Interviews in qualitative research
192subject categories: communication skills | scientific publishingmethods of data collection in qualitative research: interviews and focus groupsp. Chadwick4interviews and focus groups are the most common methods of data collection used in qualitative healthcare researchinterviews can be used to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and motivations of individual participantsfocus group use group dynamics to generate qualitative ctthis paper explores the most common methods of data collection used in qualitative research: interviews and focus groups. Examples of empirical studies that have used interviews or focus groups are also uctionhaving explored the nature and purpose of qualitative research in the previous paper, this paper explores methods of data collection used in qualitative research. There are a variety of methods of data collection in qualitative research, including observations, textual or visual analysis (eg from books or videos) and interviews (individual or group). However, the most common methods used, particularly in healthcare research, are interviews and focus groups. 3the purpose of this paper is to explore these two methods in more detail, in particular how they work in practice, the purpose of each, when their use is appropriate and what they can offer dental ative research interviewsthere are three fundamental types of research interviews: structured, semi-structured and unstructured. Structured interviews are, essentially, verbally administered questionnaires, in which a list of predetermined questions are asked, with little or no variation and with no scope for follow-up questions to responses that warrant further elaboration. However, by their very nature, they only allow for limited participant responses and are, therefore, of little use if 'depth' is sely, unstructured interviews do not reflect any preconceived theories or ideas and are performed with little or no organisation. Unstructured interviews are usually very time-consuming (often lasting several hours) and can be difficult to manage, and to participate in, as the lack of predetermined interview questions provides little guidance on what to talk about (which many participants find confusing and unhelpful). Structured interviews consist of several key questions that help to define the areas to be explored, but also allows the interviewer or interviewee to diverge in order to pursue an idea or response in more detail.
The flexibility of this approach, particularly compared to structured interviews, also allows for the discovery or elaboration of information that is important to participants but may not have previously been thought of as pertinent by the research example, in a recent dental public heath study,5 school children in cardiff, uk were interviewed about their food choices and preferences. A key finding that emerged from semi-structured interviews, which was not previously thought to be as highly influential as the data subsequently confirmed, was the significance of peer-pressure in influencing children's food choices and preferences. And, therefore, may not have emerged in the same way, if at all, if asked as a predetermined purpose of research interviewsthe purpose of the research interview is to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and/or motivations of individuals on specific matters (eg factors that influence their attendance at the dentist). Qualitative methods, such as interviews, are believed to provide a 'deeper' understanding of social phenomena than would be obtained from purely quantitative methods, such as questionnaires. Interviews are, therefore, most appropriate where little is already known about the study phenomenon or where detailed insights are required from individual participants. They are also particularly appropriate for exploring sensitive topics, where participants may not want to talk about such issues in a group es of dental studies that have collected data using interviews are 'examining the psychosocial process involved in regular dental attendance'6 and 'exploring factors governing dentists' treatment philosophies'. The study found that dentists' clinical decisions about treatments were not necessarily related to pathology or treatment options, as was perhaps initially thought, but also involved discussions with patients, patients' values and dentists' feelings of self esteem and are many similarities between clinical encounters and research interviews, in that both employ similar interpersonal skills, such as questioning, conversing and listening. In contrast, the fundamental purpose of the research interview is to listen attentively to what respondents have to say, in order to acquire more knowledge about the study topic. Unlike the clinical encounter, it is not to intentionally offer any form of help or advice, which many researchers have neither the training nor the time for. Research interviewing therefore requires a different approach and a different range of interviewwhen designing an interview schedule it is imperative to ask questions that are likely to yield as much information about the study phenomenon as possible and also be able to address the aims and objectives of the research.
