Interviews

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Talk to people. Pull out stories. Listen for themes.

Getting Started with Interviews

Photo by Michal Czyz on Unsplash

Read:

Corbin, J. & Morse, J. M. (2003). The unstructured interactive interview: Issues of reciprocity and risks. Qualitative Inquiry, 9, 335–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800403009003001
Knight, S. ECU College of Health and Human Performance, Department of Health Education and Promotion 1 of 4 Office of Faculty Excellence Presentation: Formulating In-Depth Interview Questions, February 11, 2013. (via Studocu.com)

Applied Example in Oregon

Health Experience Research Network & DIPEx International

Dr. Cottrell directs the Health Experience Research Network (HERN), which seeks to amplify patient and caregiver voices in health research by documenting the patient experience around diseases and conditions. HERN is part of the DIPEx international effort to share patient stories and create resources for patients.

Recommended exploration: Topics completed by HERN (public-facing outputs) and compare that to the list of topics completed by DIPEx internationally through collaboration.

Erika Cottrell, PhD, MPP; Photo: OHSU

Leveling up in Interviewing

Dr. Cottrell gave a seminar on January 27, 2022 and recommended being careful not to generalize based on a single voice. She recommends "The Danger of a Single Story" by novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

HERN's research aims to include individuals of diverse identities with particular attention to the intersection of systemic racism and health. Dr. Cottrell's seminar "Amplifying Patient Voices in Clinical Research through HERN" on January 27, 2022 is publicly available.

Interviewing Tips of the Trade

Pro tips

Before you go

Be trauma-informed. If your topic is sensitive, bring facial tissues. If it is uncomfortable, bring fidget items (i.e. crayons & paper, slinkys, magnetic beads, fuzzy sticks, squishy balls, etc.)
Are there resource sheets that you can bring? What might provide your participants with more information or how/where to seek support.
How will you share results of the project with them and others? Be able to describe this - it builds trust and rapport.

As you plan your scripts:

Make sure your questions tie back to your research question. Seriously. Transcription can be costly. Coding data takes a while. Do you *really* need that question?
Make questions open-ended. If you can answer using yes/no, reframe your question to permit more description and elaboration of answers. You'll get much better data for coding.
End on an empowering question

At the time

You can record sessions with participant permission using video conference transcription services (e.g., Zoom, WebEx) or use the Otter app
Leave time at the end to make sure it's a positive conclusion. Going over time is not recommended.

After the interview

Clean up your field notes as soon as possible. Write down important details from the interview as well as your initial thoughts and reflections.
Document management is vital -- Label all files with a consistent coding system (maintaining participant anonymity) using date, location, or other items that will allow you to find files easily.

Photo by Story Catchers/Facebook/Yorktown This Week

Kelley Bird-Naytowhow

Great perspective on discovering qualitative research as a career and becoming a Story Catcher working with Indigenous youth. Plus great cultural considerations for interviewing.

Read:

Maggrah, J. Indigenous man leads youth with research and Indigenous values. Yorktown This Week. October 11, 2020.

Recording Tools

Phone voice recorder
Video conference tools (e.g., Zoom, Webex)
Other recording device

Don't forget:

Participant needs to agree to being recorded. Record their confirmation as you begin.

Transcription Tools

Transcribing interviews can be time-consuming. Here are some different ways researchers are transcribing their interviews.

https://otranscribe.com/ (open source transcription program)
Zoom and Webex have embedded transcription
Otter.ai
Sonix (2 week free trial)
Transcription services (~$1/minute)
OHSU library has qualitative materials including transcription software (e.g., Express Scribe)

Types of Interview Probes

"Probing and following up in interviews are means by which qualitative interviewers attempt to get an interviewee to open up, provide more information, elaborate and expand on what they have said. It is difficult to plan probes in advance because they are responses to what an interviewee is saying at the time in the interview, but it is useful to have a sense of the range of probes that a qualitative interviewer can use." Edwards & Holland (2013), p82

Source: Edwards, R., & Holland, J. (2013). What is qualitative interviewing?. A&C Black. Access PDF from National Center for Research

Bernard's 7 Types of Probes (2000)

Silence. Be quiet, nod head, wait.
Echo. Repeat what was said for comprehension/expansion
Uh-huh. Similar to silent probes; affirms, extends
Tell-me-more. - "Why do you feel like that about it?’ ‘Can you tell me more about that?’ ‘What did you mean when you said . . .?’ ‘What did you do then?’ etc.
Long question. ‘Tell me about <....> and how you <....>" (2000: p.198).
Leading. Directive probes toward a specific issue

Source: Bernard, H. R. (2000) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches , Thousand Oaks, CA, London and New Delhi: Sage.

Also summarized on p73 in Edwards, R., & Holland, J. (2013). What is qualitative interviewing?. A&C Black. Access PDF from National Center for Research

Types of Probes in Cognitive Interviews (Collins, 2003)

Cognitive interviews explore understanding and recall of information.

Think-aloud/general - How did you go about answering that question? Tell me what you are thinking? I noticed you hesitated before you answered – what were you thinking about? How easy or difficult did you find this question to answer? Why do you say that?
Comprehension What does the term X mean to you? What did you understand by X?
Retrieval How did you remember that? Did you have a particular time period in mind? How did you calculate your answer?
Confidence judgment How well do you remember this? How sure of your answer are you?
Response How did you feel about answering this question? Were you able to find your first answer to the question from the response option shown?

Source: Table 2 from Collins, D. (2003). Pretesting survey instruments: an overview of cognitive methods. Quality of life research, 12(3), 229-238. PDF from Springer
Additional resource: Priede, C., Jokinen, A., Ruuskanen, E., & Farrall, S. (2014). Which probes are most useful when undertaking cognitive interviews?. International journal of social research methodology, 17(5), 559-568.https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2013.799795 or PDF from Univ. Sheffield

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