UNSTRUCTURED AND SEMI STRUCTURED INTERVIEWING Fabrizio Salvador

Professor of Operations Management, IE Business School Adjunct Professor, MIT-Zaragoza Logistics Center Founding Member, MIT Smart Customization Group

Ecole Suprieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales de Tunis Tunis, June 28, 2011

UNSTRUCTURED TO STRUCTURED

Informal interviewing:

the researcher just tries to remember conversations heard through the day while being in the field Informants do not have to realize that you are studying them You have to quick turn your impressions or sketches of these interviews into field notes

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UNSTRUCTURED TO STRUCTURED

Informal interviewing:

the researcher asks questions based on a clear plan that s/he keeps constantly in mind, imposing minimal control over the respondent It is not chit-chat: both the researcher and informant are aware that they are not just engaging in a pleasant chat

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UNSTRUCTURED TO STRUCTURED
Semi-structured interviewing:

They are based on an interview guide, i.e. a written list of questions and topics that need to be covered (in a particular order?) The interview guide may also include other instruction for the interviewer Particularly appropriate for one-shot data collection processes, when you get only one chance to interview someone; Unavoidable if you are relying on data collection teams Recommendable for elite interviewing, when your informants are accustomed to an efficient use of time
Fabrizio Salvador

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UNSTRUCTURED TO STRUCTURED

Structured interviewing:

People are asked to respond to as nearly

identical a set of stimuli as possible

It is basically questionnaire-based reserach

It is a totally different type of interviewing, that does not belong to qualitative methods!!!!!

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GETTING ACCESS

Assure people of anonymity and confidentiality Share interview protocol, at least the essential points you intend to discuss Be transparent about your purposes Anticipate possible anxieties of the informant Sell your research topic and show genuine interest for what the informant can tell you about it Be careful of relying on third parties to get access to your informant Be aware of the social contract implied
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ON THE RESEARCH SITE

Try to establish an emphatic relation with the informant Briefly recap the goal of the study and the key points you want to discuss in the interview Re-confirm the agreement relative to the duration of the interview Better if you are in two interviewers Be flexible relative to the site of the interview but be aware of noise
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WHILE INTERVIEWING

Listen more, talk less

Make sure you are really understanding Make sure that the level of detail is the right one Make sure you are not hearing the outer voice of your informant Be aware both of the process and of the substance (it is like teaching somehow).

Ask questions when you do not understand

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WHILE INTERVIEWING

Ask to hear more about a subject

Do not let the interview protocol to be a straitjacket Follow your hunches If you are unsatisfied with the answer, go deeper remember you are not paying a courtesy visit. Avoid rhetoric or leading questions

Ask real questions

Ask open-ended questions

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WHILE INTERVIEWING

Do not interrupt

The informant: write down your further questions Do not deviate continuously from the flow of the interview

If the participant appears to be intimidated by you(deference effect)

Ask participants to talk as if you were somewhere else

Tolerate silence (silent probe)

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WHILE INTERVIEWING

If the participants tries unsuccessfully to theorize or is not providing meaningful information (expectancy effect)

Ask to tell a story Managers always lead you are the one who is in charge Ask concrete details when people are too vague

Keep participants focused

Do not take the ebbs and flows of interviewing too personally!!!

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WHILE INTERVIEWING

Share experienceson occasions Ask participants to reconstruct, not to remember Avoid reinforcing your participants responese

Yesyes / Ahh-ha! / Right!

Explore laughter

Irony / fun / nervousness

Use your interview guide cautiously

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WHILE INTERVIEWING

Echo probing

Repeat the last sentence said by the informant

and ask to continue / elaborate

Long-question probing

Rely on longer, more articulated questions if you want to explain complex topics you want to talk about Ask tough questions, highlight incongruence in what the informant is saying without being threatening! Use what you know from other informants /sources to get another informant toSalvador open Fabrizio

Probing-by-leading

Phased-assertion probing

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CLOSING THE INTERVIEW

Close the interview leaving the door open for further exploration See if informants can refer you to other informants you were not aware of (snowballing) Get notes scribbled by the informants Ask for other archival data sources that could complement the interview

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AFTER THE INTERVIEW

Take notes on intriguing aspects / puzzles / new threads or hypotheses that are opened by the interview If you were interviewing with a partner, discuss together your interpretation of the interview content, etc. Have the interview transcribed

Explain the importance of accurate transcription Cross-check the transcripts for systematic errors or fillin

If applicable, remember to send a feedback to the informant containing the results of the study

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