RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

TYPES OF INTERVIEW 355
One can cluster the sets of poles of the five
continua thus:
Quantitative approaches Qualitative approaches
numbers
words
predetermined, given open-ended, responsive
measuring
capturing uniqueness
short-term, intermittent long-term, continuous
comparing
capturing particularity
correlating
valuing quality
frequencies
individuality
formality
informality
looking at
looking for
regularities
uniqueness
description
explanation
objective facts
subjective facts
describing
interpreting
looking in from the outside
structured
looking from the inside
unstructured
statistical
ethnographic,
illuminative
The left-hand column is much more formal and
pre-planned to a high level of detail, while the
right-hand column is far less formal and the fine
detail emerges only once the researcher is in situ.
Interviews in the left-hand column are frontloaded,
that is, they require all the categories
and multiple choice questions to be worked out
in advance. This usually requires a pilot to try out
the material and refine it. Once the detail of this
planning is completed, the analysis of the data is
relatively straightforward because the categories
for analysing the data have been worked out in
advance, hence data analysis is rapid.
The right-hand column is much more endloaded,
that is, it is quicker to commence and
gather data because the categories do not have to
be worked out in advance, they emerge once the
data have been collected. However, in order to
discover the issues that emerge and to organize the
data presentation, the analysis of the data takes
considerably longer.
Kvale (1996: 30) sets out key characteristics of
qualitative research interviews, which should do
the following:
Engage, understand and interpret the key
feature of the lifeworlds of the participants.
Use natural language to gather and understand
qualitative knowledge.
Be able to reveal and explore the nuanced descriptions
of the lifeworlds of the participants.
Elicit descriptions of specific situations and
actions, rather than generalities.
Adopt a deliberate openness to new data
and phenomena, rather than being too prestructured.
Focus on specific ideas and themes, i.e.
have direction, but avoid being too tightly
structured.
Accept the ambiguity and contradictions of
situations where they occur in participants,
if this is a fair reflection of the ambiguous
and contradictory situation in which they find
themselves.
Accept that the interview may provoke new
insights and changes in the participants
themselves.
Regard interviews as an interpersonal encounter,
with all that this entails.
Be a positive and enriching experience for all
participants.
There are four main kinds of interview that
we discuss here that may be used specifically
as research tools: the structured interview,
the unstructured interview, the non-directive
interview and the focused interview. The structured
interview is one in which the content and
procedures are organized in advance. This means
that the sequence and wording of the questions
are determined by means of a schedule and
the interviewer is left little freedom to make
modifications. Where some leeway is granted to
the interviewer, it too is specified in advance. It is
therefore characterized by being a closed situation.
In contrast to it in this respect, the unstructured
interview is an open situation, having greater
flexibility and freedom. As Kerlinger (1970)
notes, although the research purposes govern
the questions asked, their content, sequence
and wording are entirely in the hands of the
interviewer. This does not mean, however, that
the unstructured interview is a more casual affair,
for in its own way it also has to be carefully planned.
Chapter 16