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User research note taking guide, by meg mcmahon.

Taking notes is a vital part of the User Research process. It helps all of the researchers gain a shared understanding of the interviews during the analysis phase of the project.

As a note taker, you need to decide what is important to include to inform the tasks or questions asked in the interview and what information could help answer the research questions or further the goals of the study. Note taking is not creating a transcript (if you need a transcript, we can use dictation software).

Before Taking Notes

Become familiar with the following documents and aspects of the project: the project plan, script, and any important background information on the project.
Use a shared notes grid with a column for each participant and rows for each task or question.
Use a notes doc template; each participant has their own document that includes the participant details and the questions.
Use Dovetail , a web-based note taking tool or a different web-based tool.
Check the moderator notes field for context for this specific interview. (This is found at the bottom of a shared notes grid, at the top of a participant notes doc, or at the top of a Dovetail participant area.)

Note Taking

It is the note takers job to note anything that actually happened in the meeting. This may include things that were said as well as sounds or body language that may indicate feelings. In capturing notes pay attention to the following:

Frustrations
“Wow” or positive moments
Gaps in knowledge, moments when a participant doesn’t have the necessary knowledge in relation to the task or question.

Do’s and Don’ts of Notetaking

Use the word “participant”.

At the URC we refer to all the individuals who participate in our studies as “participant” not user, interviewee, or by their name.

Add timestamp of the insight

Timestamps are helpful to have for reference, especially if video clips are needed for the report.

Don’t make assumptions in the notes, stay true to the facts

When taking notes, state what happens opposed to assuming behavior of the participant or making generalizations about the system.

Keep a consistent format

Be sure to stay in the chosen format for the notes.

Use quotations when it makes an impact

If a participant says something that is directly related to a theme you find during analysis, it is helpful to record the quote as a record of that theme within the research.

Paraphrase when appropriate

If a participant’s quote is long and includes pieces of information that are not directly related to the key finding with the phrase, shorten the phrase.

Look for unspoken body language or emotions

Add notes about what body language a participant is using when speaking or trying to accomplish a task.

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Chapter 11. Interviewing

Introduction.

Interviewing people is at the heart of qualitative research. It is not merely a way to collect data but an intrinsically rewarding activity—an interaction between two people that holds the potential for greater understanding and interpersonal development. Unlike many of our daily interactions with others that are fairly shallow and mundane, sitting down with a person for an hour or two and really listening to what they have to say is a profound and deep enterprise, one that can provide not only “data” for you, the interviewer, but also self-understanding and a feeling of being heard for the interviewee. I always approach interviewing with a deep appreciation for the opportunity it gives me to understand how other people experience the world. That said, there is not one kind of interview but many, and some of these are shallower than others. This chapter will provide you with an overview of interview techniques but with a special focus on the in-depth semistructured interview guide approach, which is the approach most widely used in social science research.

An interview can be variously defined as “a conversation with a purpose” ( Lune and Berg 2018 ) and an attempt to understand the world from the point of view of the person being interviewed: “to unfold the meaning of peoples’ experiences, to uncover their lived world prior to scientific explanations” ( Kvale 2007 ). It is a form of active listening in which the interviewer steers the conversation to subjects and topics of interest to their research but also manages to leave enough space for those interviewed to say surprising things. Achieving that balance is a tricky thing, which is why most practitioners believe interviewing is both an art and a science. In my experience as a teacher, there are some students who are “natural” interviewers (often they are introverts), but anyone can learn to conduct interviews, and everyone, even those of us who have been doing this for years, can improve their interviewing skills. This might be a good time to highlight the fact that the interview is a product between interviewer and interviewee and that this product is only as good as the rapport established between the two participants. Active listening is the key to establishing this necessary rapport.

Patton ( 2002 ) makes the argument that we use interviews because there are certain things that are not observable. In particular, “we cannot observe feelings, thoughts, and intentions. We cannot observe behaviors that took place at some previous point in time. We cannot observe situations that preclude the presence of an observer. We cannot observe how people have organized the world and the meanings they attach to what goes on in the world. We have to ask people questions about those things” ( 341 ).

Types of Interviews

There are several distinct types of interviews. Imagine a continuum (figure 11.1). On one side are unstructured conversations—the kind you have with your friends. No one is in control of those conversations, and what you talk about is often random—whatever pops into your head. There is no secret, underlying purpose to your talking—if anything, the purpose is to talk to and engage with each other, and the words you use and the things you talk about are a little beside the point. An unstructured interview is a little like this informal conversation, except that one of the parties to the conversation (you, the researcher) does have an underlying purpose, and that is to understand the other person. You are not friends speaking for no purpose, but it might feel just as unstructured to the “interviewee” in this scenario. That is one side of the continuum. On the other side are fully structured and standardized survey-type questions asked face-to-face. Here it is very clear who is asking the questions and who is answering them. This doesn’t feel like a conversation at all! A lot of people new to interviewing have this ( erroneously !) in mind when they think about interviews as data collection. Somewhere in the middle of these two extreme cases is the “ semistructured” interview , in which the researcher uses an “interview guide” to gently move the conversation to certain topics and issues. This is the primary form of interviewing for qualitative social scientists and will be what I refer to as interviewing for the rest of this chapter, unless otherwise specified.

Types of Interviewing Questions: Unstructured conversations, Semi-structured interview, Structured interview, Survey questions

Informal (unstructured conversations). This is the most “open-ended” approach to interviewing. It is particularly useful in conjunction with observational methods (see chapters 13 and 14). There are no predetermined questions. Each interview will be different. Imagine you are researching the Oregon Country Fair, an annual event in Veneta, Oregon, that includes live music, artisan craft booths, face painting, and a lot of people walking through forest paths. It’s unlikely that you will be able to get a person to sit down with you and talk intensely about a set of questions for an hour and a half. But you might be able to sidle up to several people and engage with them about their experiences at the fair. You might have a general interest in what attracts people to these events, so you could start a conversation by asking strangers why they are here or why they come back every year. That’s it. Then you have a conversation that may lead you anywhere. Maybe one person tells a long story about how their parents brought them here when they were a kid. A second person talks about how this is better than Burning Man. A third person shares their favorite traveling band. And yet another enthuses about the public library in the woods. During your conversations, you also talk about a lot of other things—the weather, the utilikilts for sale, the fact that a favorite food booth has disappeared. It’s all good. You may not be able to record these conversations. Instead, you might jot down notes on the spot and then, when you have the time, write down as much as you can remember about the conversations in long fieldnotes. Later, you will have to sit down with these fieldnotes and try to make sense of all the information (see chapters 18 and 19).

Interview guide ( semistructured interview ). This is the primary type employed by social science qualitative researchers. The researcher creates an “interview guide” in advance, which she uses in every interview. In theory, every person interviewed is asked the same questions. In practice, every person interviewed is asked mostly the same topics but not always the same questions, as the whole point of a “guide” is that it guides the direction of the conversation but does not command it. The guide is typically between five and ten questions or question areas, sometimes with suggested follow-ups or prompts . For example, one question might be “What was it like growing up in Eastern Oregon?” with prompts such as “Did you live in a rural area? What kind of high school did you attend?” to help the conversation develop. These interviews generally take place in a quiet place (not a busy walkway during a festival) and are recorded. The recordings are transcribed, and those transcriptions then become the “data” that is analyzed (see chapters 18 and 19). The conventional length of one of these types of interviews is between one hour and two hours, optimally ninety minutes. Less than one hour doesn’t allow for much development of questions and thoughts, and two hours (or more) is a lot of time to ask someone to sit still and answer questions. If you have a lot of ground to cover, and the person is willing, I highly recommend two separate interview sessions, with the second session being slightly shorter than the first (e.g., ninety minutes the first day, sixty minutes the second). There are lots of good reasons for this, but the most compelling one is that this allows you to listen to the first day’s recording and catch anything interesting you might have missed in the moment and so develop follow-up questions that can probe further. This also allows the person being interviewed to have some time to think about the issues raised in the interview and go a little deeper with their answers.

