Qualitative Data Collection & Analysis Methods
Learning Objectives
- Describe the circumstances under which is suitable to use interview for data collection;
- Explain what a semi-structured interview is;
- Identify the characteristics of an open-ended questions;
- Describe an interview guide;
- Identify the challenges associated with interviewing;
- Explain what a focus group is and identify the situations where conducting a focus group is valuable;
- Describe when it is appropriate to utilize videography as a data collection method;
- Identify the pros and cons of videography as a data collection method;
- Explain what a code is and describing the coding process;
- Describe the differences between inductive and deductive coding;
- Describe the two types of inductive coding (descriptive and interpretive) and compare those to the two deductive coding (open and focused/axial coding) techniques;
- List the various steps involved in analyzing qualitative data;
- Describe an oral history;
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative interviews.
Interview Research
Interviewing is a qualitative research technique. Knowing how to create and conduct a good interview is one of those skills you just cannot go wrong having. Interviews are used by market researchers to learn how to sell their products, journalists use interviews to get information from a whole host of people from VIPs to random people on the street. From the social scientific perspective, interviews are a method of data collection that involves two or more people exchanging information through a series of questions and answers. The questions are designed by a researcher to elicit information from interview participant(s) on a specific topic or set of topics. Typically interviews involve an in-person meeting between two people, an interviewer and an interviewee. But as you will discover in this chapter, interviews need not be limited to two people, nor must they occur in person.
Text Attributions
- “Interview Research” is an adaptation of Chapter 9.1 in Principles of Sociological Inquiry, which was adapted by the Saylor Academy without attribution to the original authors or publisher, as requested by the licensor. © Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
