Evaluate semi-structured, focus groups and
narrative interviews.
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Semi-structured
Focus group
Narrative interview
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This technique is used to collect qualitative data
by setting up a situation (the interview) that
allows a respondent the time and scope to talk
about their opinions on a particular subject.
The focus of the interview is decided by the
researcher or research committee and there
may be areas the researcher is interested in
exploring.
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The objective is to understand the respondent's
point of view rather than make generalizations
about behavior.
It uses open-ended questions, some suggested
by the researcher (“Tell me about…”) and some
arise naturally during the interview (“You said a
moment ago…can you tell me more?”).
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The researcher tries to build a rapport with the
respondent and the interview is like a
conversation.
Questions are asked when the interviewer feels it
is appropriate to ask them.
They may be prepared questions or questions
that occur to the researcher during the interview.
The wording of questions will not necessarily be
the same for all respondents. This adds to the
subjectivity and uniqueness of the interview.
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A structured interview (also known as a
standardized interview or a researcheradministered survey) is a quantitative research
method commonly employed in survey research.
The aim of this approach is to ensure that each
interview is presented with exactly the same
questions in the same order.
This ensures that answers can be reliably
aggregated and that comparisons can be
made with confidence between sample
subgroups or between different survey periods.
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Structured interviews are a means of collecting
data for a statistical survey.
In this case, the data is collected by an
interviewer rather than through a selfadministered questionnaire.
Interviewers read the questions exactly as they
appear on the survey questionnaire. The choice
of answers to the questions is often fixed (closeended) in advance, though open-ended
questions can also be included within a
structured interview.
An interview guide is also used, but additional
questions can be asked. Corbetta (2003) explains
semi-structured interviews as follows:
1. The order in which the various topics are dealt with
and the wording of the questions are left to the
interviewer’s discretion.
2. Within each topic, the interviewer is free to conduct
the conversation as he thinks fit, to ask the questions
he deems appropriate in the words he considers
best, to give explanation and ask for clarification if
the answer is not clear, to prompt the respondent to
elucidate further if necessary, and to establish his
own style of conversation.
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Positive rapport between interviewer and
interviewee. Very simple, efficient and practical
way of getting data about things that can’t be
easily observed (i.e. feelings and emotions). Why
is it important to have a positive rapport with
your interviewee?
High Validity. People are able to talk about
something in detail and depth. The meanings
behind an action may be revealed as the
interviewee is able to speak for themselves with
little direction from interviewer. What is an
example of this?
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Complex questions and issues can be
discussed/clarified. The interviewer can probe areas
suggested by the respondent's answers, picking-up
information that had either not occurred to the
interviewer or of which the interviewer had no prior
knowledge. (i.e. “in your last response, you spoke
about parental pressure that may cause high levels
of stress in I.B. seniors, can you expound on that?”)
Hence, with this type of interview the interviewers are
able to ask more detailed questions of respondents’
situations and not adhere only to the interview guide.
In addition, the researcher can explain or rephrase
the questions if respondents are unclear about the
questions.
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Semi-structured interviews are very subjectively
dependent on the interviewers personal skill and
experience. (the ability to think of questions
during the interview, for example). How is this a
limitation?
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The inexperienced interviewer may not be able
to ask prompt questions.
If this is the case, some relevant data may not be
gathered.
In addition, inexperienced interviewers may not
probe into a situation. For example, if the
respondents offers an answer that may lead to
new ideas about a phenomena , the interviewer
needs to probe and find out the reasons and ask
for explanations.
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Interviewer may give out subconscious signals /
cues that guide respondent to give answers
expected by interviewer. How is this a limitation?
What are examples of this?
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Interviews are not very reliable - difficult to
exactly repeat a semi-structured interview.
Respondents may be asked different questions
(non-standardized). Samples tend to be small.
Personal nature of interview may make findings
difficult to generalize (respondents may
effectively be answering different questions).
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The Hawthorne Effect: how can this effect
interviews?
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Focus groups are a qualitative data collection
method effective in helping researchers learn the
social norms of a community or subgroup, as well
as the range of perspectives that exist within that
community or subgroup.
Focus groups are often used to determine what
service or product a particular population wants
or would like to have, such as in marketing
studies.
They are also used to better understand the
uniqueness of specific subgroups.