Standardized questionnaire with open responses ( structured interview ). This is the type of interview a lot of people have in mind when they hear “interview”: a researcher comes to your door with a clipboard and proceeds to ask you a series of questions. These questions are all the same whoever answers the door; they are “standardized.” Both the wording and the exact order are important, as people’s responses may vary depending on how and when a question is asked. These are qualitative only in that the questions allow for “open-ended responses”: people can say whatever they want rather than select from a predetermined menu of responses. For example, a survey I collaborated on included this open-ended response question: “How does class affect one’s career success in sociology?” Some of the answers were simply one word long (e.g., “debt”), and others were long statements with stories and personal anecdotes. It is possible to be surprised by the responses. Although it’s a stretch to call this kind of questioning a conversation, it does allow the person answering the question some degree of freedom in how they answer.

Survey questionnaire with closed responses (not an interview!). Standardized survey questions with specific answer options (e.g., closed responses) are not really interviews at all, and they do not generate qualitative data. For example, if we included five options for the question “How does class affect one’s career success in sociology?”—(1) debt, (2) social networks, (3) alienation, (4) family doesn’t understand, (5) type of grad program—we leave no room for surprises at all. Instead, we would most likely look at patterns around these responses, thinking quantitatively rather than qualitatively (e.g., using regression analysis techniques, we might find that working-class sociologists were twice as likely to bring up alienation). It can sometimes be confusing for new students because the very same survey can include both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The key is to think about how these will be analyzed and to what level surprises are possible. If your plan is to turn all responses into a number and make predictions about correlations and relationships, you are no longer conducting qualitative research. This is true even if you are conducting this survey face-to-face with a real live human. Closed-response questions are not conversations of any kind, purposeful or not.

In summary, the semistructured interview guide approach is the predominant form of interviewing for social science qualitative researchers because it allows a high degree of freedom of responses from those interviewed (thus allowing for novel discoveries) while still maintaining some connection to a research question area or topic of interest. The rest of the chapter assumes the employment of this form.

Creating an Interview Guide

Your interview guide is the instrument used to bridge your research question(s) and what the people you are interviewing want to tell you. Unlike a standardized questionnaire, the questions actually asked do not need to be exactly what you have written down in your guide. The guide is meant to create space for those you are interviewing to talk about the phenomenon of interest, but sometimes you are not even sure what that phenomenon is until you start asking questions. A priority in creating an interview guide is to ensure it offers space. One of the worst mistakes is to create questions that are so specific that the person answering them will not stray. Relatedly, questions that sound “academic” will shut down a lot of respondents. A good interview guide invites respondents to talk about what is important to them, not feel like they are performing or being evaluated by you.

Good interview questions should not sound like your “research question” at all. For example, let’s say your research question is “How do patriarchal assumptions influence men’s understanding of climate change and responses to climate change?” It would be worse than unhelpful to ask a respondent, “How do your assumptions about the role of men affect your understanding of climate change?” You need to unpack this into manageable nuggets that pull your respondent into the area of interest without leading him anywhere. You could start by asking him what he thinks about climate change in general. Or, even better, whether he has any concerns about heatwaves or increased tornadoes or polar icecaps melting. Once he starts talking about that, you can ask follow-up questions that bring in issues around gendered roles, perhaps asking if he is married (to a woman) and whether his wife shares his thoughts and, if not, how they negotiate that difference. The fact is, you won’t really know the right questions to ask until he starts talking.

There are several distinct types of questions that can be used in your interview guide, either as main questions or as follow-up probes. If you remember that the point is to leave space for the respondent, you will craft a much more effective interview guide! You will also want to think about the place of time in both the questions themselves (past, present, future orientations) and the sequencing of the questions.

Researcher Note

Suggestion : As you read the next three sections (types of questions, temporality, question sequence), have in mind a particular research question, and try to draft questions and sequence them in a way that opens space for a discussion that helps you answer your research question.

Type of Questions

Experience and behavior questions ask about what a respondent does regularly (their behavior) or has done (their experience). These are relatively easy questions for people to answer because they appear more “factual” and less subjective. This makes them good opening questions. For the study on climate change above, you might ask, “Have you ever experienced an unusual weather event? What happened?” Or “You said you work outside? What is a typical summer workday like for you? How do you protect yourself from the heat?”

Opinion and values questions , in contrast, ask questions that get inside the minds of those you are interviewing. “Do you think climate change is real? Who or what is responsible for it?” are two such questions. Note that you don’t have to literally ask, “What is your opinion of X?” but you can find a way to ask the specific question relevant to the conversation you are having. These questions are a bit trickier to ask because the answers you get may depend in part on how your respondent perceives you and whether they want to please you or not. We’ve talked a fair amount about being reflective. Here is another place where this comes into play. You need to be aware of the effect your presence might have on the answers you are receiving and adjust accordingly. If you are a woman who is perceived as liberal asking a man who identifies as conservative about climate change, there is a lot of subtext that can be going on in the interview. There is no one right way to resolve this, but you must at least be aware of it.

Feeling questions are questions that ask respondents to draw on their emotional responses. It’s pretty common for academic researchers to forget that we have bodies and emotions, but people’s understandings of the world often operate at this affective level, sometimes unconsciously or barely consciously. It is a good idea to include questions that leave space for respondents to remember, imagine, or relive emotional responses to particular phenomena. “What was it like when you heard your cousin’s house burned down in that wildfire?” doesn’t explicitly use any emotion words, but it allows your respondent to remember what was probably a pretty emotional day. And if they respond emotionally neutral, that is pretty interesting data too. Note that asking someone “How do you feel about X” is not always going to evoke an emotional response, as they might simply turn around and respond with “I think that…” It is better to craft a question that actually pushes the respondent into the affective category. This might be a specific follow-up to an experience and behavior question —for example, “You just told me about your daily routine during the summer heat. Do you worry it is going to get worse?” or “Have you ever been afraid it will be too hot to get your work accomplished?”

Knowledge questions ask respondents what they actually know about something factual. We have to be careful when we ask these types of questions so that respondents do not feel like we are evaluating them (which would shut them down), but, for example, it is helpful to know when you are having a conversation about climate change that your respondent does in fact know that unusual weather events have increased and that these have been attributed to climate change! Asking these questions can set the stage for deeper questions and can ensure that the conversation makes the same kind of sense to both participants. For example, a conversation about political polarization can be put back on track once you realize that the respondent doesn’t really have a clear understanding that there are two parties in the US. Instead of asking a series of questions about Republicans and Democrats, you might shift your questions to talk more generally about political disagreements (e.g., “people against abortion”). And sometimes what you do want to know is the level of knowledge about a particular program or event (e.g., “Are you aware you can discharge your student loans through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program?”).

Sensory questions call on all senses of the respondent to capture deeper responses. These are particularly helpful in sparking memory. “Think back to your childhood in Eastern Oregon. Describe the smells, the sounds…” Or you could use these questions to help a person access the full experience of a setting they customarily inhabit: “When you walk through the doors to your office building, what do you see? Hear? Smell?” As with feeling questions , these questions often supplement experience and behavior questions . They are another way of allowing your respondent to report fully and deeply rather than remain on the surface.

Creative questions employ illustrative examples, suggested scenarios, or simulations to get respondents to think more deeply about an issue, topic, or experience. There are many options here. In The Trouble with Passion , Erin Cech ( 2021 ) provides a scenario in which “Joe” is trying to decide whether to stay at his decent but boring computer job or follow his passion by opening a restaurant. She asks respondents, “What should Joe do?” Their answers illuminate the attraction of “passion” in job selection. In my own work, I have used a news story about an upwardly mobile young man who no longer has time to see his mother and sisters to probe respondents’ feelings about the costs of social mobility. Jessi Streib and Betsy Leondar-Wright have used single-page cartoon “scenes” to elicit evaluations of potential racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and classism. Barbara Sutton ( 2010 ) has employed lists of words (“strong,” “mother,” “victim”) on notecards she fans out and asks her female respondents to select and discuss.

Background/Demographic Questions

You most definitely will want to know more about the person you are interviewing in terms of conventional demographic information, such as age, race, gender identity, occupation, and educational attainment. These are not questions that normally open up inquiry. [1] For this reason, my practice has been to include a separate “demographic questionnaire” sheet that I ask each respondent to fill out at the conclusion of the interview. Only include those aspects that are relevant to your study. For example, if you are not exploring religion or religious affiliation, do not include questions about a person’s religion on the demographic sheet. See the example provided at the end of this chapter.

