ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how to gather information to answer key research questions for public managers. It also introduces the basic logic of interview data collection along with its strengths and weaknesses. The chapter provides specific advice on the design of interview research protocols, including the writing of effective interview questions. It discusses the ethical implications of interview research. Interviews are simply one strategy to get a look at the world. The most strictly designed forms of interviews are called Structured Interviews. In structured interviews, one scripts all questions in advance, asks all questions in the same order to every respondent, and uses the same questions and order for all respondents. The polar opposites of structured interviews are, unsurprisingly, unstructured interviews. The nature of interview will affect the question-writing process a great deal. The chief characteristics of the interview relevant to question wording is the length of the survey.