Because focus groups seek to illuminate group
opinion, the method is especially well suited
for socio-behavioral research that will be used to
develop and measure services that meet the
needs of a specific population.
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They are “focused” in two ways.
First, the persons being interviewed are similar in
some way (e.g., limited resource family members
as a group, family service providers as a group,
local officials as a group).
Second, the purpose of the interview is to gather
information about a particular topic guided by a
set of focused questions.
Participants hear and interact with each other
and the leader, which yields different information
than if people were interviewed individually.
How can this be beneficial?
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The purpose of focus groups is to develop a
broad and deep understanding rather than a
quantitative summary.
Focus groups are a highly effective method for
“listening” to participants. This method truly adds
the human aspect to research.
Focus groups might be used to develop ideas
that can be tested through interviews, surveys, or
other research techniques. Important note:
Focus groups by themselves are usually never
used as a stand alone research method. It is
usually used in conjunction with other methods
(triangulation).
1. The Ability Of Group Participants To Interact With
Each Other
 When participate are stimulated to discuss, the
group dynamics can generate new thinking
about a topic which will result in a much more indepth discussion. When would this be
beneficial?
2. Release of inhibition by participants. A well
moderated group encourages full and open
expression of perceptions, experiences,
attitudes,
etc.
3. Flexibility. A focus group is typically more flexible
than an individual interview (Wells, 1974). The
moderator "works from a list of topics—listening,
thinking, probing, exploring, framing hunches
and
ideas" (p. 134).
4. Handling contingencies. A focus group is
amenable to exploring linkages which go
untouched in a statistical survey (Wells, 1974, p.
134).
In other words, it is possible to explore avenues of
importance which may arise other than those
listed on a questionnaire.
4. Handling contingencies. A focus group is
amenable to exploring linkages which go
untouched in a statistical survey (Wells, 1974, p.
134).
In other words, it is possible to explore avenues of
importance which may arise other than those
listed on a questionnaire.
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5. Time. Eliciting responses from eight to twelve
respondents in a focus group lasting one to two
hours is more "time effective" than interviewing
the same number individually.
6. Provision of basic exploratory information.
When little is known in advance of investigation,
the focus group may provide a basis for
formulating research questions and hypothesis
(Zeller, 1987). Focus groups are great ways to
begin a between method triangularly study.
The focus group method and data do, however, have
some disadvantages:
 1. Cost. A series of four focus groups, for example,
could easily cost more than $2,500, depending on
moderator fee, facility rental, recording and
transcribing, data analysis and interpretation, and
participant incentives.
 2. Subjects' conformity. Social desirability, or
respondents' motivation to provide socially
acceptable responses to conform to group norms is
somewhat greater in a group than in the anonymous
process of survey questionnaire completion (Crowne
& Marlow, 1964).
The focus group method and data do, however,
have some disadvantages:
 3. Biased results. An analyst should not
generalize from focus group results to the larger
population from which the respondents were a
sample, and it is well to remember that the
respondents are volunteers who may be more
extroverted, outgoing, and sociable than the
"average“ individual.
 In other words, those who “agree” to be apart of
the focus group may be a misrepresentation of
the larger population. How so?
The focus group method and data do, however,
have some disadvantages:
 3. Biased results. An analyst should not
generalize from focus group results to the larger
population from which the respondents were a
sample, and it is well to remember that the
respondents are volunteers who may be more
extroverted, outgoing, and sociable than the
"average“ individual.
 In other words, those who “agree” to be apart of
the focus group may be a misrepresentation of
the larger population. How so?
The focus group method and data do, however, have
some disadvantages:
 1. Cost. A series of four focus groups, for example,
could easily cost more than $2,500, depending on
moderator fee, facility rental, recording and
transcribing, data analysis and interpretation, and
participant incentives.
 2. Subjects' conformity. Social desirability, or
respondents' motivation to provide socially
acceptable responses to conform to group norms is
somewhat greater in a group than in the anonymous
process of survey questionnaire completion (Crowne
& Marlow, 1964).
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The Narrative Interview envisions a setting which
encourages and stimulates interviewees to tell a
story about some significant event in the
informants' life.
Its basic idea is to reconstruct social events from
the perspective of informants as direct as
possible. In the NI the interviewee is called the
`informant'.
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Conceptually the idea of narrative interviewing is
motivated by a critique of the questionresponse-schema of most interviews.
