Deck 12: Qualitative Interviewing

Question 1

Discuss the main features of focus groups under the following headings: the structure of the focus group,the role of the focus group facilitator,the number of groups in a focus group study,and focus group dynamics.

Answer 1

-The focus group procedure: A researcher gathers together 6 to 12 people in a room with a moderator to discuss a few issues; most focus groups last about 90 minutes,and groups are held in rooms equipped with audio and video recording facilities so that the sessions can be accurately transcribed afterward.
-The role of the moderator: The moderator is trained to be nondirective and to facilitate free,open discussion by all group members; does not interfere in the discussion but starts the group off with the general topic; follows an interview guide to make sure that all the topics related to answering the research question are answered; and ensures that the conversation stays on track and does not veer too far off the topic determined by the research question.
-The number of groups in a focus group study: There is no set number of groups that a researcher interviews to answer his or her research question except that the number of groups has a lot to do with the number of demographic factors that he or she wants to "control" or account for; time and money often dictate the number of interviews that a researcher can undertake.Ideally,the grounded theory approach should be the yardstick by which researchers decide on their number of focus groups (theoretical sampling/theoretical saturation).
-Focus groups as social groups: Unlike individual qualitative interviews,focus groups have the additional characteristic of being groups with their own social dynamics,which condition the opinions expressed within them.Focus group participants speak from many "voices," depending on how other members of the focus group are contributing and how they are being instructed by the moderator.Focus groups are also prone to the phenomena of "groupthink" and members playing "devil's advocate."

Question 2

Which of the following terms is NOT relevant for qualitative interviews?

A) In-depth interviews
B) Informal interviews
C) Structured interviews
D) Open-ended interviews
E) Ethnographic interviews

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Describe the problems with validity and reliability in qualitative interviewing.What might help to overcome these problems?

Answer 3

-Sample sizes are usually small in comparison to those used in quantitative work,and therefore members of the research community question whether the results of such studies are actually applicable to a wider population beyond those in the interview sample.This can be overcome by researchers depositing their data with established data banks and by ensuring that their data is made available to other interested researchers who may want to reanalyze it.
-Lincoln and Guba (1985)have suggested that qualitative data be evaluated according to their trustworthiness.To increase the trustworthiness of qualitative interview data,researchers can ensure that their data are made available to other interested researchers who may want to reanalyze it.Researchers using qualitative interviews can also maximize the transferability (or generalizability)of their findings to populations beyond their immediate sample by selecting participants who are not entirely homogeneous.

Question 4

Which of the following sets is an example of "contrasting informants"?

A) Rookies and veterans
B) The leader in charge of a group and individuals who people look up to
C) Frustrated people and needy people
D) Poor individuals and unemployed individuals
E) An exotic dancer and a prostitute

Question 5

Professor Simon Salamander listens to the interview recordings from his participants and decides that he only wants to transcribe the parts that are most relevant to his research questions.Professor Salamander is engaging in

A) manipulation of the data.
B) selective transcription.
C) truncated transcription.
D) structured transcription.
E) Kvale questioning.

Question 6

High school student Ricardo Francisco becomes an informant in a qualitative research study on youth gangs in Vancouver.This means that he

A) is very familiar with the culture and is in a position to witness significant events.
B) is now able to offer incentives to fellow gang members for participation in the study.
C) is now able to work as research assistant for the study.
D) is immediately accepted by all youth gang members participating in the study.
E) plays the role of a key witness in court when testifying against the illegal activities carried out by members of the gang.

Question 7

Specify and describe four features of qualitative interviews that would be considered an advantage over quantitative structured interviews.

Question 8

Describe four characteristics of qualitative interviews.What are the specific features for each of these characteristics?

Question 9

In what way does the qualitative interview differ from a friendly conversation?

