Research - How to Construct your Interview Guide Questionnaire

Summary

The video discusses the construction of interview guide questions for qualitative research. It starts by explaining the concept of validity in research and emphasizes the importance of aligning questions with research objectives. The lecturer outlines key guidelines for creating effective interview questions, such as using open-ended, clear, and participant-friendly language. The types of questions, including direct, indirect, probing, and follow-up, are explored, followed by a step-by-step process for developing a structured interview guide. The session concludes with practical examples and a sample framework to aid students in crafting their own questions.

Takeaways

• 📝 The lecture focuses on creating interview guide questions specifically for qualitative research, as different guidelines apply to quantitative research.
• 🔑 Validity is crucial in research. The interview guide must reflect the research questions and ensure the collected data aligns with the study's scope.
• ❓ Interview questions should be open-ended to allow for detailed responses and deeper insights from participants, avoiding yes or no answers.
• 📊 The language and terminology used in interview questions must be adjusted to fit the participants' profile, especially when dealing with specialized fields.
• 🚶 The flow of interview questions should start with general questions and progress to more specific ones for a logical and coherent discussion.
• 👥 It's important to establish rapport with participants by starting with warm-up questions before diving into more serious topics.
• ⚖️ Probing and follow-up questions are essential for extracting more detailed responses, especially when participants provide brief answers.
• 📌 The six major types of questions include direct, indirect, follow-up, probing, specifying, and interpretive, each serving a unique role in the interview process.
• 📝 When writing an interview guide, begin by creating a table that connects research questions to main interview questions and follow-up questions.
• 🔍 The final step is to have an expert validate your interview guide questions to ensure they meet the necessary research standards.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the video lecture?

The primary focus of the video lecture is on constructing interview guide questions for qualitative research.

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research when constructing interview guide questions?

In qualitative research, interview guide questions are open-ended and exploratory, aimed at gathering in-depth data. In contrast, quantitative research follows different guidelines, often focusing on measurable and closed-ended questions.

What is 'validity' in the context of constructing interview guide questions?

Validity refers to the accuracy of the interview guide questions, ensuring that they measure what they are supposed to measure and align with the scope of the research and its objectives.

Why should interview guide questions be open-ended?

Open-ended questions are encouraged because they require detailed responses from participants, helping researchers gather richer and more descriptive data, unlike yes-or-no questions.

What are some guidelines to consider when writing interview guide questions?

Key guidelines include making questions open-ended, developing them based on the study's major areas, arranging them from general to specific, adjusting language to fit participants, and including how and why questions to encourage detailed answers.

How should the language of interview guide questions be adjusted for participants?

The language should be adjusted based on the participants' comprehension. For instance, if participants are more comfortable speaking in a different language or dialect, the questions should be adapted accordingly to ensure clarity and understanding.

What is the purpose of warm-up questions in an interview guide?

Warm-up questions help establish rapport with participants and make them feel more comfortable before delving into the main, more complex questions.

What are the six major types of interview guide questions mentioned in the video?

The six major types of questions are direct, indirect, follow-up, probing, specifying, and interpretive questions, each serving different purposes in gathering detailed information from participants.

What is the importance of probing questions in qualitative interviews?

Probing questions are crucial for extracting more detailed information when participants provide brief or incomplete answers. They encourage further explanation and help clarify the participant's response.

What is the final step in constructing interview guide questions according to the video?

The final step is having an expert in the field validate the interview guide questions to ensure they are appropriate, accurate, and aligned with the research objectives.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Interview Guide Construction for Qualitative Research

The instructor introduces the topic of constructing interview guide questions, specifically for qualitative research. He emphasizes that these guidelines differ from those for quantitative research. The video will cover validity, writing interview guide questions, and the steps required. Validity is discussed as the accuracy of an assessment tool, indicating that questions should align with the research objectives. He explains that the questions must correspond to the experiences of the participants relevant to the study and discusses the importance of grounding them on research questions, which should be consistently referred to throughout the process.