In the question-response mode the interviewer is
imposing structures in a threefold sense: (a) by
selecting the theme and the topics, (b) by
ordering the questions and (c) by wording the
questions in his or her language.
Such data is said to reveal more about the
interviewer's own relevance structures than
about the issues under investigating. One could
say: who asks the questions controls the situation.
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Conceptually the idea of narrative interviewing is
motivated by a critique of the questionresponse-schema of most interviews.
In the question-response mode the interviewer is
imposing structures in a threefold sense: (a) by
selecting the theme and the topics, (b) by
ordering the questions and (c) by wording the
questions in his or her language.
Such data is said to reveal more about the
interviewer's own relevance structures than
about the issues under investigating. One could
say: who asks the questions controls the situation.
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To elicit a less imposed and therefore more
credible account of the informant's perspective
the influence of the interviewer should be
minimal, and the setting should be arranged to
achieve this minimizing of interviewer influence.
The NI goes further than any other qualitative
method in avoiding restructuring in the interview;
it is the most consequent attempt to go beyond
the questions-response-type interview.
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The NI uses a specific type of everyday
communicative interaction, namely story telling
and listening, to reach this objective. The rules of
engagement restrict the interviewer to avoid
restructuring of events/problems as far as
possible.
To avoid restructuring, the question-responseschema is in favor of the narration schema. It is
postulated that the perspective of the
interviewee is best revealed in stories where the
informant is using his or her own spontaneous
language in the narration of events.
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However, it would be naive to claim, that the
narration is without structure. A narrative is
formally structured; narration follows a selfgenerating schema.
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The primary advantage of in-depth interviews is
that they provide much more detailed
information than what is available through other
data collection methods, such as surveys.
Sticking with the aim of qualitative research, this
research methods gives the researcher an indepth view of a personal account of a
phenomenon.
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Perhaps for this reason, the narrative interview
comes into its own when considering a quality
improvement initiative from the perspective of
subgroups (such as the socially excluded, the
seriously ill, and cultural bound syndromes).
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Narrative interviews are great at explaining
complexity of individual experience because it
shows how humans construct meaning in their
lives. This also helps the researcher to understand
how humans interpret situations in their lives.
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The credibility of the interview is solely based on
the narrative account of the informant. How can
this be a limitation?
Biased results. An analyst should not generalize
from the personal account of one informant to
the larger population from which the
respondents were a sample, and again, it is well
to remember that the respondents are
volunteers who may be more extroverted,
outgoing, and sociable than the "average“
individual from your population.
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Can be time-intensive: Narrative Interviews can
be a time-intensive evaluation activity because
of the time it takes to conduct the interviews,
transcribe them, and analyze the results.
Often time, 3-5 Narratives are used to develop a
understanding of the specific phenomenon. This
process, from start to finish, can be very time
consuming.
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The way the interviewer initiates the interview
codetermines the quality of the narration.
This puts too much focus on the beginning of the
interview. The narration is likely to be an outcome
of the way the interviewer comport him or herself.
The initiation phase is difficult to standardize and
relies totally on the social skills of the interviewer.
This sensitivity of the method to the beginning
may be a cause of stress for the interviewer and
might make it difficult to apply the NI in a
research project with several interviewers (Hopf,
1978).
Discuss considerations involved before, during
and after an interview
Kvale (1996) defines the research interview as
“…an interview whose purpose is to obtain
descriptions of the life world of the interviewee
with respect to interpreting the meaning of the
described phenomena.”
The interview process, start to finish, is a very
specific time consuming process. This must be
discussed in detail for this objective.
Design and Development of Interview Studies for
Evaluation
 While much of the value of qualitative
interviewing lies in its flexibility and openness, it
remains extremely important for the evaluation
planning team to think through the process and
provide the basic structure and framework which
will make the study useful and worthwhile. Kvale
(1996) describes in detail seven stages in
designing and implementing an interview study,
which we will summarize.
Design and Development of Interview Studies
for Evaluation (Tom Danced Inside The
Audience Very Ridiculously )
1. Thematizing
2. Designing
3. Interviewing
4. Transcribing
5. Analyzing
6. Verifying
7. Reporting
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Before even thinking about particular
methods or interview formats, the evaluation
team needs to be clear on the purpose of the
study and the topic to be investigated.
