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PLANNING INTERVIEW-BASED RESEARCH PROCEDURES 359
contrast questions (asking respondents to
contrast one thing with another)
feeling questions
sensory questions
background questions
demographic questions.
These concern the substance of the question. Kvale
(1996: 133–5) adds to these what might be termed
the process questions, i.e. questions that
introduce a topic or interview
follow-up on a topic or idea
probe for further information or response
ask respondents to specify and provide
examples
directly ask for information
indirectly ask for information
interpret respondents’ replies.
We may also note that interviewees may be
presented with either a question or a statement. In
the case of the latter they will be asked for their
response to it in one form or another.
Example question: Do you think homework should be
compulsory for all children between 11 and 16
Although the interviewer has little control
over the unstructured response, it does ensure
that respondents have the freedom to give their
own answer as fully as they choose rather than
being constrained in some way by the nature
of the question. The chief disadvantage of the
unstructured response concerns the matter of
quantification. Data yielded in the unstructured
response are more difficult to code and quantify
than data in the structured response.
A fill-in response mode requires the respondent
to supply rather than choose a response, though
the response is often limited to a word or phrase.
Example: What is your present occupation
or
How long have you lived at your present address
The differences between the fill-in response and
the unstructured response is one of degree.
A tabular response is similar to a fill-in response
though more structured. It may demand words,
figures or phrases, for example:
University Subject Degree Dates
From
To
Chapter 16
Example statement: Homework should be compulsory
for all children between 11 and 16 years old.
Agree Disagree Don’t know
Response modes
If there are varied ways of asking questions, it
follows there will be several ways in which they
may be answered. It is to the different response
modes that we now turn. In all, Tuckman (1972)
lists seven such modes.
The first of these is the unstructured response.
This allows respondents to give their answer in
whatever way they choose.
Example: Why did you not go to university
A structured response,bycontrast,wouldlimitthem
in some way.
Example: Can you give me two reasons for not going
to university
It is thus a convenient and short-hand way of
recording complex information.
A scaled response is one structured by means of
aseriesofgradations.Respondentsarerequired
to record their response to a given statement by
selecting from a number of alternatives.
Example: What are your chances of reaching a top
managerial position within the next five years
Excellent Good Fair Poor Very Poor
Tuckman (1972) draws our attention to the fact
that, unlike an unstructured response which has
to be coded to be useful as data, a scaled response
is collected in the form of usable and analysable
data.
A ranking response is one in which a respondent
is required to rank-order a series of words, phrases
or statements according to a particular criterion.