The qualitative research interview
How to design and conduct an interview
Carolina Wannheden ([email protected])
Resources
Interviews – Learning
the Craft of Qualitative
Research Interviewing
(Kvale, 2009)
Experienced challenges interviewing
What challenges may you
experience when
conducting an interview
study?
Reflect on and discuss own
experiences in your groups
2011-04-11
Experiences
Difficult to extract valuable, relevant knowledge
Credibility
Why am I interviewing, what is the purpose, aim?
You have to know what you want to achieve
Preparing interview questions
How to get to the knowledge you’re after
Whom to interview
How to analyze the data
How to record the interview (tape record, notes)
How to keep objectivity
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Experiences cont.
Non-verbal communication
How to compare the results of the different interviews
How to deal with interruptions
How to encourage interviewees to participate
Time, location
How to start and how to finish
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7 Stages of Interview Inquiry
(Kvale, 2009)1.
Thematizing
2.
Designing
3.
Interviewing
4.
Transcribing
5.
Analyzing
6.
Verifying
7.
Reporting
Monday (Workshop)
Monday (Workshop)
Tuesday (In groups)
Take notes only!
Wednesday (In groups w/ supervision)
Wed-/Thursday (In groups)
PREPARATION
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Which data do I need?
Research question?
Experiences
Behavior
Attitudes
Perceptions
Motivations for actions
and decisions
Whose perspective?
Provider, patient, relative
Women, men
Old, young…
What…? How…? Why…? When…? Who…? 2011-04-11Sample Selection
Try to get as varied information as
possible
Purposive sampling
Convenience sampling
Snow-ball sampling
How many informants?
15 +/- 10 (until saturation)
”It depends on purpose and context”!!
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Thematizing & Designing
Why
Clarifying the purpose of the interview
What
Obtaining preknowledge of the subject matter to be investigated
How
Deciding which techniques of interviewing and analyzing to apply in order to obtain the intended knowledge
Develop an interview guide
Thematizing
INTERVIEWING
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Interviewing
Setting the interview stage
Briefing
Define the situation, describe the purpose, use of recorder etc., confidentiality, informed consent, ask if informant has any questions
Interview
Address the themes/questions you want to cover
Take notes during the interview (it is good to have a second note-taker)
Debriefing
Ask if informant has anything more to say, experience of the interview, summarize main points
Reflecting after the interview
Set aside 10 min after interview to take notes on how you experienced the interview
Compare notes from the interview
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Interviewing
Primary task is to get
description
(What, How)
”What happened and how did it happen?” ”How did you feel then?”
”What did you do?” ”What did you experience?”
Explanations
(Why) should be postponed towards the end of the
interview
Many why questions may lead to an overreflected intellectualized interview
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”Good” Interview Questions
A good interview question should contribute thematically to
knowledge production and dynamically to promoting good
interview interaction
(Kvale, 2009)Thematic dimension relates to the ”What” (the knowledge you want to gain)
Spontaneous - structured questions depending on purpose
Dynamic dimension relates to the ”How” (promote positive interaction)
Questions should be easy to understand, short, devoid of academic language
Research + Interview Questions
Research Questions (Thematic dimension) Interview Questions (Dynamic dimension) Which clinical decisions are challenging? What makes a decision challenging?What is your main responsibility in the care of patients?
What kind of decisions do you make?
Do you experience any decisions to be more challenging than others?
What is challenging about…?
Can you describe what information you use when deciding about…?
How do you get the information you need?
2011-04-11
Types of interview questions
(Kvale, 2009)Type of question Example
Introductory
questions
”Can you tell me about…?”; ”Do you remember an occasion when…?”; ”What happened in the episode you mentioned…?”
Follow-up
questions
Direct questioning of what has been said, nodding, ”mm”, repeating significant words
Probing
questions
”Could you say something more about that?”; ”Can you give me a more detailed description of what happened?”; ”Do you have further examples of this?”
Specifying
questions
”What did you actually do when you felt a mounting anxiety?”; ”How did your body react?”; ”Have you also experienced this yourself?”
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Types of interview questions cont.
(Kvale, 2009)Type of question Example
Direct questions
(postpone until later parts of the interview)
”Have you ever reported a medication error?”; ”When you mention competition, do you then think of a sportsmanlike or a destructive competition?”
Indirect
Questions
”How do you believe other providers experience the provider-patient relationship?”
Structuring
Questions
”I would now like to introduce another topic:…”
Silence
Allow pauses in order to give the informant time to associate and reflect. Let the informants break the pauses themselvesInterpreting
Questions
”You then mean that…?”; Is it correct that you feel that…?”; ”Does the expression… cover what you have just expressed?”
2011-04-11
Interview Guide
Briefing
What you want to tell the informant before the interview (purpose, duration and structure, informed consent…)
Interview
The themes you want to cover and questions you want to ask
Debriefing
Closing remarks (how you will use the results, provide contact information and ask if you may contact the informant in case of further questions & to validate results…)
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World Café
In your groups: Thematizing and Design
Formulate the purpose of the interview Formulate your research questions
Thematic dimension (”What?”)
Rotation 1
Formulate your interview questions
Dynamic dimension (”How?”)
Rotation 2
Specify what to say during the briefing/debriefing OR Continue with your interview questions
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YOUR ASSIGNMENT
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Perform an interview to explore a clinical
problem
Your groups will interview each other in pairs
All group members participate in two interviews with the role of interviewer (I), interview participant (P), notetaker (N), or observer (O) Aim for an interview duration no longer than 60 min
I N
O O O O O O O
P
During the interview…
The interviewer (I) is responsible for leading the dialogue with
the interview participant (P)
Use your interview guide to make sure all themes/questions are covered
Take notes
The note-taker (N) assists in note-taking and making sure
everything is covered
The observers (O) observe the dynamic aspects of the interview
and take notes of that
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Analysis & Verification
Take 10 min after each interview to reflect on how the interview
went
What worked well? What could be done differently? How was the atmosphere? How was the tone (emotional, factual, …)?
In your own groups, compare and analyze the notes from your
interviews and identify challenges/problems and their (possible)
causes
Use the analysis framework from your Case Studies course
After you have completed the analysis, present your results to
each other G2G (group to group) and give feedback.
Take notes on the feedback you get!
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Reporting
1.
Description of problem/case
2.
Purpose of the interview
3.
Ethical considerations
4.
Interview guide
5.
”Thick description”
Background and preconceived ideas of the interviewer Role, background, experience of the interviewee
Interview context (location, duration, other participants (note-taker, observer…), tone (emotional, factual,…))
6.
Results (your analysis)
7.
Verification (Feedback from peer group)
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