ISSUE 11

JULY 2007

CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS
Tips for conducting program evaluation
You have identified information to help you answer your evaluation questions and
developed a plan to collect it. In the last tip sheet, we discussed strategies for
developing and collecting surveys. In this tip sheet, we provide recommendations
for conducting interviews.

When to consider using an interview

Interviews allow you to gather information
from respondents by asking them questions
directly (rather than having them complete
answers on their own, such as by filling out
a questionnaire). Interviews may be done
in-person or by telephone. Interviews tend
to be more time-consuming and expensive

to conduct than surveys, but can also yield

a better response rate. Interviews are most
useful when you need in-depth information
about peoples experiences or perspectives
or when you want to interact with your
respondents, by clarifying questions or
providing them with information.

Types of interviews
Interviews vary in their degree of structure
and formality. Less formal interviews may
be useful if you are exploring a broad topic
or conducting interviews with very diverse
participants. More structured interviews
are useful when it is important to collect
consistent information across all of your
participants. Interviews generally fall somewhere along the following continuum:
1. Informal, conversational interview

No predetermined questions are asked, in

order to remain open and adaptable to
the respondents nature and priorities.
2. Semi-structured interview

The same general areas of information

are collected from each respondent,
providing more focus than the informal

approach. However, the specific

questions, and the way that they are
asked, may vary each time, allowing
some flexibility in getting information.
3. Structured interview

All respondents are asked exactly the

same questions and provided with a
consistent set of response options.
While this approach is less flexible, it
makes it easier to analyze and report
responses.
When interviews are structured, it is
important that they be done consistently
each time. If more than one person is going
to conduct interviews, provide training in
advance, including opportunities to conduct
practice interviews.

CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS
Page 2

The interview process

Explaining the project to potential
respondents
While people are usually willing to be
interviewed, some may refuse. People are
more likely to agree to an interview when
their initial contact with an interviewer is
positive. On making initial contact:
Maintain a positive attitude and be
enthusiastic.
Explain the purpose of the interview,
the kinds of questions you will ask,
how long the interview usually takes,
and how the information will be used.
Allow the respondent to ask questions
before beginning the interview.
If someone seems reluctant to participate,
ask about their concern or objection and
try to address it this is more effective
than being pushy.
Practice your introduction before contacting
respondentspeople respond more favorably
when you sound like yourself and not as
though you are reading from a script.
Conducting the interview
Interviews allow you to establish rapport
with respondents. Before starting, use small
talk to give yourself and the person you are
interviewing a chance to get comfortable.
Once you begin the interview:
Ask questions at a reasonable pace.
If the interview is structured, read each
question exactly as written and in the
same order every time.
Read the entire question before
accepting an answer.
When asked to repeat a question,
repeat the entire question.

Do not skip a question because it was

answered earlier or because you think
you know the answer.
Encourage responses with occasional
nods of the head, "uh huh"s, etc.
Provide transition between major topics,
e.g., "we've been talking about (some
topic) and now I'd like to move on to
(another topic)."
Do not count on your memory to recall
their answers. Ask for permission to
record the interview or take notes.
Do not allow the person you are
interviewing to continually get off
topic. If the conversation drifts, ask
follow-up questions to redirect the
conversation to the subject at hand.
Avoid getting into casual conversation
or discussing issues, topics, and viewpoints that are related or unrelated to
questions on the survey.
If you plan to conduct the interview in
person, be thoughtful about where it will
take place. Make sure the location is
comfortable for the respondent, such as
their home, work place, or other location
they prefer. The setting should be quiet and
private, so that you can conduct the interview
without violating confidentiality.
Avoiding bias
One disadvantage of interviews is the
possibility of respondents changing their
answers to please the interviewer or avoid
embarrassment. It is important to prevent
bias when conducting interviews. Do not
express your own attitudes, opinions,
prejudices, thoughts, or feelings during
the interview.