A) The friendly conversation has an explicit goal or purpose, whereas the qualitative interview often does not have a specific goal in mind.
B) The friendly conversation contains many instances of repetition, whereas the qualitative interview tends to avoid going over the same details more than once.
C) In a friendly conversation the participants usually avoid abbreviations and jargon, but in a qualitative interview the interviewer tries to use the same jargon and expressions familiar to the participant.
D) In a friendly conversation the participants tend to speak out of turn and cut each other off, whereas in a qualitative interview the interviewer will often interrupt the participant's response in order to ask for clarification.
E) During a friendly conversation a pause or brief silence is acceptable, whereas in a qualitative interview pauses can be used by the interviewer to get the interviewee to elaborate on a previous point.

Question 10

What are five specific limitations of focus groups?

Question 11

In qualitative interviewing,________ and ________ sampling techniques are typically used.

A) random; probability
B) purposive; probability
C) random; snowball
D) purposive; snowball
E) purposive; random

Question 12

What are four ideal characteristics of a good informant? Identify and describe each one.

Question 13

Which of the following is an example of a "specifying question" in qualitative interviewing?

A) Why do you think people smoke?
B) How many people in your social network smoke?
C) Do you think smoking for all those years has affected your current health?
D) What made you decide to quit smoking?
E) Why do you think your family wanted you to quit smoking?

Question 14

Interviewing subjects until the same general themes continue to emerge from the data and no new findings are being revealed is referred to as

A) theoretical sampling.
B) theoretical saturation.
C) snowball sampling.
D) selective transcription.
E) inductive theory.

Question 15

The number of people interviewed in a qualitative study on the construction of bisexual identity is dictated mainly by

A) sample sizes from previous research studies.
B) the researcher's time and resources.
C) the sponsoring organization's research guidelines.
D) the length of the interview schedule.
E) the number of interviewers available on the research team.

Question 16

How does a researcher go about sampling for qualitative interviews (i.e.,what type of methodology is used)? How is the method of selection justified? What is the procedure for determining the number of individuals/cases to include in the sample?

Question 17

Identify five different qualitative interview question types (Kvale)and provide an example for each one.

Question 18

Describe five features of the qualitative interview that make it different from a normal everyday conversation.

Question 19

What are five specific advantages of focus groups?

Question 20

In a typical qualitative interview,

A) open-ended questions are used.
B) the interviewer shows interest in participants' responses and encourages elaboration.
C) the beginning and end are not clear.
D) the interviewer adjusts to the participants' norms and their use of language.
E) all of the above.

Question 21

devil's advocate

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT one of the characteristics of an ideal informant?

A) Being very familiar with the culture and in a position to witness significant events
B) Having been a member of the culture of interest to the researcher
C) Ongoing membership in the culture of interest to the researcher
D) Having time to spend with the researcher
E) Being nonanalytical

Question 23

A main feature of focus group interviews is

A) that the group being interviewed should be as heterogeneous as possible.
B) that the group being interviewed should be as homogeneous as possible.
C) that the group being interviewed should be as diverse as possible.
D) that the researcher should use a wide variety of related research questions.
E) that the individuals who make up the focus group should be made up of a variety of age categories, ethnic groups, and occupational backgrounds.

Question 24

In order to increase the trustworthiness of their qualitative interview data,researchers should ensure that

A) their data is made available to other interested researchers who may want to reanalyze it.
B) they interview their respondents more than once.
C) they develop research questions prior to conducting their interviews.
D) their respondents are telling the truth.
E) they select participants who are as homogeneous as possible.

Question 25

follow-up questions

Question 26

A limitation of focus group interviews is the so-called "polarization effect." This means that

A) a moderator may unknowingly limit open, free expression of group members.
B) focus group participants produce fewer ideas than individual interviews do.
C) attitudes become more extreme after group discussion.
D) it is not clear whom the members of the focus group are representing-themselves, social groups, or their membership in the focus group.
E) the natural setting allows people to express opinions/ideas freely.

Question 27

Which of the following is often a limitation of using focus groups?

A) People won't talk in a natural setting like a focus group.
B) People in focus groups do not comment on what others in the group said.
C) People feel more empowered, especially marginalized groups in society.
D) In focus groups everyone always comes to total agreement; there is no diversity of opinion.
E) Focus groups produce fewer ideas than those that occur in individual interviews.

