Interviews and focus groups
Lesley Jolly
ljolly@bigpond.net.au
Semistructured interviews
 “… attempts to understand the world
from the subjects' point of view, to
unfold the meaning of peoples'
experiences, to uncover their lived
world prior to scientific explanations."
(Kvale, 1996).
 NOT for finding out about population
parameters
When to use interviews
 to generate ideas
 to develop a greater understanding of
an issue or topic
 to refine a research question
 to evaluate the impact of a particular
program, policy or issue
 to gain key stakeholder support
Circumstances calling for interviews
 High status people are involved as
respondents
 People with extensive knowledge or
expertise are involved
 The population to be interviewed is small
and homogeneous
 You need in-depth information
 The topic is sensitive, or the operating
environment is sensitive and discretion is
important
How to use interviews
 Mix with other methods
 Eg early in research to design surveys or
late in research to explore issues raised
by surveys
 Use interview guide
 List of topic areas to be covered
 Ask good questions
 Concrete, concise, probing
How to probe
 Getting more information without
injecting yourself too much
 Silent probe – wait for answer/expansion
 Echo probe – repeat what’s said and ask
for more
 Back channel – uh-huh
 Tell-me-more – “why do you feel that?”
 Long question – you elaborate
 Phased assertion – reveal what you know
Focus groups
 Not just a group interview – members
chosen as representative of sub-group in
factorial design
 Should be done in series balanced with
other data gathering techniques
 Members should be homogenous on
independent variables and not know each
other.
 See The Focus Group Kit by D. Morgan et al
Analysing data
 Coding (Berkowitz, 1997)
 What patterns and common themes emerge?
 Are there any deviations from these patterns? If
so, how can these be explained?
 What interesting stories emerge from the
responses?
 Do any of these patterns suggest that additional
data may be needed?
 Do the patterns that emerge corroborate the
findings of any corresponding qualitative
analyses that have been conducted?
 If not, what might explain these discrepancies?
Some references
 Kvale, S. (1996). Inter Views: An Introduction to
Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
 Rubin, H.J. & Rubin, I.S. (2004). Qualitative
Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
 Denzin, N.K., & Y. S. Lincoln (ed). 1998. The
Landscape of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
 Minichello, V., R. Aroni, E. Timewell and L. Alexander.
1995. Indepth Interviewing: Principles, Techniques,
Analysis. Melbourne: Longman.