Temporality

Any type of question can have a past, present, or future orientation. For example, if you are asking a behavior question about workplace routine, you might ask the respondent to talk about past work, present work, and ideal (future) work. Similarly, if you want to understand how people cope with natural disasters, you might ask your respondent how they felt then during the wildfire and now in retrospect and whether and to what extent they have concerns for future wildfire disasters. It’s a relatively simple suggestion—don’t forget to ask about past, present, and future—but it can have a big impact on the quality of the responses you receive.

Question Sequence

Having a list of good questions or good question areas is not enough to make a good interview guide. You will want to pay attention to the order in which you ask your questions. Even though any one respondent can derail this order (perhaps by jumping to answer a question you haven’t yet asked), a good advance plan is always helpful. When thinking about sequence, remember that your goal is to get your respondent to open up to you and to say things that might surprise you. To establish rapport, it is best to start with nonthreatening questions. Asking about the present is often the safest place to begin, followed by the past (they have to know you a little bit to get there), and lastly, the future (talking about hopes and fears requires the most rapport). To allow for surprises, it is best to move from very general questions to more particular questions only later in the interview. This ensures that respondents have the freedom to bring up the topics that are relevant to them rather than feel like they are constrained to answer you narrowly. For example, refrain from asking about particular emotions until these have come up previously—don’t lead with them. Often, your more particular questions will emerge only during the course of the interview, tailored to what is emerging in conversation.

Once you have a set of questions, read through them aloud and imagine you are being asked the same questions. Does the set of questions have a natural flow? Would you be willing to answer the very first question to a total stranger? Does your sequence establish facts and experiences before moving on to opinions and values? Did you include prefatory statements, where necessary; transitions; and other announcements? These can be as simple as “Hey, we talked a lot about your experiences as a barista while in college.… Now I am turning to something completely different: how you managed friendships in college.” That is an abrupt transition, but it has been softened by your acknowledgment of that.

Probes and Flexibility

Once you have the interview guide, you will also want to leave room for probes and follow-up questions. As in the sample probe included here, you can write out the obvious probes and follow-up questions in advance. You might not need them, as your respondent might anticipate them and include full responses to the original question. Or you might need to tailor them to how your respondent answered the question. Some common probes and follow-up questions include asking for more details (When did that happen? Who else was there?), asking for elaboration (Could you say more about that?), asking for clarification (Does that mean what I think it means or something else? I understand what you mean, but someone else reading the transcript might not), and asking for contrast or comparison (How did this experience compare with last year’s event?). “Probing is a skill that comes from knowing what to look for in the interview, listening carefully to what is being said and what is not said, and being sensitive to the feedback needs of the person being interviewed” ( Patton 2002:374 ). It takes work! And energy. I and many other interviewers I know report feeling emotionally and even physically drained after conducting an interview. You are tasked with active listening and rearranging your interview guide as needed on the fly. If you only ask the questions written down in your interview guide with no deviations, you are doing it wrong. [2]

The Final Question

Every interview guide should include a very open-ended final question that allows for the respondent to say whatever it is they have been dying to tell you but you’ve forgotten to ask. About half the time they are tired too and will tell you they have nothing else to say. But incredibly, some of the most honest and complete responses take place here, at the end of a long interview. You have to realize that the person being interviewed is often discovering things about themselves as they talk to you and that this process of discovery can lead to new insights for them. Making space at the end is therefore crucial. Be sure you convey that you actually do want them to tell you more, that the offer of “anything else?” is not read as an empty convention where the polite response is no. Here is where you can pull from that active listening and tailor the final question to the particular person. For example, “I’ve asked you a lot of questions about what it was like to live through that wildfire. I’m wondering if there is anything I’ve forgotten to ask, especially because I haven’t had that experience myself” is a much more inviting final question than “Great. Anything you want to add?” It’s also helpful to convey to the person that you have the time to listen to their full answer, even if the allotted time is at the end. After all, there are no more questions to ask, so the respondent knows exactly how much time is left. Do them the courtesy of listening to them!

Conducting the Interview

Once you have your interview guide, you are on your way to conducting your first interview. I always practice my interview guide with a friend or family member. I do this even when the questions don’t make perfect sense for them, as it still helps me realize which questions make no sense, are poorly worded (too academic), or don’t follow sequentially. I also practice the routine I will use for interviewing, which goes something like this:

Introduce myself and reintroduce the study
Provide consent form and ask them to sign and retain/return copy
Ask if they have any questions about the study before we begin
Ask if I can begin recording
Ask questions (from interview guide)
Turn off the recording device
Ask if they are willing to fill out my demographic questionnaire
Collect questionnaire and, without looking at the answers, place in same folder as signed consent form
Thank them and depart

A note on remote interviewing: Interviews have traditionally been conducted face-to-face in a private or quiet public setting. You don’t want a lot of background noise, as this will make transcriptions difficult. During the recent global pandemic, many interviewers, myself included, learned the benefits of interviewing remotely. Although face-to-face is still preferable for many reasons, Zoom interviewing is not a bad alternative, and it does allow more interviews across great distances. Zoom also includes automatic transcription, which significantly cuts down on the time it normally takes to convert our conversations into “data” to be analyzed. These automatic transcriptions are not perfect, however, and you will still need to listen to the recording and clarify and clean up the transcription. Nor do automatic transcriptions include notations of body language or change of tone, which you may want to include. When interviewing remotely, you will want to collect the consent form before you meet: ask them to read, sign, and return it as an email attachment. I think it is better to ask for the demographic questionnaire after the interview, but because some respondents may never return it then, it is probably best to ask for this at the same time as the consent form, in advance of the interview.

What should you bring to the interview? I would recommend bringing two copies of the consent form (one for you and one for the respondent), a demographic questionnaire, a manila folder in which to place the signed consent form and filled-out demographic questionnaire, a printed copy of your interview guide (I print with three-inch right margins so I can jot down notes on the page next to relevant questions), a pen, a recording device, and water.

After the interview, you will want to secure the signed consent form in a locked filing cabinet (if in print) or a password-protected folder on your computer. Using Excel or a similar program that allows tables/spreadsheets, create an identifying number for your interview that links to the consent form without using the name of your respondent. For example, let’s say that I conduct interviews with US politicians, and the first person I meet with is George W. Bush. I will assign the transcription the number “INT#001” and add it to the signed consent form. [3] The signed consent form goes into a locked filing cabinet, and I never use the name “George W. Bush” again. I take the information from the demographic sheet, open my Excel spreadsheet, and add the relevant information in separate columns for the row INT#001: White, male, Republican. When I interview Bill Clinton as my second interview, I include a second row: INT#002: White, male, Democrat. And so on. The only link to the actual name of the respondent and this information is the fact that the consent form (unavailable to anyone but me) has stamped on it the interview number.

Many students get very nervous before their first interview. Actually, many of us are always nervous before the interview! But do not worry—this is normal, and it does pass. Chances are, you will be pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it begins to feel. These “purposeful conversations” are often a delight for both participants. This is not to say that sometimes things go wrong. I often have my students practice several “bad scenarios” (e.g., a respondent that you cannot get to open up; a respondent who is too talkative and dominates the conversation, steering it away from the topics you are interested in; emotions that completely take over; or shocking disclosures you are ill-prepared to handle), but most of the time, things go quite well. Be prepared for the unexpected, but know that the reason interviews are so popular as a technique of data collection is that they are usually richly rewarding for both participants.

One thing that I stress to my methods students and remind myself about is that interviews are still conversations between people. If there’s something you might feel uncomfortable asking someone about in a “normal” conversation, you will likely also feel a bit of discomfort asking it in an interview. Maybe more importantly, your respondent may feel uncomfortable. Social research—especially about inequality—can be uncomfortable. And it’s easy to slip into an abstract, intellectualized, or removed perspective as an interviewer. This is one reason trying out interview questions is important. Another is that sometimes the question sounds good in your head but doesn’t work as well out loud in practice. I learned this the hard way when a respondent asked me how I would answer the question I had just posed, and I realized that not only did I not really know how I would answer it, but I also wasn’t quite as sure I knew what I was asking as I had thought.

—Elizabeth M. Lee, Associate Professor of Sociology at Saint Joseph’s University, author of Class and Campus Life , and co-author of Geographies of Campus Inequality

How Many Interviews?

