Section 12. Conducting Interviews

 

What is an interview?

When you're watching or reading the news, you'll notice that many stories have a point in common: They contain interviews. No matter what subject is being tackled, there are often people willing to be interviewed about it. And that's great, because that way we can get a sample of what people think and feel about different issues.

Interviews are usually defined as a conversation with a purpose. They can be very helpful to your organization when you need information about assumptions and perceptions of activities in your community. They're also great if you're looking for in-depth information on a particular topic from an expert. (If what you really need is numerical data--how much and how many--a written or online questionnaire may better serve your purposes.)

Interviewing has been described as an art, rather than a skill or science. In other cases, it has been described as a technical skill you can learn. But, no matter how you look at it, interviewing is a process that can be improved through practice. This chapter will show you how.

Why should you conduct interviews?

Using an interview can be one of the most useful ways to have a thorough exchange of ideas between you and the person from whom you're gathering information. You can plan the order of your questions, ask follow-up questions, clarify answers, and make sure the topics most important to your purpose are covered.

In addition, you may benefit from the spontaneity of the interview process. Because you can respond directly to what an interviewee says, you can ask for clarification or explore an unexpected idea in greater depth. This can reveal information that might not emerge through a more structured questionnaire.

When interviews are not the best option:

Interviews are not the only way of gathering information and, depending on the case, they may not even be appropriate or efficient. For example, large-scale individual interviews can be time-consuming and expensive. Written or online questionnaires may be the best option in cases where you need information from a large number of people. Interviews aren't always efficient either when all you need is straightforward numeric data. Asking your respondents to fill out a form may be more appropriate.

Interviews may not be suitable if potential respondents are unwilling or uncomfortable participating. If your interviewees distrust you or your organization, they may be less willing to answer openly, and the information you collect may be incomplete or misleading. When people don't want to talk, setting up an interview may be a poor use of time and resources. You should then consider another, perhaps more private or less direct, way of gathering the information you need.

Problems with interviews:

You must also be well prepared for problems that might arise from interviews. For example, your interviewee may have a personal perspective or interest that shapes the way they respond. The best approach is to understand as much as you reasonably can about your interviewee's background and perspective before arranging the interview, while remaining open to what they actually say.

Sometimes, an interviewee may ask to review or clarify material after the interview. How this is handled depends on the purpose and circumstances of the interview. It is helpful to establish expectations beforehand. If the subject involves technical information, for example, you may ask the interviewee to check factual details for accuracy while keeping responsibility for the final analysis or report with the interviewer or organization.

Whom should you interview?

Your choice of interviewees will, obviously, be influenced by the nature of the information you need. For example, if you're trying to set up a volunteer program for your organization, you may want to interview the volunteer coordinator at one or two other successful agencies for ideas for your program.

On the other hand, if you're taking a look at the community's response to an ad campaign you've been running, you'll want to identify members of the priority audience to interview. In this case, a focus group can be extremely useful.

If you're reluctant to contact a stranger for an interview, remember that many people enjoy talking about what they know and are especially eager to share their knowledge with those who are interested. Demonstrate genuine interest and your chances of getting good interviews will improve.

How should you conduct interviews?

Sometimes, being a good interviewer is described as an innate ability or quality possessed by only some people and not by others. Certainly, interviewing may come more easily to some people than to others, but anybody can learn the basic strategies and procedures of interviewing. We're here to show you how.

Interview structure:

First you should decide how structured you want your interview to be. Interviews can be formally structured, loosely structured, or not structured at all. The style of interviewing you will adopt will depend on the kind of result you're looking for.

In a highly structured interview, you ask subjects to answer a predetermined list of questions. If you want responses that can be compared across interviewees, you should ask all subjects the same core questions in the same way. In an interview without a rigid structure, you can create and ask questions appropriate to the situations that arise and to the central purpose of the interview. There's no predetermined list of questions to ask. Finally, in a semi-structured setting, there is a list of predetermined questions, but interviewees are allowed to digress and the interviewer can ask follow-up questions.

Types of interviews:

Now that you've decided how structured you want the interview to be, it's time to decide how you want to conduct it. Can you do it through the phone, or do you need to do it face-to-face? Would a focus group be most appropriate? Let's look at each of these interview types in depth.