05:00

📝 Guidelines for Constructing Interview Guide Questions

The instructor details essential guidelines for creating interview guide questions. He stresses the importance of using open-ended questions that require comprehensive answers and developing questions around the study’s major areas, aligning them with research questions. Questions should follow a logical flow from general to specific and use language suited to participants’ profiles, considering their comfort and understanding. How and why questions are recommended, while yes-or-no questions should be avoided. He also suggests using warm-up questions to build rapport and ending with a closure question to indicate the session is concluding.

10:02

🔍 Types of Interview Guide Questions

Six major types of questions are introduced: direct, indirect, follow-up, probing, specifying, and interpretive questions. The instructor explains each type with examples. Direct questions target specific issues, while indirect ones address broader perceptions. Follow-up and probing questions are used to obtain additional details or clarification, and specifying questions ask participants to elaborate on their responses. Interpretive questions involve rephrasing statements to validate understanding. The importance of combining different types to gather more comprehensive data and insights during the interview is highlighted.

15:02

📋 Steps for Writing Interview Guide Questions

The instructor outlines four key steps: 1) Create a table listing research questions, main interview guide questions, and probing questions. 2) Formulate main questions based on the research questions. 3) Arrange main questions in a logical sequence, from general to specific. 4) Create probing questions as necessary. Probing questions are emphasized as optional, used to elicit more detailed responses if the initial answers lack depth. The final step involves seeking validation from an expert in the research field to ensure the questions are appropriate.

20:04

💡 Sample Interview Guide and Conclusion

A sample interview guide is provided to illustrate the relationship between research questions, main interview questions, and probing questions. Using a hypothetical research question about the lived experiences of disaster volunteers, the instructor creates corresponding main and probing questions to demonstrate the alignment required. He concludes by reviewing the key points covered: validity, guidelines for creating questions, steps for writing them, and the different types of questions. The video ends with a message encouraging viewers to use the provided guidelines to create effective interview guides.

Keywords

💡Validity

Validity refers to the accuracy of a research tool in measuring what it is supposed to measure. In the context of this video, validity is essential when constructing interview guide questions, ensuring that the questions accurately reflect the scope and direction of the research. For example, if the study focuses on disaster volunteers, the questions must be directly related to their experiences.

💡Open-ended Questions

Open-ended questions are designed to elicit more detailed responses rather than simple 'yes' or 'no' answers. They are important in qualitative research because they allow participants to provide richer data. The video emphasizes that these questions should be used in interview guides to gather in-depth insights, such as asking 'How do you perceive...' rather than 'Do you perceive...?'

💡Research Questions

Research questions form the foundation of the interview guide. These questions guide the entire research process and ensure that the data collected is relevant to the study’s objectives. In the video, it is explained that the interview guide questions must align with the research questions to ensure coherence in the study's focus, such as exploring the lived experiences of disaster volunteers.

💡Probing Questions

Probing questions are follow-up questions used to gather more detailed information when participants provide short or incomplete answers. These questions are important for getting more depth in qualitative interviews. For example, if a participant gives a brief response, the interviewer might ask, 'Could you explain why you felt that way?' to encourage further elaboration.

💡General to Specific

This refers to the logical flow of questions in an interview, where questions start broad and become more focused. This structure helps participants ease into the topic and provides a clear progression of inquiry. The video stresses the importance of arranging interview questions in this order, for instance, beginning with general experiences and then focusing on specific events.

💡Warm-up Questions

Warm-up questions are introductory questions used to establish rapport with participants and make them feel comfortable before delving into more serious topics. In the video, it is suggested that these questions help participants relax and set the stage for more detailed inquiries, fostering a more open conversation.

💡Lived Experiences

Lived experiences refer to the personal and subjective experiences of individuals in a specific context. In the video, it is highlighted as a key focus for qualitative research, particularly when studying disaster volunteers. Interview guide questions should aim to uncover these experiences to better understand the participants' perspectives.

💡Jargon

Jargon refers to specialized terms or language that is specific to a particular field or group. The video emphasizes the importance of adjusting interview guide questions to fit the participants' vocabulary, especially when conducting multiple case studies involving participants from different fields, like engineers or doctors.

