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Victoria Healey-Etten and Shane Sharp - 12 Handy In-Depth Interviewing Tips

The document provides 12 tips for conducting in-depth interviews, including probing further with questions like 'Can you describe what the place looked like?', avoiding complex terminology, turning closed questions into open ones, ensuring question flow logically, avoiding leading questions, and not judging interviewees' responses.

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Carla Matias
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105 views2 pages

Victoria Healey-Etten and Shane Sharp - 12 Handy In-Depth Interviewing Tips

The document provides 12 tips for conducting in-depth interviews, including probing further with questions like 'Can you describe what the place looked like?', avoiding complex terminology, turning closed questions into open ones, ensuring question flow logically, avoiding leading questions, and not judging interviewees' responses.

Uploaded by

Carla Matias
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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12 HANDY IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWING TIPS

1. Probe, Probe, Probe in a Nonalien Way: The MOST IMPORTANT question for your
interviews is probably not on your question sheet. Rather, the most important question is the
probe, which is a question you ask in order to learn more about what an interviewee just told
you. Probing more in depth makes the interviewee think more about his or her thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors, and thus allows you to learn just what is behind these things.
Sometimes you can anticipate what issues will need further probing. If so, then it is helpful to
write down probing questions underneath your main questions to remind you to probe further.
Some specific interview probes you might use include: "Can you describe what the place
looked like?"; "How did that make you feel at the time?"; "Can you give me an example of
that?"; and "What did you mean when you said ________ ?"

2. Avoid $100 Words: Don't ask questions like "What is your gender ideology?" or "Tell me
about your role overload." Rather, phrase questions in a way that a generally educated
respondent would understand. For instance, instead of asking "What is your gender
ideology?," ask "What do you think the proper role for a woman [man] is?" or "Who do you
think should be responsi ble for housework?" The answers to these questions will let you
know a person's gender ideology.

3. Turn a Clark Kent Question into a Superman Question: Many closed-ended questions
can be turned into an open-ended question by beginning the question with a "why" or "how"
instead of "what," or by following up the answer to a close-ended question with "Why?,"
"Why not?," "Why do you feel that way?," "How does that make you feel?," and other pithy
phrases. For example, a question like "What chores do you do on a regular basis?" is rather
closed-ended. How ever, adding the follow-up "Why do you do these chores in particular?"
or "How did you and your spouse decide who does what chore?" opens up the question for
further elaboration by the interviewee. In general, try to use "how" more than "why," since
"why" questions sometimes cause interviewees to feel that you are judging them. When you
feel that asking a "why" question is appropriate, make sure to ask this question in as
nonjudgmental way as possible (see 5 and 11).

4. Probe, Probe, Probe: Did I mention this? Good. Don't forget it.

5. Do a Homer Simpson: Sometimes you will ask questions that seem very commonsensical
to your interviewees. One tactic for handling this problem is just to "play dumb." Tell them
that you really don't know what they are talking about. This will make your interviewees
further explain things, which will provide you with much better data. Another way you can
do this is blame it on the assignment and say that even though you know what they will say,
the assignment and your mean old professor and teaching assistant requires them to say it.
Playing stupid is also a good way for you to not seem judgmental when asking a "why"
question, since you can say that you want to know "why" because you sincerely don't
understand and not because you think they're wrong for feeling, thinking, or behaving in a
certain way.

6. Battle the "You Know What I Mean?" Demon: You may find that your interviewees will
end a statement by the phrase "You know what I mean?" or some other variant. Kill this
demon every time you see it.Do not allow it to kill you by nodding your head and saying
"Yep." Rather, say no, you don't know what they mean, or ask the interviewees to just clarify
what they mean for your sake. This demon raises its ugly head especially with
questions about thoughts and feelings. This is why this demon is especially
evil, because unless you have the mag cal ability to know what's in a person's head, then you
really don't know what they mean.

7. Order Attention Pay to: The questions that you ask should flow logically from one to
another, or you should have transitions between sets of questions to let the interviewee know
that you are now going in a different direction. Asking questions that do not logically follow
one another makes the interview process seem disjointed and artificial, and this can have a
huge impact on the interview dynamic. Questions that seem orderly put the interviewee at
ease and make the interview seem more conversation-like, and this practice will cause the
interviewee to open up to you more. It will also make you seem as if you've got your act
together, giving you legitimacy as an interviewer.

8. Be a Good Ant and Don't Lead, Follow: Try to avoid leading questions that may make
interviewees feel obligated to answer in a particular way. "How did the division of
housework make you upset?" is a leading question because it assumes that the person was
upset about the issue. However, the question "How did the division of the housework make
you feel?" gets at the same thing, but it does not lead the interviewee into a specific
emotional direction.

9. Probe, Probe, Probe: Just in case it hasn't burrowed its way into your mind forever by
now. I'm serious. Do it. You'll be sorry if you don't.

10. Enjoy the Silence: Oftentimes there will be "dead air" during the interview. Avoid the
temptation to fill it. Give your interviewees time to think about the answers that they want to
give. Don't worry. Interviewees are usually quick to tell you if they don't understand a
question or if they don't have anything else to say about a topic.

11. Don't Be a Judge Judy: You may not agree with some or a lot of what your interviewees
say. However, it is really not your job as an interviewer and researcher to morally judge your
interviewees. Rather, your goal is to document, understand, and try to explain why they think
and feel in certain ways. Therefore, during the interview try not to take a judgmental tone or
stance toward what the interviewee says. Also remember that you can express judgment in
nonverbal ways, such as how you look at a person when they give an answer or the critical
tone you use when asking follow-up questions. Try to keep these nonverbal cues in check
during the interview.

12. Shut up: Do not put words into people's mouths. Rather, let them say things in their own
words, especially with questions that deal with thoughts, opinions, and feelings. Remember,
if you say it, it's not data. It is only data when the interviewee says it. If you go back over an
interview tape and you notice that you talk as much or more than the interviewee did, then it
was probably not a good interview.

Victoria Healey-Etten and Shane Sharp (2010). Teaching Beginning Undergraduates How to Do an In-
depth Interview: A Teaching Note with 12 Handy Tips. Teaching Sociology, 38(2), 157–165.

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