The questions of "why" and "what" need to be
answered before the question of "how" can
be answered. This is as important in a
qualitative evaluation study as in a
quantitative one. Why is this particularly
important in qualitative research (this should
be discussed in your response).
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The overall design for the study, including the
later stages of analyzing and reporting, should
be planned before the interviewing begins.
For example, if there are no funds for
transcribing or analyzing interviews, it may be
wise to use a more structured format that will
be easier to code later. Why is this important
to do this before you begin the interview?
(Discuss this in your response)
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With Interviewing, the interviewer is the
instrument in this type of evaluation (Guba &
Lincoln, 1981, as cited in Patton, 1987).
The "instrument" can be affected by factors like
fatigue, personality, and knowledge, as well as
levels of skill, training, and experience. What are
examples of these factors effecting the
interview? (Discuss this in your response)
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Patton (1987) points out that any face-to-face
interview is also an observation. The skilled
interviewer is sensitive to nonverbal messages,
effects of the setting on the interview, and
nuances of the relationship.
While these subjective factors are sometimes
considered threats to validity, they can also be
strengths because the skilled interviewer can
use flexibility and insight to ensure an in-depth,
detailed understanding of the participant's
experience. (Discuss differences between skilled
interviewers and novice interviewers in your
response).
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This important step prepares the material from
the interview for analysis. Both Kvale (1996) and
Patton (1990) provide detailed practical
suggestions for this process, ranging from
ensuring that your tape recorder has good
batteries to developing a sensitivity to the
linguistic differences between oral speech and
written text.(Discuss scenarios that provide
justification for this consideration).
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Data analysis is an issue that should be
considered very early in the process of
designing a study.
Qualitative interviews and their transcripts
produce a large volume of material which must
be condensed, categorized or otherwise
interpreted and made meaningful, and this
may turn out to be one of the most costly and
time-consuming aspects of the evaluation.
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If time and resources are limited, you may wish
to use more standardized interview formats
which are easier to code and interpret. (Discuss
the importance of accurately analyzing this
data).
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The most appropriate method of analysis for any
given study will depend on the purpose of your
evaluation and the nature of the material, as well as
the time and resources available for this part of the
process.
Some methods attempt to be more objective, while
others depend more heavily on subjective
judgments and insights of the researcher (which is
usually the case for qualitative interviews).
Computer software programs are available that
can assist in categorizing interview statements or
counting key words, which may allow some forms
of quantitative analysis.
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In traditional research terms, this means
determining reliability (how consistent the
findings are), validity (whether the study really
investigates what you intended to investigate),
and generalizability (whether the findings apply
to anyone outside of this particular program).
In qualititative studies, one important way of
verifying findings or establishing validity is to
actually take transcripts or analyzed results
back to some of the interview participants, and
ask them if this is really what they meant.
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As previously mentioned, Guba and Lincoln
(1989) discuss the concepts of confirmability,
dependability, credibility and transferability as
alternative ways of ensuring quality of data in
qualitative evaluations.
If the evaluation report is to effectively
communicate findings, it must:
a) be in a form that meets some accepted
scientific criteria,
b)
meet ethical standards such as
confidentiality and respect, and
c) be readable and usable for its intended
audiences. In some cases, different reports
may be needed for different audiences.
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An appropriate balance needs to be found
between including endless quotations that will
bore the reader and just quoting a few
entertaining stories that happened to appeal to
the researcher. Why is it important to
adequately and accurately report your
findings? (Discuss this in your response).
The very personal, conversational nature of
interview situations highlight many of the
basic ethical issues of any research or
evaluation method (Patton, 1990). Among
these issues are:
1) Confidentiality
2) Informed
3) Risk assessment
4) Promises and reciprocity
5) Interviewer mental health
1) Confidentiality - Because respondents may be
sharing very personal information, it is important to
honestly assess how much confidentiality you can
promise. Some kinds of disclosures (such as child
abuse or threats to the safety of self or others) must
be reported, and respondents need to know this
from the start.
 Also consider how the confidentiality of
individuals will be preserved when the data are
analyzed and reported. Related issues include
who has access to the data and who "owns" it.
2) Informed consent - Most studies, including
program evaluations, are covered by some
kind of human subjects review process.
 This will usually require that respondents sign a
permission form agreeing to participate, after
being informed of potential risks and benefits.