💡Follow-up Questions

Follow-up questions are additional questions used to explore answers in more depth after an initial response. In the video, these are described as crucial for extracting more detailed data when participants provide short or vague answers. They ensure that the interviewer gathers sufficient detail to meet the research objectives.

💡Closure

Closure refers to the way an interview ends, ensuring a smooth conclusion. The final question should signal that the interview is wrapping up, giving participants a sense of completion. The video advises using a question that provides a sense of closure, helping to end the session on a clear and resolved note, such as asking for any final thoughts or reflections.

Highlights

Introduction to constructing an interview guide for qualitative research, focusing on the validity and organization of questions.

Emphasis on the difference between qualitative and quantitative research guidelines for interview questions.

Validity in qualitative research ensures that the interview guide questions are aligned with the research questions and study scope.

Qualitative research questions should be open-ended to encourage detailed responses rather than simple 'yes' or 'no' answers.

Structure your interview questions from general to specific to maintain a logical flow and coherence.

Adjust the language and wording of interview questions based on participants' profiles, ensuring comprehensibility.

Use 'how' and 'why' questions to facilitate deeper exploration of participant experiences and perspectives.

Establish rapport with participants by using warm-up questions before delving into the main research questions.

Ensure that final interview questions provide a sense of closure, indicating the end of the session.

Types of questions include direct, indirect, follow-up, probing, specifying, and interpretive questions.

Probing and follow-up questions should be prepared in advance to encourage participants to provide more in-depth answers.

Steps in creating an interview guide include starting with a table that aligns research questions with interview and probing questions.

Main interview guide questions should be formulated based on research questions and arranged from general to specific.

It is recommended to validate your interview guide questions with an expert in the field of your research.

Sample breakdown of a research question, main interview question, and probing question demonstrates the interconnectedness of these components.

Review of the discussed topics: validity, guidelines, steps in writing research questions, types of questions, and a sample question breakdown.

