Interviewing

		Advanced


	About Western CAPT
	Services
	Resources
	Planning and Best Practices
	Tip of the CAPT
	Prevention Talk
	Prevention Materials
	PowerPoint Presentations
	Grant Information
	Resource Links
	Research Links
	NOMs
	News
	Special Projects

Western > Resources > Planning and Best Practices > Step 7 > Evaluation 10E

print page

X. Evaluation Tools & Measures

E. Interviewing

Collecting Data Through Interviews

Interviewing, like other data-collection methods, can serve multiple purposes. It provides a means of cross-checking and complementing the information collected through observations. An evaluator interviews to learn how staff and clientele view their experiences in the program, or to investigate issues currently under discussion in a project. The inside knowledge gained from interviews can provide an in-depth understanding of hard-to-measure concepts such as community participation, empowerment, and cohesiveness.

Interviews can be used in all phases of the evaluation, but they are particularly useful when conducting implementation and context evaluation. Because interviews give you in-depth and detailed information, they can indicate whether a program was implemented as originally planned and, if not, why and how the project has changed. This type of information helps policy makers and administrators understand how a program actually works. It is also useful information for individuals who may wish to replicate program services.

One of the first steps in interviewing is to find knowledgeable informants; that is, people who will be able to give you pertinent information. These people may be involved in service activities, hold special community positions which give them particular insights, or simply have expertise in the issues you are studying. One does not need a university degree or a prestigious title to be a valuable informant. Informants can be patients, staff members, community members, local leaders, politicians, or health professionals. Depending on the type of information you seek, you may interview one or many different informants.

In addition to finding informants, you must also decide which method of interviewing is most appropriate to your evaluation. Figure 6 describes different interviewing techniques, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each.

If you wish to record an interview, first obtain permission from the interviewee. If there are indications that the presence of the tape recorder makes the interviewee uncomfortable, consider taking handwritten notes instead. Tape recording is required only if you need a complete transcript or exact quotes. It you choose to focus your attention on the interviewee and not take notes during all or part of the interview, write down your impressions as soon as possible after the interview.

Figure 6: Approaches to Interviewing

Type of Interview	Characteristics	Strengths	Weaknesses
Informal Conversational Interview	Questions emerge from the immediate context and are asked in the natural course of things; there are no predetermined questions, topics, or wordings.	Increases the salience and relevance of questions; interviews are built on and emerge from observations; the interview can be matched to individuals and circumstances.	Different information collected from different people with different questions. Less systematic and comprehensive if certain questions do not arise "naturally." Data organization and analysis can be quite difficult.
Interview Guide Approach	Topics and issues to be covered are specified in advance, in outline form; interviewer decides sequence and wording of questions in the course of the interview.	The outline increases the comprehensiveness of the data and makes data collection somewhat systematic for each respondent. Logical gaps in data can be anticipated and closed Interviews remain fairly conversational and situational.	Important and salient topics may be inadvertently omitted Interviewer flexibility in sequencing and wording questions can result in substantially different responses from different perspectives, thus reducing the comparability of responses
Standardized Open-Ended Interview	The exact wording and sequence of questions are determined in advance. All interviewees are asked the same questions in the same order. Questions are worded in a completely open-ended format.	Respondents answer the same questions, thus increasing comparability of responses; data are complete for each person on the topics addressed in the interview. Reduces interviewer effects and bias when several interviewers are used Permits evaluation users to see and review the instrumentation used in the evaluation. Facilitates organization and analysis of the data.	Little flexibility in relating the interview to particular individuals and circumstances; standardized wording of questions may constrain and limit naturalness and relevance of questions and answers
Closed-Field Response Interview	Questions and response categories are determined in advance. Respondent chooses from among these fixed responses.	Data analysis is simple; responses can be directly compared and easily aggregated; many questions can be asked in a short time.	Respondents must fit their experiences and feelings Into the researchers categories; may be perceived as impersonal, irrelevant, and mechanistic. Can distort what respondents really mean or have experienced by so completely limiting their response choices.

Back


Privacy Policy \| Site Disclaimer \| Site Accessibility
SAMHSA \| NCADI \| National Mental Health Information Center \| USA.gov Page last updated: 08/17/2006