This is a tutorial that I have run a number of times which enables students to practice conducting interviews in such a way that they can take lessons away. It has been successful with both undergraduates and postgraduates.

1. Interviews
LYDIA ARNOLD
LARNOLD@HARPER-ADAMS.AC.UK
WWW.LYDIAARNOLD.NET

2. Aims
To identify and discuss different approaches to conducting
an interview
To reflect upon the personal skills and attributes required
for interviewing
To practise conducting and reflecting upon interviews

3. What is an interview like?
◦ Structured or ‘an organic conversation’
◦ Check lists and loose plans
◦ Timeline matters: Start at the beginning
◦ How many?
◦ Sampling
◦ Reflective – Change sampling if needed

4. Key principles – choose yours
◦ Representation
I need to listen carefully to the
people who I am representing
and try not to spin the stories. It
is a real skill. I want my research
project to be neat, so I
sometimes have to consciously
avoid picking out bits of the story
that suit my representation.

5. Key principles
◦ Flexibility Stories can be unexpected and so
I need to listen carefully and if
necessary change my research
design as I go along.

6. Key principles
◦ Empathy
People are telling me stories and
they mean it. They trust me and I
need to represent them.
I can’t help having an emotional
connection and in narrative
research that’s OK!

7. Key principles
◦ Co-creation
A story has two or even three
creators – the person whose
story is being told, the person
who is telling and the person
who is receiving the story.
Stories are not just made by one
person or owned by one person.

8. Cascading design
Choose principles that fit with your
methodology!
Epistemology (e.g.
constructivist or realist)
Methodology
(e.g. narrative)
Methods
(e.g. interview)

9. Interview reflections
Despite the time spent writing the questions
– making them clear - the actual interviews
were far less scripted ... We frequently
followed leads not of the script.
I learnt to listen more, and interrupt less.
This can be seen in the interview transcripts
which have longer participant flows.
I learnt to be honest about presenting my
own ideas and asking whether they rang
true. This was better than a leading
questions. I say I’ve been thinking the …
what do you think of that?
I learnt to cope better
with silence, rather
than seeking to fill
every moment

10. Interview reflections
I learnt to reflect on an interview and see
how it could have been better. They did get
better.
I learnt practical stuff too – keeping
phones off and asking participants to do
the same. Being aware that if I use my
phone as a recording device an incoming
call interrupts the recording. The phrase ‘tell me
more about that’
became my best
interviewing line.

11. Ethical dilemmas – beyond the tick
box
◦ After the tape is off
◦ Seeking ‘negative cases’ (othering)
◦ Identity choices
◦ Lost aspects of the story
◦ So what?

12. The task – the six minute interview challenge
◦ Get in to pairs
◦ Select a topic each to conduct an interview
(6 min)
◦ Write some key questions (6 min)
◦ Conduct the interview (6 min)
◦ Debrief and reflect (3 min)
◦ Conduct the other interview (6 min)
◦ Debrief and reflect (3 min)
◦ Spend some time undertaking a more formal
reflection on your interview technique and
anything you learnt (5 min)
◦ Share your key points of learning
6
minutes

13. Select a topic each to conduct an interview (6 min)
◦ Be comfortable with the topic – choose from the following
◦ Your story of how you got interested in subject area that you are following
◦ Your epistemological views
◦ Your expectations of research and how these have changed
◦ Your experiences of using technology or social media
◦ Your experiences of work experience
◦ Your story of becoming a Harper Adams student
◦ Something else all together

14. Write some key questions as if conducting a narrative
interview (6 min)
◦ Start at the beginning of the story
◦ Ask questions that encourage information to be given
◦ Have a prompt or two ready to use if needed
◦ Don’t ‘lead’ – e.g. ‘Do you think this ….?’
◦ Use clean language – simple sentences with clear
meaning
◦ Test your assumptions – I’ve noticed xxxx. What do you
think ….
o Avoid ‘what’ questions …
o Why’ can be tricky – What was your motivation …
what were you thinking
o Can you tell me about when you first started ….
o How did you develop …..
o What role did others play in …..
o What happened next?
o Tell me more about that

15. Conduct the interview (6 min)
◦ Introduce yourself and the research area at the beginning
◦ Offer the chance for any questions to be raised before you begin
◦ You don’t need to answer truthfully – this is role play
◦ If the question is closed – answer it ‘as is’
◦ Record by mutual consent – but for reflective use only
◦ Imagine it matters
◦ Consider your final question – is there anything you haven’t had opportunity to say and would like
to add?

16. Debrief and reflect (3 min)
What went well?
What could be developed?
Were the questions clear? Were any of the questions uncomfortable to answer in a real
situation? Were any questions closed?
Could you tell your story in this situation?

17. Conduct the interview (6 min)
◦ Introduce yourself and the research area at the beginning
◦ Offer the chance for any questions to be raised before you begin
◦ You don’t need to answer truthfully – this is role play
◦ If the question is closed – answer it ‘as is’
◦ Record by mutual consent – but for reflective use only
◦ Imagine it matters
◦ Consider your final question – is there anything you haven’t had opportunity to say and would like
to add?

18. Debrief and reflect (3 min)
What went well?
What could be developed?
Were the questions clear? Were any of the questions uncomfortable to answer in a real
situation? Were any questions closed?
Could you tell your story in this situation?

19. What did you learn?
◦ What did you learn overall about writing questions? What types of questions work?
◦ What did you learn about your interviewing technique?
◦ What surprised you?
◦ How do you feel about interviewing those known to you?
◦ What might be different in interviewing a stranger?
◦ How can you develop your interview technique before the real dissertation?

20. For information: Resources that have
informed this presentation
Josselson, R. 2011, "Narrative Research: Constructing, Deconstructing and Reconstructing
Story" in Five ways of doing qualitative analysis. Phenomenological psychology, grounded
theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry, eds. F.J. Wertz, K.
Charmaz, L.M. McMullen, R. Josselson, R. Anderson & E. McSpadden, Guilford Press, New
York, pp. 224-242.
Kvernbekk, T. & Frimannsson, G.H. 2013, "Narrative: A Brief Introduction", Scandinavian
Journal of Educational Research, vol. 57, no. 6, pp. 571-573.
Loh, J 2013, 'Inquiry into Issues of Trustworthiness and Quality in Narrative Studies: A
Perspective', Qualitative Report, 18, 33, p. 1, Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File,
EBSCOhost, viewed 21 November 2014. Also available at
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR18/loh65.pdf
McMullen, C, & Braithwaite, I 2013, 'Narrative Inquiry and the Study of Collaborative Branding
Activity', Electronic Journal Of Business Research Methods, 11, 2, pp. 92-104, Business Source
Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 23 November 2014.

21. Continued…
Maxwell, J.A. 2012, A Realist Approach for Qualitative Research, Sage, London.
Relevant chapter available direct with the publisher at http://www.sagepub.com/upm-
data/44132_7.pdf
Seidman, I. 2013, Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in
education and the social sciences, 4th edn, Teachers College Press, New York
Siddiqui, S, Turley, D, & Rifai, F 2008, 'Cries from the Goblin Market: Consumer Narratives in the
Marketplace', Advances In Consumer Research, 35, pp. 810-811, Business Source Complete,
EBSCOhost, viewed 23 November 2014.
Torrance, H. 2013. Qualitative research, science, and government: Evidence, criteria,
policy, and politics. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Collecting and interpreting
qualitative materials (4th Edition.; pp.355-380). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage publications.