Transcripts

boring students once again welcome to

yet another episode of my online video

lectures and for today we are going to

talk about the next step of your

research writing process which is the

construction of your interview guide

questions now to begin its how to

construct an interview guide before we

delve into the details of the

preparation of your interview guide

questions please take note that these

questions are for qualitative research

purposes only for quantitative research

questions there is a different set of

guidelines that will have to be met by

the researchers so this is me coming

from a qualitative research standpoint

to begin let's give an overall structure

as to what we will be discussing in

today's video okay its first we are

going to talk about validity this one is

validity both in assessment and in

research and next we are going to

proceed to the writing of the interview

guide questions subdivided into the

guidelines the types of questions that

you can ask and the steps that you will

have to take in constructing these

interview guide questions okay let's

begin now whenever you construct a set

of questions there is an overarching

concept called validity now in research

validity is mostly used in quantitative

research but validity is a very common

thing it's even used in the field of

education now to start the discussion of

validity

according to T CIT USF dot e-d-u

validity refers to the accuracy of the

assessment or in this case your

interview guide and it should measure

what it is supposed to measure now in

the context of your qualitative research

this means that your interview guide

questions must somehow resemble the the

data that you

to collect from your participants based

from the direction that you want your

research to take now in in that light

okay so the validity of the interview

guide means that your interview guide

questions must cover the scope of your

research questions and the scope of your

study if you're going to study about the

experiences of disaster volunteers then

your questions have to correspond to

those experiences you cannot ask them

questions which are not related to the

scope of your study now please take note

that in this particular document I

underlined must and I made mention of

the scope of the research questions now

if you may remember in my previous

videos I mentioned that your interview

guide questions and your RRL teams are

all grounded on your research questions

which is important because again there

is a relationship among the research

questions the research the the

RRL teams and the interview guide or

dfgd questions that you are going to be

creating so as you can see this is the

relationship that they share everything

is anchored on these research questions

and as such I think that it is just

right that these interview guide and FGD

questions have to come from the research

questions and I will be explaining that

later in this video so the next question

is how or what are the guidelines what

are the what are the standards that have

to be met when you begin writing your

interview guide questions now the next

the the next stipulations

facts concepts that I will be presenting

to you are taken from an online source

these are not my personal opinions

although these are the guidelines that I

feel strongly about these these are the

guidelines that I follow as well when I

teach my students how to write interview

guide questions so these are the

guidelines first please make sure that

when you create research questions your

interview guide questions these have to

be open-ended questions now sir what are

on open-ended questions open-ended

questions are questions that are not

answerable by yes or no okay so these

are questions which require long answers

lengthy responses next develop questions

within the studies major areas so you

can see I underlined major areas now

what are these major areas your research

questions now as I said I will be

explaining the relationship later on but

my my suggestion is already surfacing

right here that you have to develop the

questions within the major areas of your

research number three questions must be

arranged from general to specific we

cannot keep jumping from specific

experiences to general perceptions back

to specific experiences so on and so

forth this is not this is not a to and

fro of general to specific specific to

general no this is a logical flow of

questions arranged from general to

specific next

make sure that you are also going to

adjust the language or the words to fit

the profile of your participants okay

sir what's the difference difference

language and words are most likely the

same language means if your participants

are not able to comprehend English very

well you might want to adjust the

language if they feel more comfortable

talking to you in in Filipino or in the

vernacular then by all means do so next

you have to adjust the words you cannot

use the same words for different

participants this is most applicable

when when you are conducting a multiple

case study why the words may not be

applicable to all of your participants

especially when these participants come

from different fields this pertains to

jargon specialized languages specialized

words or terms that only these people

use but not for other people okay so for

you for example in the case of doctors

they have jargons in the case of

engineers they have jargons you cannot

use the same words that you would ask an

engineer and then use them to ask the

people in the medical field next in

order for you to ensure question number

one of open-ended questions this is just

a suggestion of this of the site you

might want to ask how questions or

emphasize on how questions and maybe

some why questions but with very little

emphasis

okay so prioritize this type of

questioning and then this type of

question okay why because these are the

questions that demand long answers these

are the questions which require your

participants to give you more details

as opposed to simply asking them

yes-or-no questions are you a disaster

volunteer yes it's a total waste of time

okay so ask how and why questions or

maybe questions that resemble how or a

why question next okay

number six is very important you have to

establish rapport with your participants

by asking warm-up questions you don't

dive into a serious line of questioning

right there and there okay

you can ask them warm-up questions which

will help them feel more comfortable

with you as an interviewer and last but

not the least the final question may

look into a sense of closure okay there

might be a hanging question sir what

happened to what questions or who

questions these questions may be asked

nearing the end of your interview or as

a follow-up question but never the main

question okay so the last question the

in your interview could look into a

sense of closure to signal that you are

nearing the end of your interview

session okay so these questions come

from sociology that FAS that Harvard

that I do and these are also the

guidelines that I follow in teaching my

students how to create interview guide

questions okay so moving on we have

validity we have discussed validity we

have begun discussing the construction

of your interview guide questions

