Structuring my Inquiry Tools (Interviews)

I am currently in the process of organising times/dates for my interviews and focus group discussion. All of my participants have been emailed an information sheet and consent form to be signed so I feel like I am starting to get on top of things and manage my time wisely.

My biggest task at the moment is to figure out how I want to structure my interviews and focus group to get the most out of the limited time I have with my participants. As it will be the first time that I am conducting anything like this, I thought I would start by seeking some advice from Google and I found a selection of really useful websites. Beginning with a how-to-guide for conducting an interview, the following 2 links give some really useful tips:


The Open University - Conducting an Interview (Anon, undated)
https://www2.open.ac.uk/students/skillsforstudy/conducting-an-interview.php (accessed 17.10.16) 

Duke Initiative on Survey Methodology (DISM): Tipsheet - Qualitative Interviewing (Anon, undated) 
(This is a PDF document)
http://www.dism.ssri.duke.edu/pdfs/Tipsheet%20-%20Qualitative%20Interviews.pdf (accessed 17.10.16)

I have decided that my interviews will be semi-structured to give my interviewees room to respond how they like. This means that I will be making lists of questions/key points that I want to cover and I will systematically work through them with the interviewees allowing them time to provide the information they think to be the most relevant. This method deems the most suitable for my topic area due to the fact that there is currently little information out there. These interviews give me the opportunity to start gathering that information and developing lines for inquiry.

Before I even start posing questions to my interviewees, I am going to have to ensure that:

• They consent to being audio recorded
• They consent to the data being used for my professional inquiry
• They are aware of the maintenance of their anonymity 
• They do not have to answer any question they do not wish to answer 
• They can withdraw from the interview at any stage and without prejudice  

As advised by the links above, I should strive to:

• First explain the aim/purpose of the interview - I have written myself a short paragraph giving a general overview of my professional inquiry and what I intend to achieve from each individuals interview
• Create a comfortable/relaxed environment - this is a bit more of a challenge for me due to the fact that 2 of my interviews are to be done via Skype however I intend to ease my interviewees with friendly, off-topic conversation before delving into the interview. I also need to ensure that I am in as quiet a setting as possible for all my interviews as I want the audio recordings to be as clear as is achievable
• Avoid prompting "yes" or "no" answers as well as biased responses - to avoid such responses I want to make my questions broad and open-ended so that the interviewee has the freedom to answer honestly without being lead in a specific direction
• Logical question sequence - my questions need to make sense and follow on from one another with naturally flowing transitions. In particular for myself I need to ensure that I do not over-complicate the questions/language used and make them too long  

Question types

I have found the information on question types to be particularly useful from the 2 links above. They suggested some really good question-starters if you like! Phrases such as 'Can you tell me about...?' or 'Can you give more detail...?' or 'Do you have any examples?'. I hope that by using phrases such as this I will be able to keep the interviews moving and avoid any unwanted silences or confusion. I have incorporated a few of these into my questions and will be testing them out with my first interview which will take place this Thursday. I will update you on how it all goes - hopefully smoothly!  

Recording my interviews

I will be taking a separate recording of each interview so that when I come back to analysing the data, I will be able to quickly refresh my memory on the discussion that took place and take very accurate quotes from the interviews should I so wish. I will also be taking concise notes of any points raised which I think to be important. I want to ensure that I do not miss out on any key information that could benefit my research. I will be looking further into transcribing the data following the interviews over the next couple of weeks so look out for updates!

More details to follow on how I will be structuring my focus group...