In a qualitative interview, good questions should be open-ended (ie, require more than a yes/no answer), neutral, sensitive and understandable. This can help put respondents at ease, build up confidence and rapport and often generates rich data that subsequently develops the interview in any research, it is often wise to first pilot the interview schedule on several respondents prior to data collection proper. This allows the research team to establish if the schedule is clear, understandable and capable of answering the research questions, and if, therefore, any changes to the interview schedule are length of interviews varies depending on the topic, researcher and participant. Interviews can be performed on a one-off or, if change over time is of interest, repeated basis,4 for example exploring the psychosocial impact of oral trauma on participants and their subsequent experiences of cosmetic dental ping the interviewbefore an interview takes place, respondents should be informed about the study details and given assurance about ethical principles, such as anonymity and confidentiality. This gives respondents some idea of what to expect from the interview, increases the likelihood of honesty and is also a fundamental aspect of the informed consent er possible, interviews should be conducted in areas free from distractions and at times and locations that are most suitable for participants. Whilst researchers may have less control over the home environment, familiarity may help the respondent to relax and result in a more productive interview. However, to ensure that the interview is as productive as possible, researchers must possess a repertoire of skills and techniques to ensure that comprehensive and representative data are collected during the interview. Respondents should also be debriefed about the study after the interview has interviews should be tape recorded and transcribed verbatim afterwards, as this protects against bias and provides a permanent record of what was and was not said. Groupsfocus groups share many common features with less structured interviews, but there is more to them than merely collecting similar data from many participants at once. A focus group is a group discussion on a particular topic organised for research purposes.
This discussion is guided, monitored and recorded by a researcher (sometimes called a moderator or facilitator). 12focus groups were first used as a research method in market research, originating in the 1940s in the work of the bureau of applied social research at columbia university. Suggested criteria for using focus groups include:13as a standalone method, for research relating to group norms, meanings and processesin a multi-method design, to explore a topic or collect group language or narratives to be used in later stagesto clarify, extend, qualify or challenge data collected through other methodsto feedback results to research 12 suggests that focus groups should be avoided according to the following criteria:if listening to participants' views generates expectations for the outcome of the research that can not be fulfilledif participants are uneasy with each other, and will therefore not discuss their feelings and opinions openlyif the topic of interest to the researcher is not a topic the participants can or wish to discussif statistical data is required. What is important is that the researcher gives due consideration to the impact of group mix (eg, how the group may interact with each other) before the focus group proceeds. Sometimes this means a pre-existing group interacts best for research purposes, and sometimes stranger groups. In other research projects it may be decided that stranger groups will be able to speak more freely without fear of repercussion, and challenges to other participants may be more challenging and probing, leading to richer data. The optimum size for a focus group is six to eight participants (excluding researchers), but focus groups can work successfully with as few as three and as many as 14 participants. An interview schedulelike research interviews, the interview schedule for focus groups is often no more structured than a loose schedule of topics to be discussed. However, in preparing an interview schedule for focus groups, stewart and shamdasani14 suggest two general principles:questions should move from general to more specific questionsquestion order should be relative to importance of issues in the research can, however, be some conflict between these two principles, and trade offs are often needed, although often discussions will take on a life of their own, which will influence or determine the order in which issues are covered. Usually, less than a dozen predetermined questions are needed and, as with research interviews, the researcher will also probe and expand on issues according to the tingmoderating a focus group looks easy when done well, but requires a complex set of skills, which are related to the following principles:15participants have valuable views and the ability to respond actively, positively and respectfully.
Expressing one's own views tends to give participants cues as to what to say (introducing bias), rather than the confidence to be open and honest about their own viewsbe prepared for views that may be unpalatably critical of a topic which may be important to youit is important to recognise that researchers' individual characteristics mean that no one person will always be suitable to moderate any kind of group. For example, in a school setting, pupils may behave like pupils, and in clinical settings, participants may be affected by any anxieties that affect them when they attend in a patient groups are usually recorded, often observed (by a researcher other than the moderator, whose role is to observe the interaction of the group to enhance analysis) and sometimes videotaped. However, the transcription of focus groups is more complex and time consuming than in one-to-one interviews, and each hour of audio can take up to eight hours to transcribe and generate approximately 100 pages of text. Sometimes observational notes also need to be described in the transcripts in order for them to make analysis of qualitative data is explored in the final paper of this series. However, it is important to note that the analysis of focus group data is different from other qualitative data because of their interactive nature, and this needs to be taken into consideration during analysis. The analysis of focus group data must therefore take account of the group dynamics that have generated groups in dental researchfocus groups are used increasingly in dental research, on a diverse range of topics,16 illuminating a number of areas relating to patients, dental services and the dental profession. Demonstrating the use of the method with professional groups as subjects in dental research, gussy et al. This mixed method study was very important as the qualitative element was able to explain why the clinical trial failed, and this understanding may help researchers improve on the quantitative aspect of future studies, as well as making a valuable academic contribution in its own sioninterviews and focus groups remain the most common methods of data collection in qualitative research, and are now being used with increasing frequency in dental research, particularly to access areas not amendable to quantitative methods and/or where depth, insight and understanding of particular phenomena are required. The examples of dental studies that have employed these methods also help to demonstrate the range of research contexts to which interview and focus group research can make a useful contribution. In ritchie j, lewis j (eds) qualitative research practice: a guide for social science students and researchers.