ISSUE 11
Page 3

The following tips can help you avoid

influencing the respondents answers:
Do not show surprise, approval,
or disapproval with your words,
gestures, or expressions to anything
the respondent says or does.
Do not disagree or argue with someone
even if they express opinions you feel
are wrong.
Do not become too familiar or casual
by sharing personal information.
Do not laugh too much or make the
interview seem like a friendly
conversation.
Do not seek clarification in a way
that leads the respondent toward one
particular answer.
Probing for more information
Interviews provide the opportunity for you
to explain or clarify questions, and allow
you to explore topics in more depth than
you can with a survey. Use probe questions
to obtain more information about answers
that are incomplete, unclear, or irrelevant.
Common probes include: Could you be
more specific?, Could you give me an
example,? or Could you explain that?.
Probes should be asked in a neutral way, and

should not be used to pester or coerce someone

into answering uncomfortable questions.
Other recommendations for using probes:
Never use leading probes. If you are not
sure what a respondent means, ask the
question again or ask for clarification.
Probe responses to closed-ended
questions if the respondent selects an
answer that was not on your list.
Repeat the entire list of options, instead
of trying to guess what was meant.
Respondents sometimes say Dont
Know because they didnt understand
the question, didnt hear the entire
question, or are not sure how to answer.
If someone says that they dont know
an answer, probe at least once. Reading
the question again can be effective.
If someone does not want to answer a
question, probe one time. If he or she
still doesnt answer the question, move
on to the next question. Sometimes it is
helpful to reassure the respondent
that all answers are confidential.
Probe for clarification and inconsistencies.
Make sure that you understand what
the respondent is saying. If you dont
understand what a respondent means, ask.
Process, page 4

Probing examples:
SURVEY QUESTION

RESPONSE

GOOD PROBE

WRONG!!

What did you like best about the program?

I dont know.

Whatever you think is fine.

Didnt you like the staff?

How many nights did you stay in the

shelter?

Oh, about 10 or
12 nights.

Would that be closer to 10

or to 12?

Interviewer writes 11.

How would you improve the program?

Everything!

Please be more specific?

You mean you didnt like

anything?

What is your race or ethnicity?

Well, Im a mixture. A mixture?

Are you part Black or

Hispanic?

How much would you agree that the

services you received were useful?
Would you strongly agree, agree,
disagree, or strongly disagree?

I think they
were okay.

(Interviewer records agree

without probing further).

So . . . would you say you

strongly agree, agree,
disagree, or strongly agree?

TIPS FOR CONDUCTING PROGRAM EVALUATION

Page 4
Process, continued

Probe for details when needed. Use

probes to get a complete response that
fully answers the question.
Stop probing when you have obtained the
necessary information, the respondent
becomes annoyed or irritated, or the
respondent has nothing more to say.
Conducting focus groups
Focus groups are interviews conducted
with a small group of participants
simultaneously. Focus groups share many
advantages with interviews, while also
allowing you to generate insights based on
the interactions among participants. Many
of the recommendations for conducting
interviews also apply to focus groups. In
addition, consider the following tips:

If possible, have someone trained in

group facilitation conduct the group.
Keep the number of questions
reasonable you can generally expect
to thoroughly address 5-7 questions
during a 1.5 hour focus group.
Make it easy for people to participate,
by providing transportation, child care,
or refreshments as appropriate.
Establish ground rules to ensure that
participants feel comfortable, stay
focused, and respect the privacy of others.
Select participants who are opinionated
and comfortable sharing information in
a group.
Limit participation to 6-10 individuals.
Allow opportunities for each person to
share information, rather than letting a
few people dominate the conversation.
Have a second person take notes and
help facilitate the group if needed.

Quick links to more information

Free Management Librarys General Guidelines for Conducting Interviews
(Adapted from the Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development)
http://www.managementhelp.org/evaluatn/intrview.htm
Designing and Conducting Focus Group Interviews by Richard A. Krueger
http://www.shadac.umn.edu/img/assets/18528/FocGrp_Krueger_Oct02.pdf

In future tip sheets

Ethical issues in conducting evaluations (10/07)
Analyzing and understanding data (1/08)
Communicating evaluation results (4/08)
Find previous tip sheets on the web: www.ojp.state.mn.us/grants/index.htm or
www.wilderresearch.org.
July 2007
Author: Cheryl Holm-Hansen
Wilder Research
www.wilderresearch.org

For more information or additional copies,

contact:
Cecilia Miller
Minnesota Office of Justice Programs