ABSTRACT
These are typical questions raised by novice qualitative researchers interested in using interviews in their research studies. In this chapter, I explore the design and implementation of qualitative interview studies incorporating responses to these questions to engage readers in thinking about their own research interview practice. Although there are specific types of interviews based in different theoretical frameworks and academic disciplines, I use the label qualitative interviews as an umbrella term for those methods in which researchers learn from participants through long, focused conversations. Qualitative interviews are used when researchers want to gain in-depth knowledge from participants about particular phenomena, experiences, or sets of experiences. Using interview questions and follow-up questions, or probes, based on what the participant has already described, the goal is to construct as complete a picture as possible from the words and experiences of the participant. This can only be accomplished when the qualitative interview is open ended enough for the participant to provide a depth of knowledge on the research topic. The intent is to discover that person’s view of an experience or phenomenon of study.
