Qualitative data collection

Communication in In-depth Interviews and Focus Group Discussions

Dr Nicola Wiseman
Lecture Overview
Purpose of Social Research
Qualitative research
Qualitative Data collection Methods
• In-depth-Interviews
• Focus group discussions
• Things to consider
• How to know which to choose?
Qualitative data analysis
Purpose of Social
Research
• Descriptive
• Explanatory
• Exploratory
Descriptive Research
Describe a social phenomenon
Descriptive
• Start from developed idea of research
subject to provide a detailed picture
• Describe a social phenomena - How
often does it happen? Who is involved?
• Portray reality of research subject
• Outcome is detailed "picture" of subject
matter
• Often quantitative
• Large proportion of social research is
descriptive
Explanatory Research
Explain WHY something occurs
• Explanatory
• Explaining why things are the way they are
• Moves beyond describing a research subject – hypothesis testing
• Looks for and explains causes and reasons (cause and effect)
• Requires in-depth examination of subject
• Often mixed methods - qualitative/quantitative
Exploratory Research
EXPLORE a new topic
• What is the social activity really about?
• Exploratory:
• Little is known on the subject matter – become familiar with basic facts, setting,
concerns
• Limited evidence or research has been conducted
• Breaking new ground – formulate questions for future research
• Researcher's agenda is open and broad
• Generate hypotheses
• Frequently qualitative research methods
Purpose of research: Some tips
Exploratory research

• Design in which the major emphasis is on gaining new ideas and insights

Descriptive research

• Design in which the major emphasis is on determining the frequency with which
something occurs (prevalence) or the extent to which two variables co-vary

Explanatory

• Research design in which the major emphasis is on testing hypotheses or

determining cause-and-effect relationships
What is qualitative research?
Draws on explanatory and exploratory types of research
• Goal is to develop an understanding of social life and discover how
people construct meaning in natural settings
• Interested in contextualised nature of experience and action and the
perspective of people within particular settings
• Fluid and flexible in approach
• Develop analyses that are rich in detail
• Integrative of events and interpretations with larger meaning systems
(theory)
What is best – qualitative or quantitative?
• Both are highly desirable routes to knowledge

• Complementary and contrasting

• Situation determines which type is most appropriate

• Purpose and questions posed by research

• Need to have both in your arsenal of research skills – the

eclectic researcher
Why qualitative? Depends on what you want to
know…
• What do quantitative studies tell us about young people’s physical activity?

• Decreasing participation in sports and physical activities

• Girls and young people from minority groups (cultural, physical,

environmental) have lower participation rates

• What does this epidemiological evidence NOT tell us?

• It cannot answer the ‘WHY?’ questions..

How can we inform interventions to change behaviour if we don’t

understand why?
Qualitative data collection techniques
Qualitative data collection
methods
1. In-depth Interviews
2. Focus group discussions
In-depth Interviews: A guide
Interviews
• Structured

• Semi-structured

• Ethnographic interview – unstructured, non-

directive, in-depth, multiple meetings

• Guiding questions/topics

• Open discussion – like a conversation but

with a bit more structure

• Detailed notes
Preparation for in-depth interviews
1. Choose a setting with little distraction.

2. Explain the purpose of the interview.

3. Address terms of confidentiality.

4. Explain the format of the interview. .

5. Indicate how long the interview usually takes.

6. Tell them how to get in touch with you later if they want to.

7. Ask if they have any questions

8. Don't count on your memory to recall their answers.

 Build rapport with your
respondents
Building rapport and establishing comfortable interactions in the qualitative
interview situation is very important and is preferably done well in advance of the
interview, but also during the interview itself.
How do I build rapport?
You should draft a short summary of your research project, written in
layman’s terms, to send to your interviewees prior to the interview as a way
of informing them of what to expect will be talked about in the interview and
why it is an important topic to discuss.

Rapport is also crucial during the interview enabling the respondent to

provide a rich & detailed account of the experiences at the heart of the
study.

