Chapter 6

Question 1

The staging of an interview (6)

Answer 1

1. Arrival - once the interviewer arrives, they are responsible for putting the respondent at ease.
2. Introducing the research - mentioning the nature and purpose of the study.
3. Beginning the interview - researcher begins with opening questions
4. During the interview - researcher guides the respondent through the different themes.
5. Ending the interview - the researcher announces that the interview is almost finished.
6. After the interview - researcher thanks respondent.

Question 2

What is the role of the researcher throughout an in-depth interview? (3)

Answer 2

• Must allow and enable the interviewee to talk about their thoughts, feelings, views, and experiences.
• Managing the interview so that the required topics are covered in required depth.
• Must not influence the interviewees answers and communicate the role of the interviewee to them clearly.

Question 3

What is the role of the interviewee? (4)

Answer 3

• Give fulsome answers
• Provide more depth when probing questions are asked
• Reflect and think on the questions/answers
• Raise issues they see as relevant but are not directly asked about

Question 4

What are the 2 types of questions that can achieve both breadth and depth of coverage?

Answer 4

• Content mapping questions - questions which cover the breadth of a topic
• Content mining questions - questions to discover details within each dimension.

Question 5

What are the main content mapping questions? (3)

Answer 5

• Ground mapping questions - first questions asked to open a topic, often very broad.
• Dimension mapping questions - questions used to get the respondent to focus more narrowly on certain topics or questions. They structure and guide the interview.
• Perspective-widening questions - questions that allow the interviewer to broaden the respondent’s perspective. Encourages further thought and may use prompts to do so.

Question 6

What are the main content mining questions? (4)

Answer 6

• Amplificatory probes - encourages respondents to go deeper into something.
• Exploratory probes - questions aimed at discovering underlying feelings, this may be towards thoughts of descriptions, behaviors, events, or experiences.
• Explanatory probes - questions that go deeper into the ‘why’ behind certain things.
• Clarificatory probes - questions that search for more clarity.

Question 7

What are the 4 methods of utilizing clarificatory probes?

Answer 7

• Asking for clarification of terms and language
• Asking for clarification of details, consequences, etc…
• Clarifying by testing a point of view
• Continuously asking questions when there are inconsistencies

Question 8

What are some basic guidelines for asking interview questions? (7)

Answer 8

• Use both open and closed questions (long answer and yes/no)
• Avoid leading questions (where the interviewer may influence the interviewees answer)
• Avoid introducing a question (might unintentionally produce a leading question)
• Avoid duplicate questions
• Avoid abstract or theoretical questions- clear and concise so it is easy to follow.
• Think about language used in questions

Question 9

What other techniques can one use to achieve depth of coverage? (5)

Answer 9

• Listening and remembering
• Facilitating the relationship
• Ensure that any assumptions that may be present are questioned and confirmed as to why.
• Respond to emotion, body language, and other forms of non-verbal communication
• Neutrality towards questions and not disclosing your own thoughts.