Ethnographic Interviewing

Guiding the Interview

A questionnaire written to guide interviews is called an interview schedule or
interview guide. Field researchers typically employ unstructured or semi-
structured interviews to ask questions. This conversational approach yields
fexibility in that an answer to one question may infuence the next question
the researcher wishes to ask.
Asking questions:
hat is interesting !rom the respondent"s point o! view#
hat is interesting !rom the researcher"s point o! view#
$on"t ask sociological questions.
%hy% questions should be translated into %how% questions.
%hy% questions o!ten result in &usti'cations.
%(ow% questions tell you something about the process.
)xamples:
%(ow did you happen to come here*be this#%
%(ow did you !eel at this time about this point#%
%(ow did you talk to ...#%
%hat do you think about ...#%
%hat did you do then#%
%hat did you like the most*the least#%
$on"t" ask leading questions. $on"t put the answer into the respondent"s
mouth.
%$on"t you think ...%
%$on"t you agree ...%
+robes: elaboration on a speci'c sub&ect , sit and wait , take the last
statement and turn it into a question , make a non-committal response
-simply nod your head. etc./ , ask !or examples
%as ... this what you expected#%
%(ow so*how not#%
%(ow did you !eel about this#%
%0ould you elaborate on this#%
%1ou talked previously about .... can you tell me more about that#%
2! something is le!t out at the end o! the interview. mention it and 'nd out
why it is le!t out.
At the end o! the interview ask:
%$o you think that important things were le!t out# hich topics#%
Sample Questions for the Life History Interview - Robert Atkinson (1998):
The Life Story Interview
0hildhood and Adolescence
(ow would you describe your parents when you were growing up#
o hat were some o! the best and worst things about them#
o hat do you think you inherited !rom them#
hat is your earliest memory#
hat was growing up in your house or neighborhood like#
hat do you remember most about growing up with. or without brothers
and sisters#
hat were some o! your struggles as a child#
o hat was the saddest time !or you#
(ow was discipline handled in your !amily#
hat would you say was the most signi'cant event in your li!e up to age
34#
hat pressures did you !eel as a teenager and where did they come !rom#
hat did you do !or !un and entertainment#
hat was the most trouble you were ever in as a teenager#
hat was the most signi'cant event o! your teenage years#
hat was being a teenager like# The best part# The worst part#
hat was your 'rst experience o! leaving home like#
ere you in the military#
o hat was this experience like#
5ualitative 6esearch: 2nterviewing. 6etrieved 7ovember 3. 4889 !rom
http:**www.clas.uf.edu*users*ardelt*Aging*5ual2nt.htm