Title: Interviewing
Course: EDPS0009: Researching Education and Society: Qualitative Methods 2020/2021 > Section: 3. Interviews

Types of interviews

Qualitative research interviews can take many different forms and shapes. Most often, research methods handbooks talk about three main types of interviews: structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews:

In addition to these three main types of interviews, interviews can also be categorised according to how the interview is carried out or what its aim is.

Kinds of questions

As we have seen, the kinds of questions we ask are really important in order to gather the information that we need to be able to answer our research question.

We tend to talk about two different kinds of questions: open or closed.

Closed questions are those that can only be answered using "Yes" or "No", whereas open questions require longer answers with explanations.

Here are some examples for open questions:

- “Tell me about…?”
- "How do you find...?"
- "What is your experience of...?"
- "What does X mean to you?"

When developing an interview schedule, we often find that we are inclined to ask closed questions, but there are ways of turning those closed questions into open questions by adding "why" or "how".

Also, please, note that within the scope of a research interview, there are opportunities for asking open AND closed questions. It is important to recognise that the two forms of questions play different roles, and so it is not as simple as one being better than the other.

Check out the Changing Minds website for details on the differences between open and closed questions.

Interview schedule

What is an interview schedule?

In simple terms, an interview schedule is a list of questions that the interviewer prepares in advance of an interview. These are the questions that the interviewer would like the participants to answer, so that they can gather enough information to be able to answer the research question.

What is the relationship between an interview schedule and the research question?

The research question is a question outlining the overarching focus of the research. Sometimes, that overarching question is so complex that researchers break it down into two or three sub-questions. But if you start thinking about many different questions in order to answer the research question, then that is the beginning of an interview schedule.

Many people who are new to research struggle with the difference between an interview question and a research question. But basically, the interview questions are there to help you have a conversation with interviewees to find out about what they think. And that information will then enable you to answer your research question.

Here is an example:
Research question: How do families with school-age children decide where to go on holiday?

Of course, you can ask a very similar question in an interview, but not the same one because your interviewee will not know how families in general decide. You can ask them:
- How do you in your family decide where to go on holiday?
- Tell me about the last time you went on holiday, how did you as a family decide were to go?
- How do you think families with children decide where to go on holiday?

As you can see, the questions are not radically different, but they are adjusted to what the interviewee can and cannot know. It is then the researcher's job to analyse the data from all their interviews and try to answer the overarching research question.

Designing an interview schedule

In effect, designing an interview schedule is sitting down and writing out questions that are relevant, and then formulating them in a way that is meaningful.

This may sound simple, but is not quite as straight forward as the video [4:06] will show. Watch this video [4:06] and make a note of the 6 suggestions for designing an interview schedule.

Interview techniques

As we have seen by now, interviewing someone is not just a case of asking questions, and there are many guidebooks and support materials available on how to develop oneself to become a good interviewer.

My personal preferred book is InterViews by Brinkman and Kvale. Their conceptualisation of an interview is that it is a meaningful exchange and conversation between two people, an Inter-View. In their book they talk about two kinds of researchers: the data traveller and the data miner.

A data miner sees the interviewee as the person who holds the knowledge. The role of the researcher therefore is to sieve out all of their knowledge. The data traveller, by contrast, is someone who is on a journey with the interviewee and who is trying to explore experiences and learn together with the interviewee.

According to Brinkman and Kvale, the ideal interview is conducted in such a way that it is really geared towards the researcher as data traveller making sense together with the interviewee.

The following video [18:10] offers an excellent insight into what it means to be a good interviewer. There is at first one video with plenty of mistakes and then there is a second, much better interview.

Make a note on what you need to do to become a good interviewer.