Your research design has included a targeted number of interviews and a recruitment plan (see chapter 5). Follow your plan, but remember that “ saturation ” is your goal. You interview as many people as you can until you reach a point at which you are no longer surprised by what they tell you. This means not that no one after your first twenty interviews will have surprising, interesting stories to tell you but rather that the picture you are forming about the phenomenon of interest to you from a research perspective has come into focus, and none of the interviews are substantially refocusing that picture. That is when you should stop collecting interviews. Note that to know when you have reached this, you will need to read your transcripts as you go. More about this in chapters 18 and 19.

Your Final Product: The Ideal Interview Transcript

A good interview transcript will demonstrate a subtly controlled conversation by the skillful interviewer. In general, you want to see replies that are about one paragraph long, not short sentences and not running on for several pages. Although it is sometimes necessary to follow respondents down tangents, it is also often necessary to pull them back to the questions that form the basis of your research study. This is not really a free conversation, although it may feel like that to the person you are interviewing.

Final Tips from an Interview Master

Annette Lareau is arguably one of the masters of the trade. In Listening to People , she provides several guidelines for good interviews and then offers a detailed example of an interview gone wrong and how it could be addressed (please see the “Further Readings” at the end of this chapter). Here is an abbreviated version of her set of guidelines: (1) interview respondents who are experts on the subjects of most interest to you (as a corollary, don’t ask people about things they don’t know); (2) listen carefully and talk as little as possible; (3) keep in mind what you want to know and why you want to know it; (4) be a proactive interviewer (subtly guide the conversation); (5) assure respondents that there aren’t any right or wrong answers; (6) use the respondent’s own words to probe further (this both allows you to accurately identify what you heard and pushes the respondent to explain further); (7) reuse effective probes (don’t reinvent the wheel as you go—if repeating the words back works, do it again and again); (8) focus on learning the subjective meanings that events or experiences have for a respondent; (9) don’t be afraid to ask a question that draws on your own knowledge (unlike trial lawyers who are trained never to ask a question for which they don’t already know the answer, sometimes it’s worth it to ask risky questions based on your hypotheses or just plain hunches); (10) keep thinking while you are listening (so difficult…and important); (11) return to a theme raised by a respondent if you want further information; (12) be mindful of power inequalities (and never ever coerce a respondent to continue the interview if they want out); (13) take control with overly talkative respondents; (14) expect overly succinct responses, and develop strategies for probing further; (15) balance digging deep and moving on; (16) develop a plan to deflect questions (e.g., let them know you are happy to answer any questions at the end of the interview, but you don’t want to take time away from them now); and at the end, (17) check to see whether you have asked all your questions. You don’t always have to ask everyone the same set of questions, but if there is a big area you have forgotten to cover, now is the time to recover ( Lareau 2021:93–103 ).

Sample: Demographic Questionnaire

ASA Taskforce on First-Generation and Working-Class Persons in Sociology – Class Effects on Career Success

Supplementary Demographic Questionnaire

Thank you for your participation in this interview project. We would like to collect a few pieces of key demographic information from you to supplement our analyses. Your answers to these questions will be kept confidential and stored by ID number. All of your responses here are entirely voluntary!

What best captures your race/ethnicity? (please check any/all that apply)

White (Non Hispanic/Latina/o/x)
Black or African American
Hispanic, Latino/a/x of Spanish
Asian or Asian American
American Indian or Alaska Native
Middle Eastern or North African
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
Other : (Please write in: ________________)

What is your current position?

Grad Student
Full Professor

Please check any and all of the following that apply to you:

I identify as a working-class academic
I was the first in my family to graduate from college
I grew up poor

What best reflects your gender?

Transgender female/Transgender woman
Transgender male/Transgender man
Gender queer/ Gender nonconforming

Anything else you would like us to know about you?

Example: Interview Guide

In this example, follow-up prompts are italicized. Note the sequence of questions. That second question often elicits an entire life history , answering several later questions in advance.

Introduction Script/Question

Thank you for participating in our survey of ASA members who identify as first-generation or working-class. As you may have heard, ASA has sponsored a taskforce on first-generation and working-class persons in sociology and we are interested in hearing from those who so identify. Your participation in this interview will help advance our knowledge in this area.

The first thing we would like to as you is why you have volunteered to be part of this study? What does it mean to you be first-gen or working class? Why were you willing to be interviewed?
How did you decide to become a sociologist?
Can you tell me a little bit about where you grew up? ( prompts: what did your parent(s) do for a living? What kind of high school did you attend?)
Has this identity been salient to your experience? (how? How much?)
How welcoming was your grad program? Your first academic employer?
Why did you decide to pursue sociology at the graduate level?
Did you experience culture shock in college? In graduate school?
Has your FGWC status shaped how you’ve thought about where you went to school? debt? etc?
Were you mentored? How did this work (not work)? How might it?
What did you consider when deciding where to go to grad school? Where to apply for your first position?
What, to you, is a mark of career success? Have you achieved that success? What has helped or hindered your pursuit of success?
Do you think sociology, as a field, cares about prestige?
Let’s talk a little bit about intersectionality. How does being first-gen/working class work alongside other identities that are important to you?
What do your friends and family think about your career? Have you had any difficulty relating to family members or past friends since becoming highly educated?
Do you have any debt from college/grad school? Are you concerned about this? Could you explain more about how you paid for college/grad school? (here, include assistance from family, fellowships, scholarships, etc.)
(You’ve mentioned issues or obstacles you had because of your background.) What could have helped? Or, who or what did? Can you think of fortuitous moments in your career?
Do you have any regrets about the path you took?
Is there anything else you would like to add? Anything that the Taskforce should take note of, that we did not ask you about here?

Qualitative Research 101: Interviewing

5 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Undertaking Interviews

By: David Phair (PhD) and Kerryn Warren (PhD) | March 2022

Undertaking interviews is potentially the most important step in the qualitative research process. If you don’t collect useful, useable data in your interviews, you’ll struggle through the rest of your dissertation or thesis. Having helped numerous students with their research over the years, we’ve noticed some common interviewing mistakes that first-time researchers make. In this post, we’ll discuss five costly interview-related mistakes and outline useful strategies to avoid making these.

Overview: 5 Interviewing Mistakes

Not having a clear interview strategy /plan
Not having good interview techniques /skills
Not securing a suitable location and equipment
Not having a basic risk management plan
Not keeping your “ golden thread ” front of mind

1. Not having a clear interview strategy

The first common mistake that we’ll look at is that of starting the interviewing process without having first come up with a clear interview strategy or plan of action. While it’s natural to be keen to get started engaging with your interviewees, a lack of planning can result in a mess of data and inconsistency between interviews.

There are several design choices to decide on and plan for before you start interviewing anyone. Some of the most important questions you need to ask yourself before conducting interviews include:

What are the guiding research aims and research questions of my study?
Will I use a structured, semi-structured or unstructured interview approach?
How will I record the interviews (audio or video)?
Who will be interviewed and by whom ?
What ethics and data law considerations do I need to adhere to?
How will I analyze my data?

Let’s take a quick look at some of these.

The core objective of the interviewing process is to generate useful data that will help you address your overall research aims. Therefore, your interviews need to be conducted in a way that directly links to your research aims, objectives and research questions (i.e. your “golden thread”). This means that you need to carefully consider the questions you’ll ask to ensure that they align with and feed into your golden thread. If any question doesn’t align with this, you may want to consider scrapping it.

Another important design choice is whether you’ll use an unstructured, semi-structured or structured interview approach . For semi-structured interviews, you will have a list of questions that you plan to ask and these questions will be open-ended in nature. You’ll also allow the discussion to digress from the core question set if something interesting comes up. This means that the type of information generated might differ a fair amount between interviews.

Contrasted to this, a structured approach to interviews is more rigid, where a specific set of closed questions is developed and asked for each interviewee in exactly the same order. Closed questions have a limited set of answers, that are often single-word answers. Therefore, you need to think about what you’re trying to achieve with your research project (i.e. your research aims) and decided on which approach would be best suited in your case.

It is also important to plan ahead with regards to who will be interviewed and how. You need to think about how you will approach the possible interviewees to get their cooperation, who will conduct the interviews, when to conduct the interviews and how to record the interviews. For each of these decisions, it’s also essential to make sure that all ethical considerations and data protection laws are taken into account.

Finally, you should think through how you plan to analyze the data (i.e., your qualitative analysis method) generated by the interviews. Different types of analysis rely on different types of data, so you need to ensure you’re asking the right types of questions and correctly guiding your respondents.