Face-to-face interviews

Face-to-face interviews are a great way to gather information. Whether you decide to interview face-to-face depends on the amount of time and resources you have available. Some advantages of interviewing in person are:

• You have more flexibility. You can probe for more specific answers, repeat or clarify questions, and use discretion as to the particular follow-up questions you ask.
• You are able to observe nonverbal behavior.
• You can choose a physical environment that supports a comfortable conversation.
• You can record spontaneous answers.
• You know who is participating when the identity of the respondent is relevant to the interview.
• You can keep track of whether the questions and topics you intended to cover have been addressed.
• You can use a more complex set of questions.

However, if face-to-face interviews prove to be too expensive, too time-consuming, or too inconvenient to be conducted, you should consider some other way of interviewing. For example, if the information you're collecting is of a sensitive and confidential nature, some respondents may prefer a method that offers greater privacy or anonymity, such as an anonymous questionnaire.

Telephone interviews

Telephone interviews are also a good way of getting information.

They're particularly useful when the person you want to speak to lives far away and setting up a face-to-face interview is impractical. Many of the same advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face interviewing apply here; the exception being, of course, that you won't be able to observe most nonverbal behavior.

Here are some tips to make your phone interview successful:

• Keep phone interviews as concise as the purpose of the interview allows, and let the interviewee know in advance approximately how much time you expect the conversation to take.
• If you need your interviewee to refer to any materials, provide them in advance.
• Make an extra effort to build rapport and keep the interviewee engaged, since you don't have the benefit of face-to-face interaction.
• Identify yourself, your organization if applicable, and the purpose of the interview so the respondent knows who is contacting them and why.
• If audio-recording the conversation, ask for permission to do so.
• Write down important information as you hear it; don't rely entirely on your memory to record the information later.
• Speak clearly and at a comfortable pace.
• Don't call too early in the morning or too late at night, unless arranged in advance.
• Finish the conversation cordially, and thank the interviewee.

Interviews conducted through e-mail can also be useful. E-mail is an inexpensive option for interviewing, and some of its advantages and drawbacks are similar to phone interviews. E-mail is less intrusive than a phone call and allows you to contact your interviewee, send your questions, and follow up on the received answers with a thank-you message. You may never meet or talk directly to your respondent.

However, through e-mail your opportunities for immediate probing are limited, unless you keep sending messages back and forth to clarify answers. That's why you need to be very clear about what you need when you first contact your interviewee. Some people may dislike the impersonal nature of e-mail interaction, while others may feel more comfortable having time to think about their answers.

Focus groups

A focus group, led by a trained facilitator, is a particular type of "group interview" that may be very useful to you. Focus groups consist of people whose opinions you would like to know. They can be somewhat less structured than individual interviews; however, the input you get can be very valuable. Focus groups are a flexible tool for gathering information because you can focus on the opinions of a group of people while asking open-ended questions that the whole group is free to answer and discuss. This often sparks discussion and interaction, yielding useful information about participants' perspectives.

During an in-person focus group, the facilitator is also able to observe the nonverbal communication of the participants. Although the sample size is generally smaller than some other forms of information gathering, the exchange of opinions created by group interaction can provide useful insights.

Prepare for the interview

So you've chosen your interviewees, set up the interview, and started to think about interview questions. You're ready to roll, right?

Not quite. First, you need to make sure you have as much information as possible about your interview topic. You don't need to be an expert -- after all, that's why you're interviewing people! -- but you do want to be fairly knowledgeable. Having a solid understanding of the topic at hand will make you feel more comfortable as an interviewer, enhance the quality of the questions you ask, and make your interviewee more comfortable as well.

In addition, it's important to learn about cultural, linguistic, accessibility, and other contextual factors that may be relevant to your interviewee and the interview setting, without making assumptions about the person. This understanding can inform the way you phrase your questions, your choice of words, your opening conversation, and the way you create a respectful and comfortable interview environment.

Conduct the interview

Now that you're prepared, it's time to conduct the interview. Whether calling or meeting someone, be sure to be on time -- your interviewee is giving you their time, and you don't want to keep them waiting.

When interviewing someone, start with some conversation to build rapport. Don't just plunge into your questions -- make your interviewee as comfortable as possible.

