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PLANNING INTERVIEW-BASED RESEARCH PROCEDURES 361
The framing of questions for a semi-structured
interview will also need to consider prompts
and probes (Morrison 1993: 66). Prompts enable
the interviewer to clarify topics or questions,
while probes enable the interviewer to ask
respondents to extend, elaborate, add to, provide
detail for, clarify or qualify their response,
thereby addressing richness, depth of response,
comprehensiveness and honesty that are some
of the hallmarks of successful interviewing (see
also Patton 1980: 238). A probe may be simply
the follow-up ‘why’ question. It could comprise
simply repeating the question, repeating the
answer in a questioning tone, showing interest
and understanding, asking for clarification or an
example or further explication, or, indeed simply
pausing.
Hence an interview schedule for a semistructured
interview (i.e. where topics and openended
questions are written but the exact sequence
and wording does not have to be followed with
each respondent) might include the following:
the topic to be discussed
the specific possible questions to be put for
each topic
the issues within each topic to be discussed,
together with possible questions for each issue
a series of prompts and probes for each topic,
issue and question.
It would be incomplete to end this section
without some comment on sampling in addition
to question type, for the design of the interview
has to consider who is being interviewed. ‘How
many interviews do I need to conduct’ is a
frequent question of novice researchers, asking
both about the numbers of people and the
number of interviews with each person. The
advice here echoes that of Kvale (1996: 101) that
one conducts interviews with as many people as
necessary in order to gain the information sought.
There is no simple rule of thumb, as this depends
on the purpose of the interview, for example,
whether it is to make generalizations, to provide indepth,
individual data, to gain a range of responses.
Although the reader is directed to Chapter 4 on
sampling for fuller treatment of these matters, the
issue here is that the interviewer must ensure that
the interviewees selected will be able to furnish
the researcher with the information, i.e. that they
possess the information.
Interviewing
Setting up and conducting the interview will
make up the next stage in the procedure. Where
interviewers are initiating the research themselves,
they will clearly select their own respondents;
where interviewers are engaged by another agent,
then they will probably be given a list of people to
contact. Tuckman (1972) has succinctly reviewed
the procedures to adopt at the interview itself.
He writes that the interviewer should inform
the participant of the nature or purpose of the
interview, being honest yet without risking biasing
responses, and should strive to put the participant
at ease. The conduct of the interview should
be explained (what happens, and how, and the
structure and organization of the interview), how
responses may be recorded (and to seek permission
if this is to happen), and these procedures should
be observed throughout. During the interview the
biases and values of the interviewer should not be
revealed, and the interviewer should avoid being
judgemental. The interviewer may have to steer
respondents if they are rambling off the point,
without being impolite.
It is crucial to keep uppermost in one’s mind
the fact that the interview is a social, interpersonal
encounter, not merely a data collection
exercise. Indeed Kvale (1996: 125) suggests that
an interview follows an unwritten script for interactions,
the rules for which only surface when
they are transgressed. Hence the interviewer must
be at pains to conduct the interview carefully and
sensitively. Kvale (1996: 147) adds that, as the
researcher is the research instrument, the effective
interviewer is not only knowledgeable about the
subject matter but also an expert in interaction
and communication. The interviewer will need
to establish an appropriate atmosphere such that
the participant can feel secure to talk freely. This
operates at several levels.
Chapter 16