Simply put, you need to have a plan of action regarding the specifics of your interview approach before you start collecting data. If not, you’ll end up drifting in your approach from interview to interview, which will result in inconsistent, unusable data.

Your interview questions need to directly link to your research aims, objectives and research questions - your "golden thread”.

2. Not having good interview technique

While you’re generally not expected to become you to be an expert interviewer for a dissertation or thesis, it is important to practice good interview technique and develop basic interviewing skills .

Let’s go through some basics that will help the process along.

Firstly, before the interview , make sure you know your interview questions well and have a clear idea of what you want from the interview. Naturally, the specificity of your questions will depend on whether you’re taking a structured, semi-structured or unstructured approach, but you still need a consistent starting point . Ideally, you should develop an interview guide beforehand (more on this later) that details your core question and links these to the research aims, objectives and research questions.

Before you undertake any interviews, it’s a good idea to do a few mock interviews with friends or family members. This will help you get comfortable with the interviewer role, prepare for potentially unexpected answers and give you a good idea of how long the interview will take to conduct. In the interviewing process, you’re likely to encounter two kinds of challenging interviewees ; the two-word respondent and the respondent who meanders and babbles. Therefore, you should prepare yourself for both and come up with a plan to respond to each in a way that will allow the interview to continue productively.

To begin the formal interview , provide the person you are interviewing with an overview of your research. This will help to calm their nerves (and yours) and contextualize the interaction. Ultimately, you want the interviewee to feel comfortable and be willing to be open and honest with you, so it’s useful to start in a more casual, relaxed fashion and allow them to ask any questions they may have. From there, you can ease them into the rest of the questions.

As the interview progresses , avoid asking leading questions (i.e., questions that assume something about the interviewee or their response). Make sure that you speak clearly and slowly , using plain language and being ready to paraphrase questions if the person you are interviewing misunderstands. Be particularly careful with interviewing English second language speakers to ensure that you’re both on the same page.

Engage with the interviewee by listening to them carefully and acknowledging that you are listening to them by smiling or nodding. Show them that you’re interested in what they’re saying and thank them for their openness as appropriate. This will also encourage your interviewee to respond openly.

Need a helping hand?

3. Not securing a suitable location and quality equipment

Where you conduct your interviews and the equipment you use to record them both play an important role in how the process unfolds. Therefore, you need to think carefully about each of these variables before you start interviewing.

Poor location: A bad location can result in the quality of your interviews being compromised, interrupted, or cancelled. If you are conducting physical interviews, you’ll need a location that is quiet, safe, and welcoming . It’s very important that your location of choice is not prone to interruptions (the workplace office is generally problematic, for example) and has suitable facilities (such as water, a bathroom, and snacks).

If you are conducting online interviews , you need to consider a few other factors. Importantly, you need to make sure that both you and your respondent have access to a good, stable internet connection and electricity. Always check before the time that both of you know how to use the relevant software and it’s accessible (sometimes meeting platforms are blocked by workplace policies or firewalls). It’s also good to have alternatives in place (such as WhatsApp, Zoom, or Teams) to cater for these types of issues.

Poor equipment: Using poor-quality recording equipment or using equipment incorrectly means that you will have trouble transcribing, coding, and analyzing your interviews. This can be a major issue , as some of your interview data may go completely to waste if not recorded well. So, make sure that you use good-quality recording equipment and that you know how to use it correctly.

To avoid issues, you should always conduct test recordings before every interview to ensure that you can use the relevant equipment properly. It’s also a good idea to spot check each recording afterwards, just to make sure it was recorded as planned. If your equipment uses batteries, be sure to always carry a spare set.

Where you conduct your interviews and the equipment you use to record them play an important role in how the process unfolds.

4. Not having a basic risk management plan

Many possible issues can arise during the interview process. Not planning for these issues can mean that you are left with compromised data that might not be useful to you. Therefore, it’s important to map out some sort of risk management plan ahead of time, considering the potential risks, how you’ll minimize their probability and how you’ll manage them if they materialize.

Common potential issues related to the actual interview include cancellations (people pulling out), delays (such as getting stuck in traffic), language and accent differences (especially in the case of poor internet connections), issues with internet connections and power supply. Other issues can also occur in the interview itself. For example, the interviewee could drift off-topic, or you might encounter an interviewee who does not say much at all.

You can prepare for these potential issues by considering possible worst-case scenarios and preparing a response for each scenario. For instance, it is important to plan a backup date just in case your interviewee cannot make it to the first meeting you scheduled with them. It’s also a good idea to factor in a 30-minute gap between your interviews for the instances where someone might be late, or an interview runs overtime for other reasons. Make sure that you also plan backup questions that could be used to bring a respondent back on topic if they start rambling, or questions to encourage those who are saying too little.

In general, it’s best practice to plan to conduct more interviews than you think you need (this is called oversampling ). Doing so will allow you some room for error if there are interviews that don’t go as planned, or if some interviewees withdraw. If you need 10 interviews, it is a good idea to plan for 15. Likely, a few will cancel , delay, or not produce useful data.

You should consider all the potential risks, how you’ll reduce their probability and how you'll respond if they do indeed materialize.

5. Not keeping your golden thread front of mind

We touched on this a little earlier, but it is a key point that should be central to your entire research process. You don’t want to end up with pages and pages of data after conducting your interviews and realize that it is not useful to your research aims . Your research aims, objectives and research questions – i.e., your golden thread – should influence every design decision and should guide the interview process at all times.

A useful way to avoid this mistake is by developing an interview guide before you begin interviewing your respondents. An interview guide is a document that contains all of your questions with notes on how each of the interview questions is linked to the research question(s) of your study. You can also include your research aims and objectives here for a more comprehensive linkage.

You can easily create an interview guide by drawing up a table with one column containing your core interview questions . Then add another column with your research questions , another with expectations that you may have in light of the relevant literature and another with backup or follow-up questions . As mentioned, you can also bring in your research aims and objectives to help you connect them all together. If you’d like, you can download a copy of our free interview guide here .

Recap: Qualitative Interview Mistakes

In this post, we’ve discussed 5 common costly mistakes that are easy to make in the process of planning and conducting qualitative interviews.

To recap, these include:

If you have any questions about these interviewing mistakes, drop a comment below. Alternatively, if you’re interested in getting 1-on-1 help with your thesis or dissertation , check out our dissertation coaching service or book a free initial consultation with one of our friendly Grad Coaches.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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Harvard Library
Research Guides
Faculty of Arts & Sciences Libraries

Library Support for Qualitative Research

Interview Research
Resources for Methodology
Remote Research & Virtual Fieldwork

Resources for Research Interviewing

Nih-funded qualitative research.

Oral History
Data Management & Repositories
Campus Access

Types of Interviews

Engaging Participants

Interview Questions

Conducting Interviews
Transcription
Coding and Analysis
Managing & Finding Interview Data
UX & Market Research Interviews

