How I Learned to Design and Conduct Semi- structured Interviews: An Ongoing and Continuous Journey

There is no doubt that qualitative interviewing is a flexible and powerful tool to capture the voices and the ways people make meaning of their experiences. I am always fascinated when I read articles and books that make use of the interviews to convey findings, messages, and the views of participants regarding a research topics and everyday situations. Since I have encountered increasing number of studies in the health field in which interviews are used, I decided to learn about the art and skills needed to use this powerful tool to explore and investigate the topics that are relevant to my line of research. Currently, I am involved in training and supporting the development of HIV junior researchers. Mentoring, the development of research competencies and working collaboratively are the three major components of the project. Pursuing a research career within the context of this project is a very intense experience. The junior researchers have many "stories to tell" and "learning to share" about their journey as researchers in a sensitive field. As a researcher myself, I would like to capture their voices and give meaning (or interpret) to their experience. I decided to use "interviews" as a tool and window to their stories. Here is my own ongoing journey of how I am learning to design and conduct semi-structured interviews. Stage 1--Selecting the kind of interview: Why semi-structure interviews? When I decided to use interviews, I proceeded to find a good reference to place the selected method within the larger qualitative framework. I looked for existing literature that expressed the pros and cons of the interview. Some of the writings that I found were posted in the internet as resources for graduate students of different field and disciplines. I made a list of the pros and cons and of the recommendations that I though applied to me. I printed a lot of the list of advices and do's and don'ts. I will probably be referring to them in the future. However, I needed to read the more conceptual and theoretical discussions. I wanted to know about the historical evolution. I came across a chapter written by Andrea Fontana and James Frey in the second edition of the book Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials edited by Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln (2005). I highly recommend reading this chapter. It introduced me to many possibilities under the category of qualitative interviewing. This contributed to inform my decision. I selected the semi-structured interview because I was able to narrow down some areas or topics that I want to ask to the junior researchers. A completely un-structured interview has the risk of not eliciting form the junior researchers the topics or themes more closely related to the research questions under consideration. There are some specific topics that I would like to cover, but at the same time I want to hear their stories. Consequently, I will use the format of an opening statement and a few general questions to elicit conversation. I will have some additional questions designed to probe for information if it does not come up. Stage 2--Establishing the ethical guidelines: I soon learned that entering the lives of other, especially the lives of colleagues, had to take into consideration ethical and moral issues. The chapter entitled, "Ethical Issues of Interviewing" in Kvale's Doing Interviews (2007), provided an excellent guideline and a useful list of aspects to consider throughout the different stages of the interview. I used these points to discuss my project with co-investigators and consultants that will conduct the project with me. Approaching the more advance stages of research design from a moral and ethical stance will facilitate my interaction with the interviewees. Issues of purpose, consequences, consent, identity, relationships, confidentiality and protection became central early in the process. I feel confident that I will approach my colleagues in a fair and ethical way. …