Points to remember:

• Practice -- prepare a list of interview questions in advance. Rehearse, try lines, mock-interview friends. Become familiar with your questions. Plan ahead for the location and ways to make the setting more comfortable.
• Small-talk -- don't begin an interview cold. Try to put your interviewee at ease and establish rapport.
• Be natural -- even if you rehearsed your interview many times and know your questions well, keep the conversation natural rather than making it sound scripted.
• Present yourself appropriately -- dress in a way that fits the setting and the people you're interviewing. Adapt to the context rather than assuming one style of dress is right for every interview. Arrive on time if you are conducting the interview in person.
• Listen -- show that you are attentive and interested. Respond naturally and empathetically to what you hear.
• Keep your goals in mind -- remember that what you want is to obtain useful information. Keep the interview on track, but allow enough flexibility to follow important ideas that arise. Be considerate of your interviewee's time.
• Don't stop at "yes/no" answers when you need more information -- ask for elaboration, probe, or ask why. Silence may also give the interviewee time to think and add more. Ask the interviewee to clarify anything you do not understand.
• Respect -- make interviewees feel like their answers are important to you and be respectful of the time they're contributing to help you.

Questions:

Questions are such a fundamental part of an interview that it's worth taking a minute to look at the subject in depth. Questions can relate to the central focus of your interview, with to-the-point, specific answers; they can be used to clarify or check other answers; they can be used to create a comfortable relationship between you and the interviewee; and they can probe for more complete answers.

It's very important that you ask your questions in a way that encourages the interviewee to answer as completely and honestly as possible. Avoid inflammatory questions ("Do you always discriminate against women and people from underrepresented groups, or just some of the time?"), and try to stay polite and neutral. And remember to express clearly what you want to know. Just because interviewer and interviewee speak the same language, it doesn't mean they'll necessarily understand each other in the same way.

There are some problems that can arise from the way you ask a question. Here are several of the most common pitfalls:

• Questions that put the interviewee on the defensive -- These questions can bring up emotional responses, usually negative. To ask, "Why did you do such a bad thing?" will feel like you are confronting your interviewee, and they may become defensive. Try to ask things in a more neutral, open manner.
• The two-in-one question -- These are questions that ask for two answers in one question. For instance, "Does your company have a special recruitment policy for women and people from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups?" may cause hesitation and indecision in the interviewee. A "yes" could refer to both or only one. Separate the issues into two separate questions.
• The complex question -- Questions that are too long, too involved, or too intricate may confuse your interviewee. The person may not understand the question in its entirety. The solution is to break down the question and make it brief and concise.
• In addition, pay attention to the order in which you ask your questions. The arrangement or ordering of your questions may significantly affect the results of your interview. Try to start the interview with mild and easy questions to develop rapport with the interviewee. As the interview proceeds, move to more sensitive and complex questions.

Final thoughts

Remember to take good notes, if you're taking notes. Put quotation marks around the person's actual words, and don't embellish their quotes. You may record the conversation, but make sure your audio recorder is working well, or hours of work can go down the drain. If you're going to record your interview, make sure you obtain the interviewee's permission beforehand and on the recording.

Finally, it's important to plan your interview so that it doesn't last longer than necessary. Some people may refuse to participate in an interview they know will take several hours. Others may lose interest during a long interview. So, try to be concise. A good rule of thumb is to make your interview long enough that you get useful information from it and short enough that you don't exhaust your interviewee. If you know you'll need to spend a lot of time interviewing somebody, consider dividing the interview into two or more sessions.

Interviewing in a nutshell -- summary:

• Determine what you want to know.
• Discuss the kinds of questions you want to ask (open ended: How do you feel about...) or (closed ended: Which do you like better: A or B?).
• Draft your interview questions.
• Determine who you'd like to interview (your sample). Train your interviewers so they use a consistent approach and, for structured interviews, ask the same questions in the same way.
• Contact the people you want to interview.
• Make appointments and follow up on them unless you are recruiting participants in a public setting, for instance.
• Collect and analyze the data.

In Summary

So, your interview is done and you've got the information you needed. It's time to thank your interviewee for their cooperation. Send them a thank-you note or message soon after the interview. Be cordial and appreciative. You never know when you may need or want to interview this person again!