An exploratory qualitative study examining the social and psychological processes involved in regular dental attendance. A qualitative study exploring barriers to a model of shared care for pre-school children's oral health. Research fellow, faculty of health, sport and science, university of glamorgan, pontypridd, cf37 1dlresearch fellow, academic unit of primary care, university of bristol, bristol, bs8 2aadean and professor of dental public health, school of dentistry, dental health and biological sciences, school of dentistry, cardiff university, heath park, cardiff, cf14 4xyprofessor of paediatric dentistry, school of dentistry, dental health and biological sciences, school of dentistry, cardiff university, heath park, cardiff, cf14 4xycorrespondence to: p. Homeadvance online you startpreparationsubmissionpost sions and jobsbdj marketplaceinformation collectionsbdj cpdbdj top ten h dental ibe to british dental ibe to british dental e navigation - this issuetable of contents for this issueprevious articlenext ad pdfsend to a ef lists 140 articles citing this articlescopus lists 152 articles citing this articleexport citationexport referencesrights and e navigationsynopsisabstractintroductionqualitative research interviewsfocus groupsconclusionreferencessearch pubmed forp. Pmc4194943qualitative research method-interviewing and observationshazia jamsheddepartment of pharmacy practice, kulliyyah of pharmacy, international islamic university malaysia, kuantan campus, pahang, malaysiaaddress for correspondence: dr. Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly article has been cited by other articles in y and chiang define research methodology as “a strategy or architectural design by which the researcher maps out an approach to problem-finding or problem-solving. 1] according to crotty, research methodology is a comprehensive strategy ‘that silhouettes our choice and use of specific methods relating them to the anticipated outcomes,[2] but the choice of research methodology is based upon the type and features of the research problem. Mixed method research is “a class of research where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative and qualitative research techniques, methods, approaches, theories and or language into a single study. 4] in order to have diverse opinions and views, qualitative findings need to be supplemented with quantitative results. 5] therefore, these research methodologies are considered to be complementary to each other rather than incompatible to each other.
6]qualitative research methodology is considered to be suitable when the researcher or the investigator either investigates new field of study or intends to ascertain and theorize prominent issues. 6,7] there are many qualitative methods which are developed to have an in depth and extensive understanding of the issues by means of their textual interpretation and the most common types are interviewing and observation. According to oakley, qualitative interview is a type of framework in which the practices and standards be not only recorded, but also achieved, challenged and as well as reinforced. 8] as no research interview lacks structure[9] most of the qualitative research interviews are either semi-structured, lightly structured or in-depth. 9] unstructured interviews are generally suggested in conducting long-term field work and allow respondents to let them express in their own ways and pace, with minimal hold on respondents’ responses. 10]pioneers of ethnography developed the use of unstructured interviews with local key informants that is. 11] non-directive interviews, form of unstructured interviews are aimed to gather in-depth information and usually do not have pre-planned set of questions. 11]in contrast, semi-structured interviews are those in-depth interviews where the respondents have to answer preset open-ended questions and thus are widely employed by different healthcare professionals in their research. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews are utilized extensively as interviewing format possibly with an individual or sometimes even with a group. 6] these types of interviews are conducted once only, with an individual or with a group and generally cover the duration of 30 min to more than an hour.
