Interviews

Interviews are a flexible method of gathering information about a particular issue or place. Interviews can be conducted face to face or telephone. There are three main formats that can be used.

Structured using a pre-set of questions as prompts
Semi-structured which allows the interviewer to explore issues based on a loose set of questions.
Unstructured or in-depth interviews where the interviewer is able to exlore a theme without being restricted to a series of questions.

Interviews can be used to collect either quantitative or qualitative information.

Advantages structured interviews

Standardised format means that all the answers are comparable across your sample
Good at collecting more factual information
Not dependent on interviewer teasing-out answers, the questions have to be straight-forward and unambiguous.

Disadvantages structured interviews

Rigid format - can be constraining. You don't always capture all that people could tell you because the structure

When to use structured interviews

When it is important to be able to strictly compare what is happening across your sample
When the information you need to collect is more focused on factual, relatively uncomplicated issues.

Advantages semi-structured interviews

This format is less rigid - it allows the skills of the interviewer to respond to the interview situation to follow relevant lines of enquiry.
Good at collecting more factual information

Disadvantages semi-structured interviews

Interviewees can be difficult to control.
Can be difficult to collate-more

When to use semi-structured interviews

When your remit allows some flexibility
When you think that there is a broader story to tell by letting your interviewees some scope for elaboration in order to get at 'full-picture'.

Advantages unstructured / in-depth interviews

Can get to the heart of the issue
User led and so user/customer focused
Can be empowering for those being interviewed. Interviewees perspectives really valued.

Disadvantages unstructured / in-depth interviews

Resource intensive - half an hour interview produces 5000 words.
Interviewing skills are necessary to make sure that the interview does capture the information around a desired theme. Although occasionally great insight is gained because those researching the situation have never thought about. It is a balancing act.
Can be difficult to analyse because of the different interpretations individuals might have

When to use unstructured / in-depth interviews

When you feel that you have a flawed or superficial understanding of the issue.
When you need very detailed and specific understanding of an issue.

Interviewing people on a face-to-face basis can be an excellent way of gathering good qualitative information. Telephone interviews are usually only acceptable if pre-arranged with the participant. "Cold Calling" should not be used. Face-to-face interviews are best used when

tackling a difficult or complicated subject matter that would benefit from more input from the interviewer,
when targeting a small sample group for in-depth views
to gather specialist views such as from people who’s first language is not English (via an interpreter)

Interviews give the opportunity to explore questions in more depth. Arranging and undertaking face-to-face interviews will therefore be time consuming.

Personal Safety - you should never undertake door-to-door or street interviews alone. LINK TO SUZY LAMPLUGH TRUST

Door to door surveys - undertaking door to door surveys can often be a good way to get views in a small geographical area. However, older people and people living alone can be intimidated by people knocking on their doors unannounced. To avoid this, and also to encourage participation in your survey, try writing to all residents beforehand to announce you intention to call. You should also refer to and use protocols for avoiding doorstep crime www.doorstepcrime.com

If you allocate a set timescale for your survey work (say Monday to Friday one week), write to people in the area the week before announcing your intention to call sometime that week, briefly outline your survey's intention and give a contact name and telephone number for anyone wishing to either check up on your authenticity or to take part via telephone. You could either post or delivery the letters by hand depending on your resources (both money and people!).

Using this 'announced' method can make for a more successful survey, people will be expecting your call and will have some knowledge beforehand about what you are asking. It will also avoid vulnerable people feeling unhappy about answering the door.

Remember personal safety issues, as mentioned above. Never undertake door to door work alone, it is best to work as a team or in pairs at the least. Keep an eye on your colleagues at all time, look after each other's safety.

Keep your survey short, no more than two sides of A4 is best - see link to prompt sheet at bottom of page. This will help you get through your questions quickly and not take up too much of people's time. Always test out your survey before you go out, test it on work colleagues who are unconnected to this piece of work, it often helps as you can get too close to your own subject and forget what the man on the street will understand!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Street Interviews - see also section on Participatory Appraisal which is a method of consultation which involves local people undertaking their own interviews and consultation.

Street Interviews uses the method known as Rapid Appraisal, a technique that was pioneered in third world countries by agencies such as the World Health Organisation. The WHO often have to go into areas of high need and quickly asess the situation in order to provide a rapid response. They would approach community leaders, village elders, teachers, doctors etc. and also members of the community where they gather.

This technique has been used in the West, predominantly in regeneration areas where quick responses are often needed.

Stage one - Workers will go into a small geographical area (such as an estate, town, village) and speak to community leaders, workers, key people such as faith leaders etc. asking people what the main issues are facing the area or concentrating on a particular subject (e.g. facilities, young people, activities etc.). From this a picture will start to emerge about the area, the needs and some solutions.

Stage two - use the key issues that have emerged to put together a more sturctured survey - see link to prompt sheet at bottom of page. Take these questions out onto the street and to places where people in the community already meet - e.g. school gates at end of school time, community centre, church or other faith meetings such as coffee mornings, pensioners groups or sheltered accomodation, post office queues, bus stops, hairdressers. Anywhere people may gather is a good location. Remember if you are going onto someone's premises (e.g post office, library etc) always ask permission to be there.

It is a good idea to have formal identification on you with your photograph and contact details so that people can check up on you if needed.

Approaching people - first of all make sure you have your I. D. showing, and approach people by saying who you are and your organisation and emphasise that you are not selling anything! Show people your survey, if you have kept it short then hopefully this will not put them off answering your questions. Explain what will happen to their views and where the information is going. Ask if people want to receive feedback about the survey, if they do take thier name and address on a separate sheet from their responses (to ensure confidentiality).

Normally people are happy to answer a few questions, especially if you approach them where they are spending some time.

CLICK HERE for an example of a prompt sheet which could be used for face-to-face interviews of any sort.

Discovery Interviews

This is an interview technique used by health or social services that tries to discover people’s experiences of a service, an intervention or a life-event. This technique is client led rather than interviewer led – the interviewer may have some key prompts to cover in the interview but essentially the client leads the conversation and discusses issues or concerns from their own perspective.

The technique is being used in several different ways – for instance

·To follow-up on people after a long term intervention, e.g. surgery or in-patient treatment. The interview will gather information from the patient’s perspective about their experience, what went well, what could have made their stay better, any issues or problems that arose, the patient’s views of how these could have been overcome.

·To follow-up relatives or carers after a family member has been into hospital or care home. Same as above, but from the relative or carer’s perspective.

·To follow-up after a complaint has been made – this ensures that the person’s concerns have been dealt with appropriately and also helps ensure a user-friendly service.

·To get the views of people with dementia, either in their own home or in a care setting. The discovery interview technique allows people to explore things in their own time, at their own pace and without the restraints of a structured questionnaire.

Discovery Interviews could be used in any setting where qualitative views are sought – e.g. the experience of local people in a regeneration area; to explore particular concerns like racism within the community or the fear of crime.