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

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

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

Answer 2

purposive; snowball

Question 3

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.

Answer 3

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 4

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 5

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

Question 6

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

Question 7

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

Question 8

What are five specific advantages of focus groups?

Question 9

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

Question 10

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

Question 11

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 12

Which of the following statements about moderators is false?

A)Moderators are trained to be directive
B)Moderators are sometimes called facilitators
C)Moderators ask questions
D)Moderators probe quieter individuals for their opinions
E)Moderators defuse arguments

Question 13

What are five specific limitations of focus groups?

Question 14

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 15

List five of the ten differences between typical survey interviews and typical qualitative interviews.

Question 16

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 17

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 18

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 19

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

Question 20

A question that begins with,"From what you've told me,your experience can be summed up like…" is most likely a __________ question.

A)interpreting
B)structuring
C)specifying
D)direct
E)indirect

Question 21

In which kind of question are interviewees prompted to give their account of a situation or experience?

A)Specifying questions
B)Structuring questions
C)Introducing questions
D)Interpreting question
E)Indirect question

Question 22

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 23

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 24

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 25

Define the following:
focus group

Question 26

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 27

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 28

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 29

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 30

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 31

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 32

At what point in the interview are direct questions typically used?

A)Beginning
B)Middle
C)End
D)After indirect questions
E)Before indirect questions

Question 33

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 34

Define the following:
direct questions

Question 35

According to Kvale's typology,__________ questions are used to solicit additional descriptions of topics just discussed by the interviewee,while __________ questions are used to prompt interviewees to expand on incomplete points.

A)follow-up; probe
B)probe; follow-up
C)probe; specifying
D)follow-up; specifying
E)specifying; interpreting

Question 36

A major development (project)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 37

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 38

Define the following:
devil's advocate

Question 39

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 40

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 41

Define the following:
incentive

Question 42

Define the following:
qualitative interview

Question 43

Define the following:
selective transcription

Question 44

Define the following:
groupthink

Question 45

Define the following:
specifying questions

Question 46

Define the following:
theoretical saturation

Question 47

Define the following:
silence

Question 48

Define the following:
structuring questions

Question 49

Define the following:
follow-up questions

Question 50

Define the following:
probing questions

Question 51

Define the following:
moderator

Question 52

Define the following:
interpreting questions

Question 53

Define the following:
interview guide

Question 54

Define the following:
indirect questions

Question 55

Define the following:
introducing questions