Mastering Qualitative Research Interviews: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: So you've been asked to conduct a qualitative research interview. Should be easy-peasy, right? Nope. Interviewing is one of those skills that look easy but is, in fact, quite difficult and takes time and experience to master. I see that you have neither time nor experience. Don't fear. Follow this practical advice and you might come out of this interview with some useful data. Let's talk about how to conduct a qualitative research interview in three steps. Step 1. Prepare for the interview. This may seem like it goes without saying, but you need to select someone to interview who is knowledgeable regarding whatever topic your qualitative research is about. Much to my surprise, students are often surprised that when they interview someone who doesn't know anything about their research topic, they don't get any useful data. Surprise. Don't be surprised. And when you find the person, you'll want to be clear about the time commitment. Will it be one 30-minute interview or do you anticipate longer or multiple interviews? Also, be very clear about expectations of confidentiality. Tell them how you will work to protect their data, even if that's not a priority for them. As researchers, protecting the people we work with is always a priority for us. Always. You will also need to think through how you're going to document the interview. Will you audio or video record? Will you listen and try to take notes? Decide and then make sure the person you interview is okay with the approach. Pro tip. Nobody likes to be on video, but people are more comfortable with an audio recording. And if you're recording, don't worry about taking notes. Be present. Focus on the person. You can make notes from listening to the recording later. Step 2. Constructing effective research questions. A common approach to qualitative data gathering is called the semi-structured interview. In this approach, you have enough questions to gather the data you think you need, but not enough flexibility to ask follow-up questions and go where the conversation takes you. Here's a couple of tips for writing useful interview questions. Avoid yes-no questions. If you ask a yes-no question, you will get a yes-no answer. So instead of asking, do you like the culture and climate at your job? You can ask the same question in a more open-ended fashion. Tell me about the climate and culture at your job. Ask one question at a time. If you ask multiple questions in one sentence, you're less likely to get answers to each of those questions and more likely that the participant will just answer the first one because, you know, they forgot the other 16 questions you pummeled them with. Be sure to ask your questions in a neutral way. You're not supposed to be leading them to a particular answer. You need honest data. So no, tell me how much you hate that doofus Curtis. And I happen to like Curtis, even if he is a doofus. Lastly, the interviewee will answer the questions you ask, not the questions you thought of after the interview when you realized you didn't get the data you needed and you now regret trying to make up the questions as you went along. So ask the questions that will help your research. An effective way to test the usefulness of those questions is to pilot them with someone who is similar to your interviewee. This will give you feedback regarding if those questions are understood by the participant and if they may lead to the types of data you need. Finding out your questions are bad in a pilot is far more useful than assuming you have awesome questions and choosing not to pilot. Because you don't have awesome questions, you're new at this. Step three, the interview process. Now it's time for the actual interview. Be sure to scope out an appropriate place for the interview. You may want a quiet, secluded place that can offer some confidentiality from eavesdropping neighbors. Just pick a place that won't be too distracting. If you're recording the interview or taking notes, be sure to ask permission once again. And during the interview, be aware of your body language. If you hear something unexpected and your eyes communicate, this dude crazy, your interview will come to a screeching halt as the interviewee tries to backpedal what could have been really useful data, but you freaked out about it and they saw you got freaked out. When you're done with the interview, thank the participant and immediately grab a pen and write down your thoughts and connections, ideas, and experiences from the interview. The clock is ticking on your short-term memory, so capture your experiences as the interviewer as quickly as possible. Remember, a good qualitative interview is all about preparation and trust. Do your work to prepare and do the work to be a trustworthy qualitative researcher, protecting the integrity and personhood of the people you work with. And if that's too much to ask, might I suggest a career in quantitative research?