Key to building rapport is a sense of proximity. Approach interviewees with

an open and curious attitude, stating specifically why you are interested in
their specific point of view e.g. “Please tell me about your interest in…?” is
likely to be understood as less threatening than “What rules and regulations
 Structure of an interview OR focus group
Preamble
• Information sent prior to interview
• Thank you and welcome
E.g. Introduction of researcher
• Nature of the interview/focus group (informal, all views are
welcome, welcome to agree disagree) Hello, my name is Jane and I will be conducting
this interview with you today. I am a PhD
• I may ask obvious questions candidate within the School of Medicine at
• There are NO wrong answers, I am interested in finding out what Griffith University in Queensland, Australia
people think where my research focuses on women’s health.
It is hoped that I will be in Ambato towards the
• Audio recording end of this year to continue this research!
• Offer refreshment (if relevant)
Today, you will be participating in a semi-
• We are going to talk about… structured interview that will last for
• Before we get started are there any questions or concerns? approximately 20- 30 minutes. During this
interview, you will be asked questions about
your experiences of menstrual health, menstrual
Intros/warm up health management and hygiene in Ecuador.
• First name
• Tell me a bit about yourself or generally an easy question to get
participants thinking on topic
Consider your sequence of questions
Warm your participant up!

• Don’t begin with difficult or confronting questions

• Get the respondents involved in the interview as soon as possible.
• Before asking about controversial matters (such as feelings and
conclusions), first ask about some facts. With this approach,
respondents can more easily engage in the interview before warming
up to more personal matters.
• Ask questions about the present before questions about the past
or future. It's usually easier for them to talk about the present and then
work into the past or future.
• Use probing questions!
• The last questions might be to allow respondents to provide any
other information they prefer to add and their impressions of the
interview.
The wording of questions is very important!
Rule Importance
Wording should be Respondents should be able to choose their own terms when answering questions.
open-ended. Open-ended

e.g. Does your physical activity increase or decrease when you’re stressed? Vs. In times when
you’ve been stressed, how has that affected your physical activity patterns?
Gets people talking about their own experiences
Think of a time when… how did that… ?Not a yes/no answer

Questions should be Avoid wording that might influence answers, e.g., evocative, judgmental wording, leading
as neutral as questions.
possible.
A leading question is a type of question that prompts a respondent towards providing an
already-determined answer. This type of question is suggestive as it is framed in such a way
Avoid Leading that it implies or points to its answer.
questions. e.g. How much more do you eat when you’re stressed? Vs. When you’re stressed what impact
does that have on your diet?
Questions should be To avoid the confusion of data
asked one at a time – e.g. "How satisfied are you with your pay and job conditions?"
not double barreled
The wording of questions is very important!
Rule
Questions should be worded clearly.
Be careful asking "why" questions.
Avoid using ‘jargon’ in your research interview
questions and
Importance
This includes knowing any terms particular to the
program or the respondents' culture.
This type of question infers a cause-effect
relationship that may not truly exist. These
questions may also cause respondents to feel
defensive, e.g., that they have to justify their
response, which may inhibit their responses to this
and future questions.
Instead, adopt layman’s language when possible.
Construct an interview
guide & test your
questions
Conducting a qualitative research interview means that you may be asking your interviewees to reflect on matters
that are potentially important to them, you may be interviewing participants on how they experience illness or the
loss of a loved one.

You should develop your interview guide in advance and conduct at least one test interview.

By conducting test interviews the novice researcher gains skills prior to embarking on data collection.
Adjusting the questions after the initial interviews allows the interview guide to be finetuned during the interview
process.

Some questions might turn out to be misunderstood, others to be irrelevant or outside the scope of the re
search question
Non-verbal communication
When collecting and analyzing interview data, it appears that
researchers tend to pay little attention to describing nonverbal
communication data and the role that these data played in the
meaning-making process.

Body language is the language of body posture,

gestures, facial expressions and eye movements.

Nonverbal communication has been accepted as a formidable

source of information as well as the complement to the study
of verbal behaviors of humans.

** Note these down throughout your interview

Consider cultural & power dimensions of the
interview situation
Cultural dimensions. Some people may view the interview as a
difficult or invasive situation, and some interviews may require a
third person to sit in, either as an interpreter or as someone who is
culturally sensitive to the interviewees’ situation.

Power dimensions. e.g. Medical teachers interviewing students need

to be aware of both explicit and implicit power relationships and be
conscious that students are not trying to comply with expectations of
providing, what is perceived to be, a correct response.
 Talk less and listen more

Inexperience as novice interviewers may result in the

interviewer being overly active in the conversations.

Due to nervousness in such situations, or a lack of experience,

the interviewee may end up filling in blanks and driving the
Conversation in a certain direction without being aware
of doing so.

