“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”Marie Curie

BAM201 Research Skills

Session 3Interviewing skills

Business and Management

Agenda

• Your questions/comments

about the repertory grid

technique

• Interviewing

Repertory grid technique

• Suggestions for possible uses for the BAM201 assessed research work

• Suggestions for making effective use of the technique

Repertory grid technique

• Notice that you did not ask your interviewee directly what you wanted to find out

• There is a difference between investigative questions and the questions you ask your research participants

Using ‘natural conversation to ask questions

‘Open-ended’ interviews; just a few key questions

Semi-structured interviews, open & closed questions

… in effect verbally administered questionnaires

Listening to other people’s conversations

Structured questionnaire: simple, specific, closed questions…

UNSTRUCTURED STRUCTURED

Based on Gillham (2000)

Interviewing

Successful interviewers

• Knowledgeable

• Provides structure

• Clear

• Gentle

• Sensitive

• Open

• Steers

• Critical

• Remembering

• Interpreting

• Balanced

• Ethically sensitive

Bryman & Bell (2003)

Types of question

• Introducing questions

• Follow-up questions

• Structuring questions

Tell me about X… Have you ever felt unhappy about X…?

Could you say a bit more about…?

I would like to move on by asking about…

Based on Bryman & Bell (2003)

Types of question

• Direct questions

• Indirect questions

• Specifying questions

Were you happy with that role?

What do most people here feel about…?

What does that company policy state?

Based on Bryman & Bell (2003)

Types of question

• Checking questions

• Probing questions

• Silence

So is it fair to say that you don’t think pay is a problem?

Do you ever worry about money?

Pauses signal that you want the interviewee to think and say more

Based on Bryman & Bell (2003)

Organising and managing the research interview

• Setting up the interview•Basic information about the

project.

•Why the interviewee has been asked to participate.

• Practicalities - probable length, when and where interview will take place, etc.

• Opening stages of the interview– Explain the purpose of the interview and

research.

– Explain that you wish to record the interview.

• The core of the interview– Have your questions and prompts in front

of you.

– Mix open and closed questions, but more open ones.

– Use closed questions only for prompts and impromptu follow-ups

• Bringing the interview to a close– Signal the end, eg ‘now the last thing I

have to ask is . . . . . .’

– Show appreciation, eg ‘You’ve given me a lot of useful information there and I’m very grateful’

– Clarify what happens next. Do what you promise, eg give them a copy of your report.

You should use prompts and probes

• Prompt an interviewee to steer them in the direction of your research questions

• Probe to expand on responses– By seeking clarification– By asking for justification– By giving an example– Seeking to extend the narrative

(interviewee offers a story)

Interviewing

• The interviewer is an authority figure

• The interviewee will want to please the interviewer

• The interviewer is responsible for what happens in the interview!

What have you learnt about your interviewing skills?

What could (should) you do to develop them?

Make some notes

Inter-session tasks1. Read chapters 5 and 15 of Bryman &

Bell (2003) or chapter 6 of Collis & Hussey (2003), or Gillham’s book The Research Interview

2. Practise your interviewing skills (using your own interview schedules)

3. Do some thinking about the kinds of issues you could address using interviews for the BAM201 assessment