, I realised the mistake I had
made. My respondent was just using the time to gather thoughts before being ready to
move on, leading to the potential loss of information. Regrettably, my urge to avoid the
'unbearable awkward emptiness' on the telephone had killed those moments with my
interruptions.
With more experience of interviewing in the field, the probing techniques were gradually
becoming easier and more natural. In essence, interviewing is a 'conversation with a
purpose', which consists of a set of flexible activities that have little difference from social
84
See H. Russell Bernard, Social research method: qualitative and quantitative approaches (Sage publications 2000) 196.
80
skills to gain rapport with the respondents. 85 Although hardly any rigorous planning or
detailed engagement are particularly needed in advance, the researcher has to be prepared
to 'think on her feet' during the interview itself. 86This means the researcher has to
'simultaneously orchestrate the intellectual and social dynamics of the situation' and
respond quickly and effectively to ensure that the interview interaction could generate data
relating to research questions. 87Thus the probing skills are instruments that help to
stimulate a social encounter. For example, to make certain sensitive questions less
threatening, I tended to precede it with a rambling prelude before the key issue was
touched. Whilst phased assertions were utilised to provoke a response, maintaining naivety
and seeking further explanations was also an effective method. When certain questions
seemed to be obvious to the informants and they started to get irritated, to excavate details,
I always backed off with the comment that 'this may seem obvious to you, however I found
it quite interesting'. Whereas there were always obstacles to overcome in an interview, the
probing techniques nevertheless enhance the coherence of the interaction and made the
conversation flow more smoothly.
2.3.3 Ethical Issues
As any social research is not politically neutral and criminal justice is such a value laden
subject, the researcher must adopt a stringent moral practice, so that the participants
involved in the study are protected and the integrity of the inquiry maintained. 88As with
the participant observations, ethical issues are also of the utmost importance to the
interviews and the researcher should recognise that she has a greater duty to engage in a
reflective and sensitive moral research practice. Ethical judgements often follow a set of
85
Jennifer Manson, Qualitative researching (2nd edition, Sage Publications 2002) 67.
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid.
81
principles which guide the conduct of the research. One such doctrine is the 'informed
consent', which refers to a free agreement on the part of the researched to become a subject
of the research process.89 Many of the ethical guidelines published by professional
academic associations underline the fact that gaining the informed consent of participants
is very crucial to the research.90 Although there are no prescriptions about what the practice
should be, it is critical that ambiguous issues should be explained to the respondents. As
Murphy and Dingwall (2001) argued:
[…]Indeed, as in much biomedical research, these [consent] forms may offer more protection to the researcher than to the subject in the event of litigation… Signed consent forms may actually jeopardise the confidentiality of participants by making them identifiable. There are genuine difficulties about the means of respecting rights to autonomy and self-determination. The answers depend more on the moral sense of the researcher and their ability to make reasoned decisions in the field than upon regulative codes of practice or review procedures. 91
In my study, consents were negotiated when I started to interview someone for the first
time. A written consent form which explained the aims and processes of the research and
assured my respondents of anonymity and confidentiality would be asked to be read and
then signed by the interviewees. 92 Interviewing should be based on a complete
understanding of the research itself and most respondents were not familiar with the
disciplinary and academic skills involved. Prior to the interview, the consent form was
further explained in detail using plain language, taking account of areas, such as what
contributed to data and the principles of analysis, so that a full comprehension of the study
could be obtained by the respondents. The consequences of the research, such as its
publication in the public domain and my right to interpret and analyse the data, were also
explained before the consent was sought. The identities of my interviewees were protected
89
Ibid 62.
90
SeeJennifer Manson, Qualitative Researching (2nd edition, Sage Publications2002)80.
91
Ibid 82.
92
There is an exception for this practice, which is the telephone interview that I conducted in the field. As the interviewees could not physically read and sign the consent form before being interviewed, I read out the consent form and explained it to them in detail. They consented orally which was recorded with the interview itself. In this study, three out of 24 interviews were conducted by telephone.
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by taking all reasonable steps, such as the security of the storage of the consent forms.
Consent forms and the interview transcripts were separately stored to avoid the
information being used for purposes other than those intended.
As a standard practice, which has also been proved to be absolutely necessary, all the semi-
structured interviews conducted in the research were recorded. Many of my respondents
were reluctant to be recorded and were worried that the recorded conversations would be
used against them in the future. I would start the interview with a warm-up chat,
introducing myself and showing my interest in the respondent's work. When I sensed that
they had become more relaxed, I started by saying 'this is really important to my study. I really don’t want to distort your view by my poor memory. Would it be possible to record
our conversation now?' Most respondents would agree at this stage. This did not mean they
were at ease with the recording. The majority of respondents would check the recorder
from time to time during the conversation and their tones were slightly nervous at various
points. I would always assure them that they had absolute control over the recorder and
they could switch it off if they so wished. This strategy invariably worked well and the
interview progressed smoothly to its conclusion. On one occasion, when interviewing a
judge, he insisted the conversation should not be recorded. Therefore, I painstakingly
wrote notes whilst the conversation progressed. Finally he agreed to be recorded, due to
my note writing being too distracting to the conversation.
A successful interview was often built on mutual trust. The researcher should be
responsible for what is done with the information extracted from the respondents, but must
also protect the respondents from becoming emotionally burdened as a result of the
interview. 93 Ethical concerns also relate to making the respondents comfortable during
participation in the research as opposed to inflicting stress. On several occasions, when
talking about 'sensitive' topics, I felt obliged to stop my respondents from divulging
93
See H. Russell Bernard, Social research method: qualitative and quantitative approaches (Sage publications 2000) 201.
83
unnecessary personal information, such as the names of individuals, and reassured them
about confidentiality. The interviews were handled with extreme care in this study to avoid
the participants from suffering an emotional burden, as it was considered that they may
later regret their participation and become anxious about the information they had given.
Based on the data collected during the fieldwork, in the next chapter, attention will be
focused on the police's construction of case dossiers. Although I did not witness the
strategies being used by the police, such as interrogation, information extracted from the
interviews and observation in the procuratorate provides adequate foundations for the
understanding of police activities surrounding the case dossier, which predestines the