Textbooks, Guidebooks, and Handbooks

The Ethnographic Interview by James P. Spradley “Spradley wrote this book for the professional and student who have never done ethnographic fieldwork (p. 231) and for the professional ethnographer who is interested in adapting the author’s procedures (p. iv). Part 1 outlines in 3 chapters Spradley’s version of ethnographic research, and it provides the background for Part 2 which consists of 12 guided steps (chapters) ranging from locating and interviewing an informant to writing an ethnography. Most of the examples come from the author’s own fieldwork among U.S. subcultures . . . Steps 6 and 8 explain lucidly how to construct a domain and a taxonomic analysis” (excerpted from book review by James D. Sexton, 1980).
Fundamentals of Qualitative Research by Johnny Saldana (Series edited by Patricia Leavy) Provides a soup-to-nuts overview of the qualitative data collection process, including interviewing, participant observation, and other methods.
InterViews by Steinar Kvale Interviewing is an essential tool in qualitative research and this introduction to interviewing outlines both the theoretical underpinnings and the practical aspects of the process. After examining the role of the interview in the research process, Steinar Kvale considers some of the key philosophical issues relating to interviewing: the interview as conversation, hermeneutics, phenomenology, concerns about ethics as well as validity, and postmodernism. Having established this framework, the author then analyzes the seven stages of the interview process - from designing a study to writing it up.
Practical Evaluation by Michael Quinn Patton Surveys different interviewing strategies, from, a) informal/conversational, to b) interview guide approach, to c) standardized and open-ended, to d) closed/quantitative. Also discusses strategies for wording questions that are open-ended, clear, sensitive, and neutral, while supporting the speaker. Provides suggestions for probing and maintaining control of the interview process, as well as suggestions for recording and transcription.
The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research by Amir B. Marvasti (Editor); James A. Holstein (Editor); Jaber F. Gubrium (Editor); Karyn D. McKinney (Editor) The new edition of this landmark volume emphasizes the dynamic, interactional, and reflexive dimensions of the research interview. Contributors highlight the myriad dimensions of complexity that are emerging as researchers increasingly frame the interview as a communicative opportunity as much as a data-gathering format. The book begins with the history and conceptual transformations of the interview, which is followed by chapters that discuss the main components of interview practice. Taken together, the contributions to The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research: The Complexity of the Craft encourage readers simultaneously to learn the frameworks and technologies of interviewing and to reflect on the epistemological foundations of the interview craft.
The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods by Nigel G. Fielding, Raymond M. Lee and Grant Blank (Editors) Bringing together the leading names in both qualitative and quantitative online research, this new edition is organised into nine sections: 1. Online Research Methods 2. Designing Online Research 3. Online Data Capture and Data Collection 4. The Online Survey 5. Digital Quantitative Analysis 6. Digital Text Analysis 7. Virtual Ethnography 8. Online Secondary Analysis: Resources and Methods 9. The Future of Online Social Research

ONLINE RESOURCES, COMMUNITIES, AND DATABASES

Interviews as a Method for Qualitative Research (video) This short video summarizes why interviews can serve as useful data in qualitative research.
Companion website to Bloomberg and Volpe's Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation: A Road Map from Beginning to End, 4th ed Provides helpful templates and appendices featured in the book, as well as links to other useful dissertation resources.
International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Annual conference hosted by the International Center for Qualitative Inquiry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which aims to facilitate the development of qualitative research methods across a wide variety of academic disciplines, among other initiatives.
METHODSPACE An online home of the research methods community, where practicing researchers share how to make research easier.
SAGE researchmethods Researchers can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. A "methods map" facilitates finding content on methods.

The decision to conduct interviews, and the type of interviewing to use, should flow from, or align with, the methodological paradigm chosen for your study, whether that paradigm is interpretivist, critical, positivist, or participative in nature (or a combination of these).

Structured:

Structured Interview. Entry in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methodsby Floyd J. Fowler Jr., Editors: Michael S. Lewis-Beck; Alan E. Bryman; Tim Futing Liao (Editor) A concise article noting standards, procedures, and recommendations for developing and testing structured interviews. For an example of structured interview questions, you may view the Current Population Survey, May 2008: Public Participation in the Arts Supplement (ICPSR 29641), Apr 15, 2011 at https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR29641.v1 (To see the survey questions, preview the user guide, which can be found under the "Data and Documentation" tab. Then, look for page 177 (attachment 8).

Semi-Structured:

Semi-Structured Interview. Entry in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methodsby Lioness Ayres; Editor: Lisa M. Given The semi-structured interview is a qualitative data collection strategy in which the researcher asks informants a series of predetermined but open-ended questions. The researcher has more control over the topics of the interview than in unstructured interviews, but in contrast to structured interviews or questionnaires that use closed questions, there is no fixed range of responses to each question.

Unstructured:

Unstructured Interview. Entry in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methodsby Michael W. Firmin; Editor: Lisa M. Given Unstructured interviews in qualitative research involve asking relatively open-ended questions of research participants in order to discover their percepts on the topic of interest. Interviews, in general, are a foundational means of collecting data when using qualitative research methods. They are designed to draw from the interviewee constructs embedded in his or her thinking and rationale for decision making. The researcher uses an inductive method in data gathering, regardless of whether the interview method is open, structured, or semi-structured. That is, the researcher does not wish to superimpose his or her own viewpoints onto the person being interviewed. Rather, inductively, the researcher wishes to understand the participant's perceptions, helping him or her to articulate percepts such that they will be understood clearly by the journal reader.

Genres and Uses

Focus groups:.

"Focus Groups." Annual Review of Sociology 22 (1996): 129-1524.by David L. Morgan Discusses the use of focus groups and group interviews as methods for gathering qualitative data used by sociologists and other academic and applied researchers. Focus groups are recommended for giving voice to marginalized groups and revealing the group effect on opinion formation.
Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector's Field Guide (See Module 4: "Focus Groups")by Mack, N., et al. This field guide is based on an approach to doing team-based, collaborative qualitative research that has repeatedly proven successful in research projects sponsored by Family Health International (FHI) throughout the developing world. With its straightforward delivery of information on the main qualitative methods being used in public health research today, the guide speaks to the need for simple yet effective instruction on how to do systematic and ethically sound qualitative research. The aim of the guide is thus practical. In bypassing extensive discussion on the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research, it distinguishes itself as a how-to guide to be used in the field.

In-Depth (typically One-on-One):

A Practical Introduction to in-Depth Interviewingby Alan Morris Are you new to qualitative research or a bit rusty and in need of some inspiration? Are you doing a research project involving in-depth interviews? Are you nervous about carrying out your interviews? This book will help you complete your qualitative research project by providing a nuts and bolts introduction to interviewing. With coverage of ethics, preparation strategies and advice for handling the unexpected in the field, this handy guide will help you get to grips with the basics of interviewing before embarking on your research. While recognising that your research question and the context of your research will drive your approach to interviewing, this book provides practical advice often skipped in traditional methods textbooks.
Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector's Field Guide (See Module 3: "In-Depth Interviews")by Mack, N., et al. This field guide is based on an approach to doing team-based, collaborative qualitative research that has repeatedly proven successful in research projects sponsored by Family Health International (FHI) throughout the developing world. With its straightforward delivery of information on the main qualitative methods being used in public health research today, the guide speaks to the need for simple yet effective instruction on how to do systematic and ethically sound qualitative research. The aim of the guide is thus practical. In bypassing extensive discussion on the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research, it distinguishes itself as a how-to guide to be used in the field.

Folklore Research and Oral Histories:

In addition to the following resource, see the Oral History page of this guide for helpful resources on Oral History interviewing.

American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman’s Introduction to Field Techniques Interviews gathered for purposes of folklore research are similar to standard social science interviews in some ways, but also have a good deal in common with oral history approaches to interviewing. The focus in a folklore research interview is on documenting and trying to understand the interviewee's way of life relative to a culture or subculture you are studying. This guide includes helpful advice and tips for conducting fieldwork in folklore, such as tips for planning, conducting, recording, and archiving interviews.

An interdisciplinary scientific program within the Institute for Quantitative Social Science which encourages and facilitates research and instruction in the theory and practice of survey research. The primary mission of PSR is to provide survey research resources to enhance the quality of teaching and research at Harvard.

Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveysby Don A. Dillman; Jolene D. Smyth; Leah Melani Christian The classic survey design reference, updated for the digital age. The new edition is thoroughly updated and revised, and covers all aspects of survey research. It features expanded coverage of mobile phones, tablets, and the use of do-it-yourself surveys, and Dillman's unique Tailored Design Method is also thoroughly explained. This new edition is complemented by copious examples within the text and accompanying website. It includes: Strategies and tactics for determining the needs of a given survey, how to design it, and how to effectively administer it. How and when to use mail, telephone, and Internet surveys to maximum advantage. Proven techniques to increase response rates. Guidance on how to obtain high-quality feedback from mail, electronic, and other self-administered surveys. Direction on how to construct effective questionnaires, including considerations of layout. The effects of sponsorship on the response rates of surveys. Use of capabilities provided by newly mass-used media: interactivity, presentation of aural and visual stimuli. The Fourth Edition reintroduces the telephone--including coordinating land and mobile.

User Experience (UX) and Marketing:

See the "UX & Market Research Interviews" tab on this guide, above. May include Focus Groups, above.

Screening for Research Site Selection:

Research interviews are used not only to furnish research data for theoretical analysis in the social sciences, but also to plan other kinds of studies. For example, interviews may allow researchers to screen appropriate research sites to conduct empirical studies (such as randomized controlled trials) in a variety of fields, from medicine to law. In contrast to interviews conducted in the course of social research, such interviews do not typically serve as the data for final analysis and publication.

