|
This article gives a description of the methods
of interviewing, focus groups, questionnaires and participant
observation.
INTERVIEWING
In social research there are many types of interview. The
most common of these are unstructured, semi-structured
and structured interviews.
1. Unstructured interviews
Unstructured or in-depth interviews are sometimes called
life history interviews. This is because they are the favoured
approach for life history research. In this type of
interview, the researcher attempts to achieve a holistic understanding
of the interviewees’ point of view or situation.
For example, if you want to find out about a Polish man’s
experiences of a concentration camp during the war,
you’re delving into his life history. Because you are unsure
of what has happened in his life, you want to enable him
to talk freely and ask as few questions as possible. It is for
this reason that this type of interview is called unstructured
– the participant is free to talk about what he or
she deems important, with little directional influence from
the researcher. This type of interview can only be used for
qualitative research.
As the researcher tries to ask as few questions as possible,
people often assume that this type of interviewing is the
easiest. However, this is not necessarily the case. Researchers
have to be able to establish rapport with the participant
– they have to be trusted if someone is to reveal
intimate life information. This can be difficult and takes
tact, diplomacy and perseverance. Also, some people find
it very difficult to remain quiet while another person talks,
sometimes for hours on end. Researchers need to remain
alert, recognising important information and probing for
more detail. They need to know how to tactfully steer
someone back from totally irrelevant digressions. Also,
it is important to realise that unstructured interviewing
can produce a great deal of data which can be difficult
to analyse.
2. Semi-structured interviews
Semi-structured interviewing is perhaps the most common
type of interview used in qualitative social research.
In this type of interview, the researcher wants to know
specific information which can be compared and contrasted
with information gained in other interviews. To
do this, the same questions need to be asked in each inter-
view. However, the researcher also wants the interview to
remain flexible so that other important information can
still arise.
For this type of interview, the researcher produces an interview
schedule. This may be a list of specific
questions or a list of topics to be discussed. This is
taken to each interview to ensure continuity. In some research,
such as a grounded theory study, the schedule is
updated and revised after each interview to include more
topics which have arisen as a result of the previous interview.
3. Structured interviews
Structured interviews are used frequently in market research.
Have you ever been stopped in the street and
asked about washing powder or which magazines you
read? Or have you been invited into a hall to taste cider
or smell washing-up liquid? The interviewer asks you a
series of questions and ticks boxes with your response.
This research method is highly structured – hence the
name. Structured interviews are used in quantitative research
and can be conducted face-to-face or over the telephone,
sometimes with the aid of lap-top computers.
FOCUS GROUPS
Focus groups may be called discussion groups or group interviews.
A number of people are asked to come together
in a group to discuss a certain issue. For example, in market
research this could be a discussion centred on new
packaging for a breakfast cereal, or in social research this
could be to discuss adults’ experiences of school.
1. ADVANTAGES of FOCUS GROUPS
- Can receive a wide range of
responses during one meeting.
- Participants can ask questions of
each other, lessoning impact of
researcher bias.
- Helps people to remember issues
they might otherwise have
forgotten.
- Helps participants to overcome
inhibitions, especially if they
know other people in the group.
The group effect is a useful
resource in data analysis.
Participant interaction is useful
to analyse.
2. DISADVANTAGES of FOCUS GROUPS
- Some people may be
uncomfortable in a group setting
and nervous about speaking in
front of others.
- Not everyone may contribute.
Other people may contaminate
an individual’s views.
- Some researchers may find it
difficult or intimidating to
moderate a focus group.
- Venues and equipment can be
expensive.
- Difficult to extract individual
views during the analysis.
The discussion is led by a moderator or facilitator who introduces
the topic, asks specific questions, controls digressions
and stops break-away conversations. She
makes sure that no one person dominates the discussion
whilst trying to ensure that each of the participants makes
a contribution. Focus groups may be video-recorded or
tape-recorded.
QUESTIONNAIRES
There are three basic types of questionnaire – closedended,
open-ended or a combination of both.
1. Closed-ended questionnaires
Closed-ended questionnaires are probably the type with
which you are most familiar. Most people have experience
of lengthy consumer surveys which ask about your shopping
habits and promise entry into a prize draw. This type
of questionnaire is used to generate statistics in quantitative
research. As these questionnaires follow a set format,
and as most can be scanned straight into a computer for
ease of analysis, greater numbers can be produced.
2. Open-ended questionnaires
Open-ended questionnaires are used in qualitative research,
although some researchers will quantify the answers
during the analysis stage. The questionnaire does
not contain boxes to tick, but instead leaves a blank section
for the respondent to write in an answer. Whereas
closed-ended questionnaires might be used to find out
how many people use a service, open-ended questionnaires
might be used to find out what people think about
a service. As there are no standard answers to these questions,
data analysis is more complex. Also, as it is opinions
which are sought rather than numbers, fewer
questionnaires need to be distributed.
3. Combination of both
Many researchers tend to use a combination of both open
and closed questions. That way, it is possible to find out
how many people use a service and what they think about
that service on the same form. Many questionnaires begin
with a series of closed questions, with boxes to tick or
scales to rank, and then finish with a section of openquestions
for more detailed response.
Recently, some market research companies have started
to distribute their questionnaires via the internet. This
suggests that soon there might be a new category of questionnaire
– the interactive questionnaire, which allows respondents
to work with the researcher in both the
development and completion of the questionnaire.
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
There are two main ways in which researchers observe –
direct observation and participant observation. Direct observation
tends to be used in areas such as health and psychology.
It involves the observation of a ‘subject’ in a
certain situation and often uses technology such as video
cameras or one-way mirrors. For example, the interaction
of mother, father and child in a specially prepared play
room may be watched by psychologists through a oneway
mirror in an attempt to understand more about family
relationships. In participant observation, however,
the researcher becomes much more involved in the lives
of the people being observed.
Participant observation can be viewed as both a method
and a methodology. It is popular
amongst anthropologists and sociologists who wish to
study and understand another community, culture or context.
They do this by immersing themselves within that
culture. This may take months or years, as they need to
build up a lasting and trusting relationship with those
people being studied. Through participation within their
chosen culture and through careful observation, they
hope to gain a deeper understanding into the behaviour,
motivation and attitudes of the people under study.
Participant observation, as a research method, received
bad press when a number of researchers became covert
participant observers; entering organisations and participating
in their activities without anyone knowing that
they were conducting research. Overt
participant observation, where everyone knows who the
researcher is and what she is doing, however, can be a valuable
and rewarding method for qualitative inquiry.
| 
Disclaimer
