Recording an interview can happen in multiple different ways, including note-taking, audio recording, and videotaping. Ethical considerations are especially relevant in this section, as you will be gathering confidential information in a temporary record that you will destroy or delete later on.
Notes are generated at multiple points during an interview. During the interview itself, you may take some light, unobtrusive notes while still maintaining eye contact with the participant and fully participating in the conversation. You’ll have the opportunity to take more comprehensive notes after the interview, but don’t wait so long that you forget important details. Later on, you can add a critical reflection with notes on connections you’ve observed in the data.
For Example…
Netta Avineri (2017) suggests creating a “note-taking and note-making” structure for fieldnotes. For example, when studying how quieter students interact with talkative students during classroom activities, she breaks down data into “note-taking” and “note-making,” with each assuming its own column. “Note-taking” includes simple observations, such as “Students working in groups on a grammar exercise,” while note-making asks questions such as “Are they all engaged in the task? Why are a couple of students quiet?” (Avineri, 2017, p. 130). Whereas “note-taking” records observed actions, “note-making” inquires as to why those actions occur.
Keep in mind that you can take notes in any way that works for you. This could even include visual sketches, if you are a visual thinker. That being said, you’ll want to consider detail, timestamps, organization, and relevance to key themes in your research. Ideally, you will want fieldnotes that are easily searchable and analyzable. It is okay to try out different fieldnote methods to figure out what works best for you.
Ethics Check!
While conducting fieldwork, it is critical that you practice self-reflection and think about your word choice. For example, describing someone as unattractive would be an example of a biased fieldnote because you would be drawing from socially-constructed standards of beauty. To avoid bias in your observational notes, try writing as objectively as possible.
There are four main categories for note-taking in research interviews:
Finally, interpretation follows your note-taking and analysis. It moves you to inquire as to why the data looks as it does. In your interpretation, you synthesize and connect your findings to existing literature. This allows you to consider how your analysis is relevant to your target audience (Avineri, 2017).
While note-taking during interview research is important, you will not be able to completely rely on handwritten notes for your later analysis. It is much easier to identify themes and patterns as you go back through the data if you have an audio recording of the interviews. It’s recommended that you use professional-grade audio recording equipment to get the best quality recordings of your interviews. Rolling Stone outlines some options for voice recorders in their article “The Best Voice Recorders for Lectures, Interviews, and Meetings.” However, it is also perfectly acceptable to use something more accessible like a smartphone or digital recorder. If you are conducting virtual interviews you can directly record the conversation from the software you are using, such as Zoom or Skype.
Take a look at this chart to get a sense of the pros and cons of the three main recording strategies:
| Pros | Cons | |
| Note Writing | Facilitates analysis Readily accessible Information can be categorized by researcher | May interrupt rapport building May distract participant Risk of incorrect interpretation |
| Audio Recording | Provides complete verbal record Researcher can be more focused on active listening Less invasive than video recording | Presence of recording devices changes dynamic of interview setting Participants may be reluctant to disclose sensitive information |
| Video Recording | Provides complete record (verbal, nonverbal) No chance of confusing who is talking Allows for observation of nonverbal cues post-interview Researcher can be more focused on active listening | Presence of video devices changes dynamic of interview setting Participants may be reluctant to disclose sensitive information May infringe upon participants privacy if recording is not handled ethically. |
For more information about the pros and cons of recording strategies take a look at Muswazi and Nhamo’s 2013 article “Notetaking: A lesson for novice qualitative researchers.”
Keep the following simple tips in mind when recording research interviews:
Ethical Considerations
When recording interviews, ethical considerations should be at the forefront of your mind. Most importantly, you must obtain informed consent prior to recording any interaction during the interview process. Informed consent means that you as the researcher give the participant enough information about the research and how the data will be used in order for them to make an informed decision about whether or not to participate. Before you record participants, you must have their consent to be recorded and let them know the purposes of the recordings (Avineri, 2017). You also need to have each participant specifically consent to being recorded.
In order to engage in ethical recording practices, keep the following principles in mind:
- Never record against the participant’s wishes
- Stop the recording if the participant asks you to
- Do not use the recording outside of the original research it was intended for or share it with people outside of the research project. If you need to do so, you can gain additional consent.
- Make sure the recording is stored securely
- If you are recording in a public space, obtain consent from the organization that oversees that space
Next, you will learn about ideal interview settings to best conduct your interviews.
Personal Project
Now that you’ve learned about the various ways to record interviews, you can brainstorm which way might work best for you. What equipment will you have access to? What will the interview setting be like? Will your population of interest be comfortable with the presence of video or audio devices, given the topic of your research?
