Tools of Inquiry- Interviewing

I chose to carry out two pilot interviews.

• The first was a telephone interview where I took notes. In this interview the questions were structured.
• The second interview was a face to face interview, for this I used a semi structured approach. I decided to record the second interview and take notes.

What did i learn?

During the first interview I discovered that some of the questions needed to be re-phrased, required more information or in one case, needed to be completely re-worded and broken into two separate questions. I found that the structured approach was too formal and was not optimal for uncovering information. On reflection, this is the type of interview one might use when interviewing someone for a job. It is useful if you know what you want to hear. However I wanted to uncover the participant’s thoughts, feelings and experience. I also found that being on the telephone and taking notes created uncomfortable moments of silence where I was attempting to capture, through note taking, what the participant had said. The positive side of this was that it allowed me to feedback to the participant what she had said to make sure I was accurately recording her responses.

The second interview was extremely different from the first.  The face to face approach meant that both the researcher and participant felt at ease. The interview was also conducted on neutral ground. I decided to use the semi- structured approach to allow the participant more freedom in their answers. This worked extremely well and one question prompted another which meant that a lot of experience and knowledge was uncovered. By phrasing the questions in a conversational manner, I felt that the answer became more conversational and relaxed. Although the interview was being recorded (so that I could transcribe and if necessary quote from the interview at a later date) I also took notes. This proved extremely useful as I was able to make a note of the sub questions that came from the original line of questioning. Using a semi- structured approach to interviewing ensures that the researcher does not influence the participant or ask leading questions.

Through these pilot interviews I was able to consider what is needed to foster an optimum environment for conducting an interview. I had not previously considered the affects of the location, tone of voice, body language, eye contact, the way the questions are asked and the order in which they are asked and the benefits and implications of note taking during an interview. (Extract from my first draft, Inquiry Plan)