Institute of Management Sciences

Advanced Qualitative Research Methods

Data Analysis: Group Interview

Our research question was:

How do people use social spaces within a university?

Our interview schedule consisted of three broad questions:

1. Which social spaces do you use within the University?

2. How do you use them?
3. Why do you use them?

Some observations from the interview itself:

 It is very important for interviews to begin by explaining the focus and

purpose of the interview, re-assuring participants of confidentiality, and
explaining the technical side of the interview.

 When conducting group interviews, it is very useful to have at least two

people interviewing – one to two to steer the interview, and the other to ‘mop
up’ and take notes on the dynamics, body language, emergent themes etc.

 Body language is very important to developing rapport (lots of nods!). Shared

humour is also very important – laughter breaks the ice, and relaxes people.

 It is really important to keep using appropriate prompts and probes (but don’t
over-steer the interview, or express your own views too much). A good ‘test’
is to look at the amount of speech text in the transcript for interviewers and
participants (the former should be kept to a minimum).

 It is important that all participants take it in turns to speak (always avoid

cutting in, or speaking over others – this puts people off contributing, and is
very difficult to transcribe). It is good practice (if practical) to prompt or directly
invite individuals to participate (as happened in this interview). Ask lots of
questions such as: What do other people think …? Have other people …?
Does anybody else think that …?

 When particularly strong views are expressed always go back on them, and
ask for other views. Follow up on all contributions (focus on not just what, but
why?) – ‘would you like to say a bit more? …’, ‘what do others think …?’, ‘why
is that do you think? …’ etc.

 Lots of data can emerge from a short interview. Try to identify all key themes
that emerge (including overlapping, conflicting themes etc) and work out
which you would like to explore further (and why).

 Work through your questions, allowing time to prompt and probe, and ‘loop
back’ to allow for elaboration, and to clarify understanding.
 Try to include lots of different types of questions (see class notes for
examples).

 Allow plenty of flexibility so that interesting themes can emerge (e.g. food!).

 The interviewer-participant distinction can become blurred – explore this is

you are interested, and feel it’s appropriate.

 Group and/or pilot interviews can be very useful, especially in ethnographic

work, to explore shared understandings and meanings of concepts, and to
establish some conceptual clarification. This interview explored questions of
what a social space is (e.g. somewhere to share food, somewhere to ‘chat’,
somehow distinct from a work and/or quiet space, e.g. When does a
religious/spiritual place become a social space? Is the EBS PhD room a work
space, or a social space, or both?).