ENGAGING PARTICIPANTS

Research ethics .

Human Subjects (IRB) The Committee on the Use of Human Subjects (CUHS) serves as the Institutional Review Board for the University area which includes the Cambridge and Allston campuses at Harvard. Find your IRB contact person , or learn about required ethics training. You may also find the IRB Lifecycle Guide helpful. This is the preferred IRB portal for Harvard graduate students and other researchers. IRB forms can be downloaded via the ESTR Library (click on the "Templates and Forms" tab, then navigate to pages 2 and 3 to find the documents labelled with “HUA” for the Harvard University Area IRB. Nota bene: You may use these forms only if you submit your study to the Harvard University IRB). The IRB office can be reached through email at [email protected] or by telephone at (617) 496-2847.
Undergraduate Research Training Program (URTP) Portal The URTP at Harvard University is a comprehensive platform to create better prepared undergraduate researchers. The URTP is comprised of research ethics training sessions, a student-focused curriculum, and an online decision form that will assist students in determining whether their project requires IRB review. Students should examine the URTP's guide for student researchers: Introduction to Human Subjects Research Protection.
Ethics reports From the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR)
Respect, Beneficence, and Justice: QDR General Guidance for Human Participants If you are hoping to share your qualitative interview data in a repository after it has been collected, you will need to plan accordingly via informed consent, careful de-identification procedures, and data access controls. Consider consulting with the Qualitative Research Support Group at Harvard Library and consulting with Harvard's Dataverse contacts to help you think through all of the contingencies and processes.
"Conducting a Qualitative Child Interview: Methodological Considerations." Journal of Advanced Nursing 42/5 (2003): 434-441 by Kortesluoma, R., et al. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the theoretical premises of child interviewing, as well as to describe some practical methodological solutions used during interviews. Factors that influence data gathered from children and strategies for taking these factors into consideration during the interview are also described.
"Crossing Cultural Barriers in Research Interviewing." Qualitative Social Work 63/3 (2007): 353-372 by Sands, R., et al. This article critically examines a qualitative research interview in which cultural barriers between a white non-Muslim female interviewer and an African American Muslim interviewee, both from the USA, became evident and were overcome within the same interview.
Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples by Linda Tuhiwai Smith This essential volume explores intersections of imperialism and research - specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as 'regimes of truth.' Concepts such as 'discovery' and 'claiming' are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research methods will help to reclaim control over indigenous ways of knowing and being. The text includes case-studies and examples, and sections on new indigenous literature and the role of research in indigenous struggles for social justice.

This resource, sponsored by University of Oregon Libraries, exemplifies the use of interviewing methodologies in research that foregrounds traditional knowledge. The methodology page summarizes the approach.

Ethics: The Need to Tread Carefully. Chapter in A Practical Introduction to in-Depth Interviewing by Alan Morris Pay special attention to the sections in chapter 2 on "How to prevent and respond to ethical issues arising in the course of the interview," "Ethics in the writing up of your interviews," and "The Ethics of Care."
Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology by Joan Cassell (Editor); Sue-Ellen Jacobs (Editor) This publication of the American Anthropological Association presents and discusses issues and sources on ethics in anthropology, as well as realistic case studies of ethical dilemmas. It is meant to help social science faculty introduce discussions of ethics in their courses. Some of the topics are relevant to interviews, or at least to studies of which interviews are a part. See chapters 3 and 4 for cases, with solutions and commentary, respectively.
Research Ethics from the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies, Trent University (Open Access) An overview of Indigenous research ethics and protocols from the across the globe.
Resources for Equity in Research Consult these resources for guidance on creating and incorporating equitable materials into public health research studies that entail community engagement.

The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Ethics by Ron Iphofen (Editor); Martin Tolich (Editor) This handbook is a much-needed and in-depth review of the distinctive set of ethical considerations which accompanies qualitative research. This is particularly crucial given the emergent, dynamic and interactional nature of most qualitative research, which too often allows little time for reflection on the important ethical responsibilities and obligations. Contributions from leading international researchers have been carefully organized into six key thematic sections: Part One: Thick Descriptions Of Qualitative Research Ethics; Part Two: Qualitative Research Ethics By Technique; Part Three: Ethics As Politics; Part Four: Qualitative Research Ethics With Vulnerable Groups; Part Five: Relational Research Ethics; Part Six: Researching Digitally. This Handbook is a one-stop resource on qualitative research ethics across the social sciences that draws on the lessons learned and the successful methods for surmounting problems - the tried and true, and the new.

RESEARCH COMPLIANCE AND PRIVACY LAWS

Research Compliance Program for FAS/SEAS at Harvard : The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), including the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) have established a shared Research Compliance Program (RCP). An area of common concern for interview studies is international projects and collaboration . RCP is a resource to provide guidance on which international activities may be impacted by US sanctions on countries, individuals, or entities and whether licenses or other disclosure are required to ship or otherwise share items, technology, or data with foreign collaborators.

Harvard Global Support Services (GSS) is for students, faculty, staff, and researchers who are studying, researching, or working abroad. Their services span safety and security, health, culture, outbound immigration, employment, financial and legal matters, and research center operations. These include travel briefings and registration, emergency response, guidance on international projects, and managing in-country operations.

Generative AI: Harvard-affiliated researchers should not enter data classified as confidential ( Level 2 and above ), including non-public research data, into publicly-available generative AI tools, in accordance with the University’s Information Security Policy. Information shared with generative AI tools using default settings is not private and could expose proprietary or sensitive information to unauthorized parties.

Privacy Laws: Be mindful of any potential privacy laws that may apply wherever you conduct your interviews. The General Data Protection Regulation is a high-profile example (see below):

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) This Regulation lays down rules relating to the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and rules relating to the free movement of personal data. It protects fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons and in particular their right to the protection of personal data. The free movement of personal data within the Union shall be neither restricted nor prohibited for reasons connected with the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data. For a nice summary of what the GDPR requires, check out the GDPR "crash course" here .

SEEKING CONSENT

If you would like to see examples of consent forms, ask your local IRB, or take a look at these resources:

Model consent forms for oral history, suggested by the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University
For NIH-funded research, see this resource for developing informed consent language in research studies where data and/or biospecimens will be stored and shared for future use.

POPULATION SAMPLING

If you wish to assemble resources to aid in sampling, such as the USPS Delivery Sequence File, telephone books, or directories of organizations and listservs, please contact our data librarian or write to [email protected] .

Research Randomizer A free web-based service that permits instant random sampling and random assignment. It also contains an interactive tutorial perfect for students taking courses in research methods.
Practical Tools for Designing and Weighting Survey Samples by Richard Valliant; Jill A. Dever; Frauke Kreuter Survey sampling is fundamentally an applied field. The goal in this book is to put an array of tools at the fingertips of practitioners by explaining approaches long used by survey statisticians, illustrating how existing software can be used to solve survey problems, and developing some specialized software where needed. This book serves at least three audiences: (1) Students seeking a more in-depth understanding of applied sampling either through a second semester-long course or by way of a supplementary reference; (2) Survey statisticians searching for practical guidance on how to apply concepts learned in theoretical or applied sampling courses; and (3) Social scientists and other survey practitioners who desire insight into the statistical thinking and steps taken to design, select, and weight random survey samples. Several survey data sets are used to illustrate how to design samples, to make estimates from complex surveys for use in optimizing the sample allocation, and to calculate weights. Realistic survey projects are used to demonstrate the challenges and provide a context for the solutions. The book covers several topics that either are not included or are dealt with in a limited way in other texts. These areas include: sample size computations for multistage designs; power calculations related to surveys; mathematical programming for sample allocation in a multi-criteria optimization setting; nuts and bolts of area probability sampling; multiphase designs; quality control of survey operations; and statistical software for survey sampling and estimation. An associated R package, PracTools, contains a number of specialized functions for sample size and other calculations. The data sets used in the book are also available in PracTools, so that the reader may replicate the examples or perform further analyses.
Sampling: Design and Analysis by Sharon L. Lohr Provides a modern introduction to the field of sampling. With a multitude of applications from a variety of disciplines, the book concentrates on the statistical aspects of taking and analyzing a sample. Overall, the book gives guidance on how to tell when a sample is valid or not, and how to design and analyze many different forms of sample surveys.
Sampling Techniques by William G. Cochran Clearly demonstrates a wide range of sampling methods now in use by governments, in business, market and operations research, social science, medicine, public health, agriculture, and accounting. Gives proofs of all the theoretical results used in modern sampling practice. New topics in this edition include the approximate methods developed for the problem of attaching standard errors or confidence limits to nonlinear estimates made from the results of surveys with complex plans.
"Understanding the Process of Qualitative Data Collection" in Chapter 13 (pp. 103–1162) of 30 Essential Skills for the Qualitative Researcher by John W. Creswell Provides practical "how-to" information for beginning researchers in the social, behavioral, and health sciences with many applied examples from research design, qualitative inquiry, and mixed methods.The skills presented in this book are crucial for a new qualitative researcher starting a qualitative project.
Survey Methodology by Robert M. Groves; Floyd J. Fowler; Mick P. Couper; James M. Lepkowski; Eleanor Singer; Roger Tourangeau; Floyd J. Fowler coverage includes sampling frame evaluation, sample design, development of questionnaires, evaluation of questions, alternative modes of data collection, interviewing, nonresponse, post-collection processing of survey data, and practices for maintaining scientific integrity.