Your silence can invite elaboration by participants.

Silence can be uncomfortable!

Interviews on subjects that have profound meaning for interview
subjects may prompt deep reflection on behalf of respondents.
Ask Probing Questions…and Keep Asking Them

It is a best practice to try to anticipate probes and integrate them into your discussion guide. Sometimes,
however, ideas come up that are unexpected and it will be critical to be prepared for these situations with
the right question structures.

• Unless the specific question was already answered, you can probe as often as you like, and if done
properly, the quality of the answers goes up as you probe more deeply.
• The key to probing is using ‘why’, ‘what’ or ‘how’ to begin each question. “Why do you feel this
way?” “What specifically caused you to think that?” Or, one of my personal favourites, “How do you
mean that?”
• To the rest of the group, good questions include: “How does everyone else feel about that?” or “What
do you all think about this?” Then be prepared to debrief them one at a time, starting with the person
who seemed most anxious to answer the question.
After the interview
Immediately After Interview

• Verify if the tape recorder, if used, worked throughout the interview.

• Make any notes on your written notes, e.g., to clarify any scratchings,
ensure pages are numbered, fill out any notes that don't make senses, etc.

• Write down any observations made during the interview. For example,
where did the interview occur and when, was the respondent particularly
nervous at any time? Were there any surprises during the interview? Did the
tape recorder break?
Check the data: Member checking
• As part of ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative data-driven
explorations, member checking, also known as respondent
validation or participant validation, can be used.

• Member checking is a method of returning an interview transcript or

debriefing the analytical results with participants for agreement

• This process offers novice researcher a good opportunity to check

the quality of the data. As such, member checking may act as a
sounding board and a way of checking that one has understood the
reported responses of the respondents, especially when it comes to
picking up subtleties such as irony, emotions, silences, or other
gestures.
Initiate analysis early!
• One of the main difficulties with qualitative research is that it very rapidly generates a
large and cumbersome amount of data, often leading to hundreds of pages of
transcribed text.
• You will need to think about the analysis of data before conducting all the
interviews.
• The nature of the research question(s) and how you go about the analysis will
determine the depth, quality, and richness of the performed interviews.
• Analysis of the material should not be left until all interview data has been
transcribed.
• Procrastination of data analysis may give the investigator the impression of facing a
monumental task; meanwhile, an advantage of starting the work soon is that early
thoughts about the analysis allow the investigator to become more aware of
emerging categories and themes.
Other useful tips – While conducting the interview
• Occasionally verify the tape recorder (if used) is working.
• Ask one question at a time.
• Attempt to remain as neutral as possible. That is, don't show strong emotional reactions to their
responses. Patton suggests to act as if "you've heard it all before."
• Encourage responses with occasional nods of the head, "uh huh"s, etc.
• Be careful about the appearance when note taking. That is, if you jump to take a note, it may appear
as if you're surprised or very pleased about an answer, which may influence answers to future
questions.
• 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)."
• Don't lose control of the interview. This can occur when respondents stray to another topic, take so
long to answer a question that times begins to run out, or even begin asking questions to the
interviewer.
Conducting Focus groups:
A guide
What is a focus group
A focus group can be defined broadly as ‘a type of group discussion about
a topic under the guidance of a trained group moderator’ (

• A FG is a qualitative research method in which a trained moderator conducts a

collective interview of typically 6 to 8 participants from similar backgrounds,
similar demographic characteristics, or both.
• Focus groups create open lines of communication across individuals and rely on
the dynamic interaction between participants to yield data that would be
impossible to gather via other approaches, such as one-on-one interviewing.

When done well, focus groups offer powerful insights into people's feelings and
thoughts and thus a more detailed, nuanced, and richer understanding of their
perspectives on ideas, products, and policies.
Focus groups
• Obtain in-depth information on concepts, perceptions, ideas

• More than a question and answer interaction

• Group members discuss/explore topic among themselves

• Researcher as facilitator of this discussion

• Problem/solution focused – taking issue forward – building

understanding
Why are focus groups used?
Focus groups help people learn more about group or community opinions and needs. In
this respect, they are similar to needs assessment surveys.

But needs assessment surveys typically have written, closed-ended, relatively

narrow questions which are quantitatively scored. Such surveys can be very useful; but
they usually can't capture all that a person is thinking or feeling.