12] semi-structured interviews are based on semi-structured interview guide, which is a schematic presentation of questions or topics and need to be explored by the interviewer. 7] in order to have the interview data captured more effectively, recording of the interviews is considered an appropriate choice but sometimes a matter of controversy among the researcher and the respondent. Hand written notes during the interview are relatively unreliable, and the researcher might miss some key points. The recording of the interview makes it easier for the researcher to focus on the interview content and the verbal prompts and thus enables the transcriptionist to generate “verbatim transcript” of the rly, in focus groups, invited groups of people are interviewed in a discussion setting in the presence of the session moderator and generally these discussions last for 90 min. 7] like every research technique having its own merits and demerits, group discussions have some intrinsic worth of expressing the opinions openly by the participants. On the contrary in these types of discussion settings, limited issues can be focused, and this may lead to the generation of fewer initiatives and suggestions about research ationobservation is a type of qualitative research method which not only included participant's observation, but also covered ethnography and research work in the field. 11]conclusionresearch can be visualized and perceived as painstaking methodical efforts to examine, investigate as well as restructure the realities, theories and applications. Depending upon the need, research method could be either an amalgam of both qualitative and quantitative or qualitative or quantitative independently. By adopting qualitative methodology, a prospective researcher is going to fine-tune the pre-conceived notions as well as extrapolate the thought process, analyzing and estimating the issues from an in-depth perspective. Interviews can be structured, semi-structure or this section, we discuss five different types of interviews:Structured -structured ctured are a number of ways to classify interviews by type.
Consider reading about all the different types of interviews, since these distinctions are somewhat artifical, and there are important similarties and differences across these ping the interview r you are conducting a structured or unstructured interview, the development of the questions you ask takes into consideration:The focus of your inquiry (research question). You want to learn from the person you're speaking much time you have and the kind of access you much you already know about your question, and how to manage this interview guides are developed iteratively - questions are developed, tested, and then refined based on what one learns from asking people these conducting semi-structured or unstructured interviews, the interviewer develops a 'loose' guide, with general questions designed to open up conversation about the topic. Often, this includes a series of follow-up questions or probes, prepared in advance, in order to elicit certain types of information from the is important, however, to recognize that the interviewer must be a good listener, and that the best probing is that which is responsive, in the moment, to what the interviewee is e (on the part of the interviewer) is golden and can give the interviewee time to think and is good design to have analysis and collection of interview data iterate, such that an interview is conducted and examined prior to additional interviewing in order to:Look at what kind of talk or discussion emerges when questions are asked, identifying questions that might need to be fy new experiences shared by the interviewee that need to probed in subsequent fy who else one may want to interview -- remaining open to the possibility that interviewees may identify informants the researcher will want to t on the interviewer's role, preconceptions and behavior during the interview in order to make any needed adjustments. Number of resources (below) provide excellent guidance on the development of research following resources were used and can be reviewed by those interested in more information of the topic of , lj. Learning how to ask: a sociolinguistic appraisal of the role of the interview in social science research. Interviewing the art of science" in nk denzin and ys lincoln (eds) handbook of qualitative research, pp. July -depth interviews can be defined as a qualitative research technique which involves “conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program or situation” (boyce and neale, 2006, p. Are three different formats of interviews: structured, semi-structured and ured interviews consist of a series of pre-determined questions that all interviewees answer in the same order. Data analysis in structured interviews usually tends to be more straightforward compared to other forms of interviews, because researcher can compare and contrast different answers given to the same ctured interviews are usually the least reliable form of interviews from research viewpoint, because no questions are prepared prior to the interview and interview is conducted in an informal manner. Unstructured interviews can be associated with a high level of bias and comparison of answers given by different respondents tends to be difficult due to the differences in formulation of -structured interviews contain components of both, structured and unstructured interviews.
In semi-structured interviews interviewer prepares a set of same questions to be answered by all interviewees, however, additional questions might be asked during interviews to clarify and/or further expand certain ages of interviews include possibilities of collecting detailed information about research questions. Moreover, in interviews researcher has direct control over the flow of primary data collection process and have a chance to clarify certain issues during the process is in need arises. Disadvantages of interviews include longer time requirements compared to some of primary data collection methods and difficulties associated with arranging an appropriate time with perspective sample group members to conduct conducting interviews you should have an open mind and refrain from displaying disagreements in any forms when viewpoints expressed by interviewees contradict your own ideas. Specifically, interviews need to be conducted in a relaxed environment, free of any forms of pressure for interviewees ted scholars warn that “in conducting an interview the interviewer should attempt to create a friendly non-threatening atmosphere. C & neale, p, 2006, “conducting in-depth interviews: a guide for designing and conducting in-depth interviews”, pathfinder international tool ay, ls & powell, rp, 2010, basic research methods for librarians, e-book, the ultimate guide to writing a dissertation in business studies: a step by step assistance offers practical assistance to complete a dissertation with minimum or no stress. The e-book covers all stages of writing a dissertation starting from the selection to the research area to submitting the completed version of the work within the y profiles & analysis (97).