focusing on the guidelines now we move

on to the types of questions okay so

there are so many different types of

questions that you can ask I focused on

the six major types of questions that I

feel are applicable especially for you

guys who are still in the senior high

school level first would be the direct

questions and as you can see I gave an

example okay an example of a direct

question would be do you

and do you still feel happy when serving

customers this is a question that

attacks the phenomenon directly it

attacks an issue directly sir this

question demands this question may not

have a lengthy answer yes but it will

allow your participants to explain their

answers to this question okay so do you

feel do you still feel happy when

serving customers yes and then an

explanation second you have your

indirect questions okay how how do most

students perceive the use of blackboard

or the learning management system this

is a question that is indirect because

we are not moving for a specific answer

no we are we are gunning for answers or

valid answers from your participants as

you can see it simply deals with

perception okay so there is a number of

possibilities of perceptions that they

may have about a particular phenomenon

okay particular phenomena third you have

follow-up questions could you give

examples or scenarios that that pertain

to your main problem okay so these are

types of questions which follow the main

questions as you can see they are simply

follow-up questions number four you have

probing why do you perceive it that way

okay so these types of questions usually

follow the main questions right here

okay so you don't ask these as main

questions again they are probing

questions which means if your

participants do not give you a well

substantiate and answer you ask these

probing questions for you to get

or for you to extract more details and

data from your participants now down to

the last to the fifth example would be

specifying questions okay from the word

itself it it asks your participants to

specify their answers what was your

initial reaction okay we are going for a

specific reaction a specific response

and last but not the least we have

interpretive interpreting okay so

interpreting questions are clarified or

questions this is you rephrasing their

statements okay so is it safe to say

that living alone has taught you

independence

this approach is interpretive because

you have your own interpretation to

their statements a and let's say hi to

sorry G good okay so note you may have

direct and indirect questions as your

main questions and then the other forms

of questions will act as your supporting

questions or your probing questions in

the long run okay so down to the last

portion of the discussion what are the

steps in writing your interview guide

questions

chara okay step one for me I always

start by creating a table in that table

I place the research question the main

interview guide sessions and the probing

or the follow-up questions now going

back to my initial statement that there

is a relationship between or among the

research questions there are L themes

and your your interview guide question

goodbye sir agh this is the perfect

example of that relationship since all

the questions are anchored on the

research questions as you can see here

you always begin by indicating your

research question and the interview

guide questions which are under that

main research question okay and followed

by the different probing question

questions for every interview guide

question that you have in column number

will this be the format of your

interview guide questionnaire probably

not this is just a way for you to begin

composing your interview guide questions

step number two you formulate your main

interview guide questions based on the

research question step three you arrange

the main interview guide questions from

general to specific following the

guidelines I gave a while ago and step

four you are going to formulate possible

probing questions or follow-up questions

for every main interview guide question

that you are going to have sir why is

possible underline it is underlined

because again as I said these probing

questions are there just in case your

participants do not give you a well

substantiated response there are

participants who are worthy who are able

to explain their thoughts their

experiences their narrations in great

detail but there are also participants

who do not give you lengthy responses

they will just give you a snippet of

their their actual response and then

stop that is the reason why you should

have probing questions so that if they

do give you a short response you can ask

the follow-up questions in order for

them to give you more and

now we go to the last step the last step

is to secure or to look for someone who

can validate your question or your

question make sure that this person is

an expert and not necessarily your

classmate or your teacher okay this is

an expert in the field that you are

trying to pursue to end this video allow

me to give you a sample because I just

love samples I'll give you a sample of

the relationship or or a sample

breakdown of a research question a main

interview question and a sample or a

possible probing question one one of you

guys may be one group might find this

question to be or this sample to be

helpful

example research question number one

what are the lived experiences of

disaster volunteers in Davao City or

maybe you can change the city if you're

conducting a study in Cebu and you want

to know the disaster well the lived

experiences of disaster volunteers in

your area then you might want to end it

this one okay now from this research

question I give one sample interview

guide question could you tell me the

story of how you became a disaster

volunteer okay so this way they are

going to tell you the story again we're

looking at the lived experiences and

since we are going for the lived

experience your question in your

interview guide must help you get a

picture of that experience that's why we

started with a general concept of how

they became a disaster volunteer okay

now possible probing question

was there a specific person or event

that or who pushed you to become or to

decide to become to to answer this

colleague it was by then they are going

to tell you what specific events or

which specific people influenced them to

become a disaster volunteer again that

is just a sample and your line of

questioning may vary depending on the

requirement of your research question

and your study as a whole so to give you

a sort of review we discussed validity

and how it is applied in the concept of

constructing research questions or

interview guide questions second I gave

you the guidelines in writing research

interview guide questions third I gave

you your steps in writing your research

interview questions and finally I also

gave you the types of questions that you

might want to ask in your interview

guide questionnaire we ended with a

sample of the relationship between and

among the research question the

interview guide question and the probing

questions which I have discussed earlier

in this video so that would be all I

hope that this video again was helpful

to you guys this is Sirdar class

dismissed