Responses in a focus group, on the other hand, are typically spoken, open-ended, relatively
broad, and qualitative. They have more depth, nuance, and variety. Nonverbal
communications and group interactions can also be observed. Focus groups can therefore
get closer to what people are really thinking and feeling, even though their responses may
be harder -- or impossible -- to score on a scale.
How do I select participants for a focus groups?

• The common (and simplest) method for selecting participants for focus groups is
called "purposive" or "convenience" sampling.
• This means that you select those members of the community who you think will
provide you with the best information.
• As focus groups are discussions among people with similar characteristics, it is
important to ensure that participants in any one group have something in common
with each other.
• The reason for this is simple. People talk more openly if they are in a group of people
who share the same background or experiences.
Group processes/techniques
Focus groups:
• Type of group interview or discussion – but so much more…..
• Common interests or characteristics

Explore controversial topics

• Perceptions of financial
responsibility in family unit
• Process evaluation of
hygiene and water
sanitation project
• Community perception of
local program
When you might use a focus group
• Focus research and develop hypotheses by exploring topic of interest;
• (eg causes, barriers, features - eg higher child malnutrition levels in a particular village);

• Formulate appropriate questions for more structured, larger scale surveys;

• (eg local definition/understanding of health issues - interpretation of infant illnesses - diarrhea);
• Supplement available (but incomplete) information on community knowledge, beliefs,
attitudes and behaviour
• (eg reasons for non-attendance at health clinics - too busy, transport)

• Develop appropriate messages/strategies for health education and promotion programs

• (eg hygiene for cooking)
Online vs In-person focus groups..
Online focus groups are becoming
a more cost-effective way to
gather a group of individuals
together. While the ability for in-
person topics to be discussed are
limited, such as in-person taste
testing, online focus groups still
offer benefits of having interaction
and communication through a
guided conversation in a less
expensive and less time-intensive
fashion.
How many focus groups are necessary?
Data saturation
• In general, once the focus groups cease to provide you with new
information, then you do not need to conduct any more sessions.

• Sometimes this may occur after only two or three sessions with
each grouping of participants; sometimes you may need to run six,
seven or more before you are satisfied. If this is the first time your
team has used focus groups, then you need to allow also for a few
practice sessions that may not provide you with the quality of
information you require.
You could also try - group processes/techniques
Nominal group process:
• Group of people gathered together;
• Group problem solving;
• Brain-storming;
• Planning.
Communication and important considerations for
focus groups
• Questions: Warm up questions, Number of questions, Open-ended questions
• Atmosphere (seating)
• Appropriate venue e.g. ideally you would not interview workers about their employment in their
workplace
• Token of appreciation for time
• Is the interviewer from an appropriate demographic to conduct the interview/topic?
• Consider demographic influences on participant perspectives e.g. do you want to have young
people’s opinions on an issue or intergenerational discussion? Males and Females?
• Number of participants – 6-8 is best!
Interaction between participants: STRONG
PERSONALITIES
Strong personalities do present moderating challenges. They have a tendency to stray off topic, can provide
long-winded answers and can get confrontational when the moderator reels them back in.

The greater challenge is typically eliciting the response from the reclusive participant.

Tips:
1. Blame it on the clock - “Excuse me; I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have limited time so I am
going to move to another topic.” This tactic not only keeps you on task and in control of your
group, it helps keep egos from getting bruised.

2. Simple things (like having name badges where you can see them well enough to call them by
name) are important.

1. The Atmosphere of the Group is Set by the Moderator- Ask for permission to interrupt, change
subjects, or probe in key areas up front so members know what to expect.
How to choose between in-depth interviews
and focus groups?
• It may seem challenging to choose between individual interviews and
focus groups. Qualitative interviews are best suited if you want to gather
specific experiences and opinions that you can explore in more depth with
your interviewer. This format allows respondents to feel free to confide in
you without judging their answers (feeling of trust and closeness to the
interviewer) and avoids bias.

