This section focuses on the practices of a successful interviewer. A successful interviewer is knowledgeable, clear, sensitive, open, critical, aware, and able to structure the conversation (Harvard University n.d.). Here we will go over each of these qualities in more detail and provide additional tips on what you can do as the interviewer to build rapport with your interviewees, learn about their perspectives and experiences, and gain knowledge relevant to your research questions.
We can pinpoint some practices of a successful interviewer by looking at the structure of a typical social science interview (Emerald Group Publishing, n.d.).
- Arrival and introduction: Your job during this first stage is to put the participant at ease and establish rapport early on. As participants arrive, you can casually make conversation about a neutral subject. Once you and the participant are relaxed, you can introduce the purpose of your research and make sure the participant understands their role in the project. At this point, you can also reiterate that the discussion will be confidential and ask permission to record the interview. Doing so is part of the informed consent process. Finally, make sure your participant is comfortable so that nothing will interrupt the interview. We will go into more detail about rapport in the next section
- The interview: Begin the interview with general questions and provide any contextual information that will be helpful later on. By asking easier questions at the beginning you will be able to gauge how the participant responds and how you should approach the rest of the interview. You’ll then want to move from these general questions to more specific ones that are directly related to your research question. Be sure to also ask supplementary and probing questions to get as much in-depth information as possible (see the Interview Planning section for more detail).
- Ending the interview: As you are asking your final questions, make sure to signal that the interview is coming to an end. At this point, the participant has a chance to talk about anything that they feel it is important to add. Use this time for final clarifications about what has been said. Finally, be sure to thank the participant for their time and reiterate how their confidential contribution of information will be used.
Listed below are some key takeaways from Harvard University’s “Strategies for Qualitative Interviews.”
Personal Project
Think back to a time when you were interviewed, whether it was for research, a job, or any other reason. What was that experience like? Do you think the interviewer was successful?
As with most new undertakings, practice makes perfect. You can practice the skills listed above in nearly any daily conversation, and you can even visualize yourself in an interview setting, interacting with a participant. If possible you can even hold some mock interviews to practice your interview skills before getting into data collection.
