ACADEMIA Letters

CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON USING INTERVIEWS A

RESEARCH METHOD
Thanh Truong, University of Northampton

I/ Introduction
This paper outlines my rationale for choosing interviewing as a research method whilst de-
scribing why I designed my interview this way. Following the sections on my research method
is a critique of various successes and failures that came to light after concluding my interview,
and as I reflect further, some changes will be suggested in the last section.

II/ Method and design

1. Method rationale
Setting out to investigate technology effectiveness in online English classrooms in Vietnam,
my research relies heavily on qualitative data collection. In particular, I chose in-depth in-
terviews to shed light on teachers and students’ perception of the benefits and drawbacks of
technology and online learning. As my research question does not aim to get definite answers
but was created from a genuine interest in understanding people’s experience and the meaning
they make of that experience, interviewing is “the best avenue of inquiry” (Seidman, 2006,
pp. 3-5). Additionally, since my thesis focuses on the evaluation of not only teachers but also
students, it is crucial to discover their interconnections in a shared context, using interviews
(Seidman, 2006). This notion also matches Ferrarotti (1981)’s view: to best understand educa-
tion matters and social abstractions, researchers have to inquire into individuals’ experiences
that build the abstract.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Thanh Truong, thanhtruongtruc97@gmail.com

Citation: Truong, T. (2021). CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON USING INTERVIEWS A RESEARCH
METHOD. Academia Letters, Article 2335. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2335.

1
2. Method design and rationale
As research design aims to answer research questions with necessary evidence connecting
logically to data (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2018), I implemented a semi-structured inter-
view in which prepared written questions were mixed with probes and open-ended questions
to allow space for a natural conversation - a vital factor for yielding data (Wragg, 2012).
Knowing that designing a method that can provide the information needed to answer re-
search questions is “the most important consideration in qualitative selection decisions,” I
chose “purposeful selection method” so that theinformation is relevant to my goals and pop-
ulation (Maxwell, 2005, pp. 97-99).
My interviewee, H., is a Vietnamese teacher who has taught English as a Foreign Lan-
guage (EFL) online for one year. Having found the person that met my sampling criteria (an
EFL online teacher in Vietnam), I proceeded to obtain her consent to set up the interview with
an audio recorder, explained the study purpose, ensured confidentiality, then scribbled notes
as our conversation went along. I intentionally conducted the interview at our classroom, right
after class, to save H.’s thirty minutes of walking from home to school. However, the fifty-
minute interview almost doubled my time estimation. Thankfully, H. did not rush against the
time restraint.
One of my initial considerations when designing this interview was validity and reliability.
As my classmate, H. might give only favourable answers. However, as both had acknowledged
this interview to be only a pilot study, we managed to have a fruitful conversation. However,
notwithstanding the measures to resolve bias, there exists one particular problem associated
with purposeful selection: “the key informant bias” (Pelto & Pelto, 1975, p. 7), implying that:
Qualitative researchers sometimes rely on a small number of informants… and even when
these informants are purposefully selected and the data themselves seem valid, there is no
guarantee that these informants’ views are typical (pp. 99-100). Indeed, this poses a challenge
to my research limitations.

The rationale behind my interview questions

Before diving into the focus of the interview, I established the study context with H., invit-
ing her to share her background as a teacher. The main questions were asked one by one
in a different order from the prepared set to suit the conversation flow. Divided into three
categories (Quality and quantity of teacher-student interaction, Teaching quality, Emotional
intelligence), 26 questions and a few follow-up expanding questions aimed to enlist H.’s ex-
perience to critique the efficiency of technology in her online classrooms.
To ensure that the interview connects to the research question, I based the content on Kli-

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Thanh Truong, thanhtruongtruc97@gmail.com

Citation: Truong, T. (2021). CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON USING INTERVIEWS A RESEARCH
METHOD. Academia Letters, Article 2335. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2335.

2
ueva and Tsagari (2018)’ “Emotional Aspect of Teaching in EFL Classrooms” questionnaire,
which provided comprehensive criteria of a good EFL teacher. Using simpler language, I
also made sure my questions flow logically as the point of the design was to help H. generate
responses efficiently.

