Compared with written complex questionnaires, structured interviews

W: Good morning, dear listeners. Welcome back to our On Campus program. Today, we have invited Professor Kingston to our studio. He’s going to talk with us on the interviews in education research. Welcome, Prof. Kingston.
M: Good morning. It’s my pleasure being here.
W: Now, Prof. Kingston, can you give us a brief introduction on interviews? Do researchers mean the same thing when they mention interviews in their researches like people use the word interview in their everyday life?
M: (1) Well, generally they mean the same thing. But for academic researches, the structured interviews in their simplest form are sometimes little more than oral questionnaires—used instead of the written form in order to obtain a higher response rate or with respondents, especially children, who might not be literate or capable of correctly completing a complex questionnaire.
W: You said structured interviews, are there any unstructured ones?
M: Yes, the completely unstructured are just like conversations between researchers and respondents.
W: But they are equally useful in researches.
M: That’s true.
W: Now we have the idea of what interviews are in education researches. But how do you make use of interviews in education research?
M: There are a dozen of questions to answer. If you have got answers to those questions, you can make interviews beneficial to your research.
W: Oh! That sounds like we have a lot to talk about. But we have only a limited time in this program. Do you think we can finish all those questions today?
M: Well, that can be a problem. But, I guess we can cover the questions really briefly now and I can leave my contact information at the end of today’s program. For those listeners who are really interested in this topic, they can contact me directly.
W: That’s fantastic. What is the first question to answer?
M: Why should I use interviews rather than some other device for data collection? Carefully consider the nature of your research question and the resources you have available. Interviews are a very useful means of inquiry, but they do not fit all circumstances.
W: Hmm. What about the second question? What is it?
M: Whom should I interview? (2) As in all surveys, you should attempt to obtain as big a response as possible. However, as your survey is using a research instrument that is time-intensive, you will probably be considering a limited number of cases, chosen for particular interest.
W: I see.
M: And the third question is "What questions should I ask?"
W: I agree. Just like us, we need to figure out what questions we want to ask before interviewing the guests so that the content of our program can be rich and draw more listeners’ attention.
M: You’re right. Every interview must have a purpose. It must draw from some underlying hypotheses about what are the important facts or opinions and even make some predictions about which facts may be relevant in explaining the opinions expressed.
W: So now that we know what questions we want to ask in the interview, it’s time to go out and ask questions, isn’t it?
M: Not quite like that. How the interviewers ask questions is also important. (3) While asking questions, the researcher should also engage in "active" listening, which shows the interviewee that close attention is being paid to what they say; and also tries to keep the interviewee focused on the subject, as unobtrusively as possible.
W: That makes sense. Anyway, the researchers carrying out the interviews are trying to get the valuable and sensible answers. Now, what about group interviews or "focus group" discussions? The interviews aren’t always carried out for individuals, are they?
M: That’s a good question. But as you have mentioned, time is limited in this program. So I recommend that they should read Wilson and, in particular, pages 72 - 82 in A Student’s Guide to Methodology, by Clough & Nutbrown.
W: So that is Wilson’s book and the book A Student’s Guide to Methodology. Hope our listeners have got their pencils and paper and written the books down. If not, please visit our website and click for the record of this program.
M: Record. That draws out our next point. Researchers should always record the interviews. (4) Remember that the more they succeed in recording every possible detail of what took place, the more data they will have to analyze. Audio-recordings are easy to make now that we have mini tape recorders and sensitive microphones. Video-recordings have the advantage of capturing facial expressions, etc., but it’s difficult to get both interviewer and interviewee. In any case, I strongly recommend that you pilot your schedule and test your method of recording before you undertake your project itself.
W: What else? After conducting the interviews?
M: After collecting the data, the final step, of course, is to analyze the data. There are lots of software packages which facilitate content analysis of interview responses. (5) Generally, with or without the help of computer software, you will need to sort answers into analytical categories in order to undertake content analysis of the different points made.
W: Considering the nature of the interviews, that can be a huge amount of work.
M: Yes. It even takes more time than carrying out the interviews.
W: OK, thanks for your coming, Prof. Kingston.
M: You’re welcome.