 If children are involved, a parent or legal
guardian must provide this permission.
3) Risk assessment - It is important to consider
all potential risks and include them in the
informed consent process.
Even though "just talking" may seem inherently
harmless, people who participate in openended interviews may experience
psychological stress, legal or political
repercussions, or ostracism by peers or staff
who believe that the participant has said
unflattering things about them to the
interviewer.
4) Promises and reciprocity - The issue here is
what interview participants get in return for
sharing their time and insights with you.
 Will they or their communities benefit in some
way from the results of the study?
 If promises are made (such as copies of
reports or monetary payments), those
promises should always be kept.
5) Interviewer mental health - Interviewing
experiences can be intense interpersonal
experiences.
Just as participants may experience psychological
stress from disclosing more than intended or being
reminded of painful experiences, interviewers may
be overwhelmed by the sensitive nature of what is
seen or heard, especially in home- or field-based
interviews.
Some form of debriefing after the interview may
be necessary. Interviewers should always know who
to go to if they need advice or consultation on
handling practical or emotional issues that arise
from an interview.
Explain how researchers use inductive content
analysis (thematic analysis) on interview
transcripts.
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Content analysis is a method that may be
used with either qualitative or quantitative
data and in an inductive or deductive way.
In general, deductive research is theorytesting and inductive research is theorygenerating. Often people link deductive
research with quantitative experiments or
surveys, and inductive research with
qualitative interviews or ethnographic work.
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Deductive content analysis is used when the
structure of analysis is operationalized on the
basis of previous knowledge and the purpose
of the study is theory testing (Kynga¨ s &
Vanhanen 1999).
An approach based on inductive data moves
from the specific to the general, so that
particular instances are observed and then
combined into a larger whole or general
statement (Chinn & Kramer 1999).
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The primary purpose of the inductive approach is
to allow research findings to emerge from the
frequent, dominant or significant themes inherent
in raw data, without the restraints imposed by
structured methodologies.
Key themes are often obscured, reframed or left
invisible because of the preconceptions in the
data collection and data analysis procedures
imposed by deductive data analysis such as
those used in experimental and hypothesis testing
research.
The process of inductive coding
 Inductive coding begins with close readings
of text and consideration of the multiple
meanings that are inherent in the text.
 The researcher then identifies text segments
that contain meaning units, and creates a
label for a new category into which the text
segment is assigned.
 Additional text segments are added to the
category where they are relevant.
The process of inductive coding
 At some stage the researcher may develop
an initial description of meaning of category
and by the writing of a memo about the
category (e.g., associations, links and
implications).
 The category may also be linked to other
categories in various relationships such as: a
network, a hierarchy of categories or a causal
sequence.
The following procedures are used for inductive
analysis of qualitative data.
1. Preparation of raw data files (“data
cleaning”)
Format the raw data files in a common format
(e.g., font size, margins, questions or
interviewer comments highlighted) if required.
Print and/or make a backup of each raw
data file (e.g., each interview).
2. Close reading of text
Once text has been prepared, the raw text
should be read in detail so the researcher is
familiar with the content and gains an
understanding of the "themes" and details in
the text.
3. Creation of categories
 The research identifies and defines categories
or themes. The upper level or more general
categories are likely to be derived from the
research aims.
 The lower level or specific categories will be
derived from multiple readings of the raw
data (in vivo coding).
4. Overlapping coding and uncoded text
 Among the commonly assumed rules that
underlie qualitative coding, two are different
from the rules typically used in quantitative
coding:
(a) one segment of text may be coded into
more than one category.
(b) a considerable amount of the text may not
be assigned to any category, as much of the
text may not be relevant to the research
objectives.
5. Continuing revision and refinement of
category system
 Within each category, search for subtopics,
including contradictory points of view and new
insights. (This is why verifying with respondents is
important)
 Select appropriate quotes that convey the
core theme or essence of a category. The
categories may be combined or linked under
a superordinate category when the meanings
are similar.
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The intended outcome of the process is to
create three to eight summary categories,
which in the coder’s view captures the key
aspects of the themes in the raw data and
which are assessed to be the most important
themes given the research objectives.
Inductive coding which finishes up with more
than about eight major themes can be seen as
incomplete. In this case some of the
categories may need combining or the coder
has not made the hard decisions about which
themes or categories are most important.