3 Strategies to Improve Your Interview Skills in Qualitative Research

Hello Curious Learner,

As a qualitative researcher, how comfortable are you as an interviewer? What areas would you like to improve? How do you feel after conducting an interview?

I recently had a chance to work with a graduate student and come up with a few strategies to improve her skills and confidence as a qualitative research interviewer. I listened to a few recordings from interviews she had already conducted and, as a group, we discussed what could be improved in future interviews.  

After that process, we decided to try three strategies and here they are:

1.     Think of the beginning of an interview as your chance to show your participant that you care about them.

I shared a quote on LinkedIn by Chief Cadmus Delorme from Cowessess First Nation that speaks volumes about strategy #1: “Show people your heart before you ask them to hold your hand.” This is vital in the first 5-15 minutes of an interview. I would like you to think of ways you can do this in your own work. What can you do to bring interviewer and interviewee closer? Power differentials may exist in the interview dyad and taking steps to address it is crucial.

2.     As much as possible (preferably, always), ask open-ended exploratory questions.

Think about this, what type of response do close-ended questions,such as “Did you do…?” “Is it..?” “Do you feel…?” elicit? Unless someone is chatty and wants to share more, the answer is “yes” or “no” and we are not going to learn as much as you would like about someone’s experiences with those short answers. In contrast, open-ended questions, in particular “what” and “how” questions, invite people to engage and share without feeling judged. Here is an example that hopefully makes the difference more vivid

Example:

Did your parents tell you that your family was going to move out of the house?

Follow-up question: Did you feel sad about it?

 In contrast to…

How did you find out that your family was moving out of the house?

Follow-up question: How did you feel when you heard the news?

By reading the example above, it is noticeable (to me, at least) that close-ended questions tend to carry assumptions about people’s realities, with the potential of cutting conversations short.

3.     Demonstrate empathy.

You are not a “weak” interviewer if you show empathy and your emotions during an interview. You are human and qualitative research is relational. I wrote a related blog post that briefly touched on this relational aspect.

I invite you to listen to your own interview recordings, and to think about how you used these strategies in the past and/or moments you believe you could have used them. If you want to take a step further, watch an incredible TEDx Talk with Celeste Headlee: 10 ways to have a better conversation

Interviews skills just like any other skill can be improved and refined over time so keep practicing and moving forward in your work.

Talk soon,

Maira