• Focus groups will be of particular interest to challenge an idea to different

experts, consumers or prospects, on the concept of a brainstorming
session. In particular, it will be interesting to invite people with
complementary experiences to identify the crucial points you will need to
Focus Groups
PROS
• Diversity & enrichment of interviewees responses
• Dynamic discussion also allows group participants to
easily share their opinion, whether they are agreeing or
disagreeing.
• Discussions can produce new thinking among
participants which could result in a much more in-depth
discussion.
• Data is gathered quickly
CONS
• Lower average speaking time
• Difficulty identifying specific participant contributions
• More complex to organize
• For sensitive topics, it can be hard to get honest insights
• There may be a lack of direct participation by some
• Group dynamics sometimes create a personal bias.
• Responses that are non-verbal may be misinterpreted.
• There are always security concerns.
In-Depth Interviews
PROS
• Less bias than with a focus group
• These offer similar qualitative data to that provided in focus
groups, with the advantage of being more in-depth
• Peer pressure is reduced and there’s no need to steer
unwieldy discussions.
• While the research interviewer follows the same conversation
guide for each participant, the researcher can dive deeper
into specific topics where the participant is more
knowledgeable and/or has a stronger opinion.
• IDIs have a cost advantage. Since they can typically be done
by phone, are shorter, and can require fewer participants.
• For sensitive topics, it can be easier to get honest insights
CONS
• Since IDIs do not put participants together, the advantages of
having communication and interaction between participants is
lost.
• Can be more time consuming
What can go wrong?
• Not asking a research question

• Asking the wrong question

• Selecting the wrong population/target group or setting

• Using the wrong tool or data collector

• Inconsistency between research title, methodology, and research

questions
A Successful Interviewer is
1. Knowledgeable: is thoroughly familiar with the focus of the interview; pilot interviews of the kind used in survey
interviewing can be useful here.
2. Structuring: gives purpose for interview; rounds it off; asks whether interviewee has questions.
3. Clear: asks simple, easy, short questions; no jargon.
4. Gentle: lets people finish; gives them time to think; tolerates pauses.
5. Sensitive: listens attentively to what is said and how it is said; is empathetic in dealing with the interviewee.
6. Open: responds to what is important to interviewee and is flexible.
7. Steering: knows what he/she wants to find out.
8. Critical: is prepared to challenge what is said, for example, dealing with inconsistencies in interviewees’ replies.
9. Remembering: relates what is said to what has previously been said.
10. Interpreting: clarifies and extends meanings of interviewees’ statements, but without imposing meaning on them.
11. Balanced: does not talk too much, which may make the interviewee passive, and does not talk too little, which may
result in the interviewee feeling he or she is not talking along the right lines.
12. Ethically sensitive: is sensitive to the ethical dimension of interviewing, ensuring the interviewee appreciates what the
research is about, its purposes, and that his or her answers will be treated confidentially.
After the interview or focus group
Qualitative analysis
Qualitative data analysis
• Most critical and involved aspect of the field research process

• Process of bringing order, structure and meaning to mass of

collected data

• Qualitative data analysis is a search for general statements about

relationships among categories/themes/concepts

• You have to be very familiar with your data

Analysis begins during data collection
• Interim and early analyses
• Identifying and developing themes and categories can occur
during interviews
• Adjust observation strategies, questions, themes development
• Iterative or cyclic process that encourages interplay between data
collection and analysis
What to do with the qualitative data?
• Transcribe the interview (type it up)

• Thematic analysis of the data

Sorting the relevant quotes into groups

The groups of quotes are your themes
The themes are your qualitative findings (results)
Qualitative data: What have you got?
• Words – key informant interviews, focus groups (transcripts)

• Texts – policy documents, popular media sources

• Description of observations - actions and settings

• Pictures, drawings, objects - artifacts, material culture, visual data

Lots of words and pictures – but, no numbers!

 Quotes Sub-Themes Themes

Qualitative
Results
Themes, sub-
themes,
quotes
(Pitney & Parker, 2009)
One approach to qualitative data analysis:
The 8 creative steps for thematic analysis
• Consider the study’s research questions and purpose statement

• Read through your transcripts to gain a holistic sense of the data

• Examine the data for information related to your research questions

• Assign labels to these units of information that capture their meaning

• Thematise the data

• Interpret the emergent themes as they relate to the study’s research questions and purpose
statement

• Verify the trustworthiness of your findings (we won’t do this step)

• Engage in the writing process to describe your findings

(From: Pitney & Parker, 2009. Qualitative research in physical activity and the health professions)
NVIVO
Some final thoughts
• Rigour in research

• Qualitative does not mean ad-hoc

• Authenticity and depth of explanation is the goal

• Need to be systematic and thorough in your analysis

• Structured and systematic process

• Focuses on the nuances and local contexts of meaning