III/ Critical reflection of this pilot study

1.The positives
After concluding the interview, the conversation led me to critique some of the ways I worded
my questions. For instance, H., when asked to evaluate her relationship with online students,
she surprisingly expressed no negative feelings. I asked further if she had unmotivated or
misbehaving students, and H. responded: “What’s a ‘relationship?’ [short pause] For me,
that ties to their attitude and doesn’t necessarily mean our relationship is bad.”
She also shared valuable tips on how to handle off-topic moments, enhance student inter-
action through mutual error correction, and enrich content from students’ prior knowledge,
all of which added insights to my research.

2. The negatives
Although the interview went smoothly, it lacked the depth needed to answer my research
question, which is a major flaw. I even pondered if my research was worth carrying out, for
the way H. taught seemed too simple compared to my visualization of its complexity. Now
looking back at my question set, there were too many yes/no questions, which got her stuck
on superficial answers without being able to exploit depth. I should have expanded more by
asking for the “why” and examples.

3. Lessons learnt and consideration for future method changes

Getting people to talk at length is challenging. Perhaps due to many closed questions, I could
not maximise my interviewee’s talk time. Moreover, since “the process of answering questions
in an interview … can make people reconsider their views with resultant changes” (Simpson,
2008, p. 60), some of them were not as valid as they could have been. Indeed, when asked
about any technological issues H. had faced, she mentioned very rare minor glitches. However,
later, she conceded that “lagging of Internet connection many times hindered her teaching.”
And as most of the closed questions can be better answered by observation in a real class
period, I will therefore critically investigate the classroom myself (Tilstone, 2013). Combined

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Thanh Truong, thanhtruongtruc97@gmail.com

Citation: Truong, T. (2021). CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON USING INTERVIEWS A RESEARCH
METHOD. Academia Letters, Article 2335. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2335.

3
with the revised interview, this methodological triangulation (Denzin, 1985) hopes to use
cross-examination of two strategies to check that the evidence collected is accurate (Tilstone,
2013). Moreover, adapting Flanders interaction analysis categories to redesign my interview
may also help add depth.

IV/ Conclusion
In conclusion, besides being a worthwhile research method, the pilot interview offers me a
valuable chance to improve myself as a researcher, a listener, and an architect who constantly
thinks of the best fix to problematic research questions. Most importantly, it will lead me
to employ observation to triangulate data, which may change my qualitative study to mixed-
methods research.

References
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education. New York:
Routledge.

Denzin, N. (1985). Triangulation. In Husen, T. & Postlethwaite, T. (Eds.), International

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Ferrarotti, F. (1981). On the autonomy of the biographical method. In D. Bertaux (Ed.), Bi-
ography and society: The life history approach in the social sciences (pp. 19-27). Beverly
Hills, CA: Sage.

Kliueva, E., & Tsagari, D. (2018). Emotional literacy in EFL classes: The relationship be-
tween teachers trait emotional intelligence level and the use of emotional literacy strate-
gies. System, 78, 38–53. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2018.07.006

Maxwell, J. A. (2005). Qualitative research design: an interactive approach. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Pelto, P., & Pelto, G. (1975). Intra-cultural diversity: Some theoretical issues. American
Ethnologist, 2, 1-18.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Thanh Truong, thanhtruongtruc97@gmail.com

Citation: Truong, T. (2021). CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON USING INTERVIEWS A RESEARCH
METHOD. Academia Letters, Article 2335. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2335.

4
 Seidman, I. (2006). Interviewing as qualitative research (3rd ed.). New York: Teachers
College Press.

Simpson, M., & Tuson, J. (2008). Using observations in small-scale research: a beginner’s
guide. Glasgow: Scottish Council for Research in Education.

Tilstone, C. (2013). Observing Teaching and Learning Principles and Practice. Indepen-
dence: Taylor and Francis.

Wragg, E. C. (2012). An introduction to classroom observation. London: Routledge.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Thanh Truong, thanhtruongtruc97@gmail.com

Citation: Truong, T. (2021). CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON USING INTERVIEWS A RESEARCH
METHOD. Academia Letters, Article 2335. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2335.