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Interviews and focus groups

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Interviews and focus groups Lesley Jolly ljolly_at_bigpond.net.au Semistructured interviews attempts to understand the world from the subjects' point of view, to ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Interviews and focus groups


1
Interviews and focus groups
  • Lesley Jolly
  • ljolly_at_bigpond.net.au

2
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

3
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

4
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

5
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

6
How to probe
  • Getting more information without injecting
    yourself too much
  • Silent probe wait for answer/expansion
  • Echo probe repeat whats 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

7
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

8
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?

9
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.
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