Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

Vol 2 - Table of Contents Next Practical information
Who participates and how?
Key leaders or representatives of the community can
play an important role in communicating the views of
The key steps to preparing and conducting a key person interview
Step 1
Identify the purpose and focus of the
interview
Step 2
Identify ‘key people’
Step 3
Prepare interview and identify key questions
Step 4
Invite ‘key people’ to participate
Step 5
Conduct interview
The objectives and focus of the interview
must be clearly established and followed.
Identify the key issues which need be to covered.
‘Key people’ respected as leaders or key
figures by the community can be identified
through engaging the local community, local
groups or officials.
Decide whether the interview will be
conducted over the phone or face-to-face. Most
questions should be ‘open’ to enable detailed
and impromptu responses.
‘Key people’ should be invited to
participate through a letter or telephone call. This
should highlight the importance of their
involvement in the process.
An individual experienced in interviewing
should conduct the interview. Ensure sufficient
time is allocated to allow detailed discussion of the
issues.
the community through key person interviews. ‘Key
people’ might include community leaders, experts,
political leaders, business representatives or the
media. All individuals invited to participate through
interviews should be knowledgeable about the
specific issue or problem.
How much does it cost?
The costs of planning and conducting key person
interviews will vary depending on the number of
interviews to be carried out and the technique used.
Telephone interviews can be less costly as they are
likely to involve less staff time and travel costs.
What skills are required?
Staff who conduct the key person interviews should
be skilled communicators who are easy to talk to and
good at listening. They should be familiar with the
project and the key issues for discussion at the
interview.
How is it used with other techniques?
Key person interviews can provide useful insight into
issues and opinions to enable more focussed and
informed public meetings and focus groups. They
can also be used to identify the most effective ways
of engaging hard to reach groups.
What are the drawbacks?
It will not be possible for ‘key people’ to represent all
the different views in a community. It will often be
necessary therefore, to use additional
complementary techniques, such as questionnaires.
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Step 6
Document interview results
A document or report will need to be
produced, summarising the key results of the
interview. This could compare the findings from
the different interviews.
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