Question 28

groupthink

Question 29

A major development for qualitative data resources in recent years has been

A) eliminating international restrictions which made it difficult for some to access qualitative data resources.
B) eliminating restrictions which made it difficult for researchers without academic affiliations to access qualitative data resources.
C) enforcing standards of trustworthiness in agencies that generate qualitative data.
D) discerning links between qualitative and quantitative data.
E) efforts to archive qualitative data.

Question 30

An interview guide is essential in order to

A) get the researcher to stay focused on the research question.
B) keep the researcher to a chronological question order.
C) ensure that the researcher covers all topics.
D) A and B
E) A and C

Question 31

focus group

Question 32

A question by an interviewer such as "I would now like to discuss another issue ..." is an example of a(n)

A) specifying question.
B) direct question.
C) indirect question.
D) structuring question.
E) introducing question.

Question 33

While participating as a member of a focus group assembled to discuss the emotional impact of workplace injuries,Connor Cummerbund took it upon himself to question the dominant ideas affirmed by the rest of the group and introduce new questions about the nature of employment contracts.Which of the following applies to Connor's behaviour?

A) Groupthink
B) Devil's advocate
C) Speaking from many "voices"
D) Speaking from marginalized "voices"
E) Polarizing discussion

Question 34

Which of the following is an example of an "indirect question" used in qualitative interviewing?

A) Why do you think young men are attracted to high-risk sports like heli-skiing?
B) What does it feel like to participate in high-risk sports activities?
C) From what you have said, you really enjoy participating in high-risk sports activities?
D) So, it is all basically about the adrenaline rush?
E) I was just wondering, how do you feel about high-risk sports in general?

Question 35

Groupthink refers to

A) a person whose role is to argue against a dominant idea.
B) a person's natural desire to avoid conflict and lean toward group consensus, even when the group's opinion does not reflect his/her own opinion.
C) the tendency for interviewees to think alike.
D) the use of a moderator to get focus group participants to respond similarly on questions.
E) respondents who share similar socio-economic attributes.

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT one of the advantages of qualitative interviews?

A) They allow the researcher to see the world from the interviewee's perspective.
B) Reading reports that use qualitative interviewing for data collection is very engaging, and creates a sense of intimacy between the researcher, interviewees, and the reader.
C) Qualitative interviews are a valuable method for studying understudied or previously understudied populations.
D) Qualitative interview data can create theories that can give rise to future research, including quantitative research.
E) Sample sizes are usually small in comparison to those used in quantitative research.

Question 37

direct questions

Question 38

Qualitative researchers appreciate that the interview's meaning is shaped by its gestalt.What does the term gestalt denote?

A) Where individual interviews fit along a spectrum from ethical to unethical
B) The nature of an interview's subject matter
C) The whole interaction of a researcher and a member in a specific context
D) The emotional dynamics of the interview process and the participants relation to the subject matter
E) The power asymmetries between researchers and participants

Question 39

Using ________ can actually encourage a participant to continue talking.

A) personal experience
B) silence
C) asking for details
D) talking about specific topics
E) the Socratic method

Question 40

Which of the following statements about the use of incentives in qualitative research is NOT true?

A) Incentives can be cash honorariums.
B) Instead of offering individual interviewees incentives, researchers can give incentives to communities and organizations upon completion of a research project.
C) Researchers can offer participants cash to compensate them for their time.
D) It is unethical to offer incentive for participation unless it would be difficult to obtain important information without such an offer.
E) Whether individual participants receive the same compensation as other participants, or any material compensation, can be left up to chance as when a researcher enters participants names into a draw for prizes.

Question 41

qualitative interview

Question 42

structuring questions

Question 43

introducing questions

Question 44

interview guide

Question 45

silence

Question 46

selective transcription

Question 47

theoretical saturation

Question 48

interpreting questions

Question 49

indirect questions

Question 50

probing questions

Question 51

informant

Question 52

specifying questions

Question 53

moderator

Question 54

incentive