The way a qualitative researcher constructs and approaches interview questions should flow from, or align with, the methodological paradigm chosen for the study, whether that paradigm is interpretivist, critical, positivist, or participative in nature (or a combination of these).

Constructing Your Questions

Helpful texts:.

"Developing Questions" in Chapter 4 (pp. 98–108) of Becoming Qualitative Researchers by Corrine Glesne Ideal for introducing the novice researcher to the theory and practice of qualitative research, this text opens students to the diverse possibilities within this inquiry approach, while helping them understand how to design and implement specific research methods.
"Learning to Interview in the Social Sciences" Qualitative Inquiry, 9(4) 2003, 643–668 by Roulston, K., deMarrais, K., & Lewis, J. B. See especially the section on "Phrasing and Negotiating Questions" on pages 653-655 and common problems with framing questions noted on pages 659 - 660.
Qualitative Research Interviewing: Biographic Narrative and Semi-Structured Methods (See sections on “Lightly and Heavily Structured Depth Interviewing: Theory-Questions and Interviewer-Questions” and “Preparing for any Interviewing Sequence") by Tom Wengraf Unique in its conceptual coherence and the level of practical detail, this book provides a comprehensive resource for those concerned with the practice of semi-structured interviewing, the most commonly used interview approach in social research, and in particular for in-depth, biographic narrative interviewing. It covers the full range of practices from the identification of topics through to strategies for writing up research findings in diverse ways.
"Scripting a Qualitative Purpose Statement and Research Questions" in Chapter 12 (pp. 93–102) of 30 Essential Skills for the Qualitative Researcher by John W. Creswell Provides practical "how-to" information for beginning researchers in the social, behavioral, and health sciences with many applied examples from research design, qualitative inquiry, and mixed methods.The skills presented in this book are crucial for a new qualitative researcher starting a qualitative project.
Some Strategies for Developing Interview Guides for Qualitative Interviews by Sociology Department, Harvard University Includes general advice for conducting qualitative interviews, pros and cons of recording and transcription, guidelines for success, and tips for developing and phrasing effective interview questions.
Tip Sheet on Question Wording by Harvard University Program on Survey Research

Let Theory Guide You:

The quality of your questions depends on how you situate them within a wider body of knowledge. Consider the following advice:

A good literature review has many obvious virtues. It enables the investigator to define problems and assess data. It provides the concepts on which percepts depend. But the literature review has a special importance for the qualitative researcher. This consists of its ability to sharpen his or her capacity for surprise (Lazarsfeld, 1972b). The investigator who is well versed in the literature now has a set of expectations the data can defy. Counterexpectational data are conspicuous, readable, and highly provocative data. They signal the existence of unfulfilled theoretical assumptions, and these are, as Kuhn (1962) has noted, the very origins of intellectual innovation. A thorough review of the literature is, to this extent, a way to manufacture distance. It is a way to let the data of one's research project take issue with the theory of one's field.

McCracken, G. (1988), The Long Interview, Sage: Newbury Park, CA, p. 31

When drafting your interview questions, remember that everything follows from your central research question. Also, on the way to writing your "operationalized" interview questions, it's helpful to draft broader, intermediate questions, couched in theory. Nota bene: While it is important to know the literature well before conducting your interview(s), be careful not to present yourself to your research participant(s) as "the expert," which would be presumptuous and could be intimidating. Rather, the purpose of your knowledge is to make you a better, keener listener.

If you'd like to supplement what you learned about relevant theories through your coursework and literature review, try these sources:

Annual Reviews Review articles sum up the latest research in many fields, including social sciences, biomedicine, life sciences, and physical sciences. These are timely collections of critical reviews written by leading scientists.
HOLLIS - search for resources on theories in your field Modify this example search by entering the name of your field in place of "your discipline," then hit search.
Oxford Bibliographies Written and reviewed by academic experts, every article in this database is an authoritative guide to the current scholarship in a variety of fields, containing original commentary and annotations.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) Indexes dissertations and masters' theses from most North American graduate schools as well as some European universities. Provides full text for most indexed dissertations from 1990-present.
Very Short Introductions Launched by Oxford University Press in 1995, Very Short Introductions offer concise introductions to a diverse range of subjects from Climate to Consciousness, Game Theory to Ancient Warfare, Privacy to Islamic History, Economics to Literary Theory.

CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS

Equipment and software: .

Lamont Library loans microphones and podcast starter kits, which will allow you to capture audio (and you may record with software, such as Garage Band).
Cabot Library loans digital recording devices, as well as USB microphones.

If you prefer to use your own device, you may purchase a small handheld audio recorder, or use your cell phone.

Audio Capture Basics (PDF) - Helpful instructions, courtesy of the Lamont Library Multimedia Lab.
Getting Started with Podcasting/Audio: Guidelines from Harvard Library's Virtual Media Lab for preparing your interviewee for a web-based recording (e.g., podcast, interview)
Camtasia Screen Recorder and Video Editor
Zoom: Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing
Visit the Multimedia Production Resources guide! Consult it to find and learn how to use audiovisual production tools, including: cameras, microphones, studio spaces, and other equipment at Cabot Science Library and Lamont Library.
Try the virtual office hours offered by the Lamont Multimedia Lab!

TIPS FOR CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS

Quick handout: .

Research Interviewing Tips (Courtesy of Dr. Suzanne Spreadbury)

Remote Interviews:

For Online or Distant Interviews, See "Remote Research & Virtual Fieldwork" on this guide .
Deborah Lupton's Bibliography: Doing Fieldwork in a Pandemic

Seeking Consent:

Books and articles: .

"App-Based Textual Interviews: Interacting With Younger Generations in a Digitalized Social Reallity."International Journal of Social Research Methodology (12 June 2022). Discusses the use of texting platforms as a means to reach young people. Recommends useful question formulations for this medium.
"Learning to Interview in the Social Sciences." Qualitative Inquiry, 9(4) 2003, 643–668 by Roulston, K., deMarrais, K., & Lewis, J. B. See especially the section on "Phrasing and Negotiating Questions" on pages 653-655 and common problems with framing questions noted on pages 659-660.
"Slowing Down and Digging Deep: Teaching Students to Examine Interview Interaction in Depth." LEARNing Landscapes, Spring 2021 14(1) 153-169 by Herron, Brigette A. and Kathryn Roulston. Suggests analysis of videorecorded interviews as a precursor to formulating one's own questions. Includes helpful types of probes.
Using Interviews in a Research Project by Nigel Joseph Mathers; Nicholas J Fox; Amanda Hunn; Trent Focus Group. A work pack to guide researchers in developing interviews in the healthcare field. Describes interview structures, compares face-to-face and telephone interviews. Outlines the ways in which different types of interview data can be analysed.
“Working through Challenges in Doing Interview Research.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods, (December 2011), 348–66 by Roulston, Kathryn. The article explores (1) how problematic interactions identified in the analysis of focus group data can lead to modifications in research design, (2) an approach to dealing with reported data in representations of findings, and (3) how data analysis can inform question formulation in successive rounds of data generation. Findings from these types of examinations of interview data generation and analysis are valuable for informing both interview practice as well as research design.

Videos:

The way a qualitative researcher transcribes interviews should flow from, or align with, the methodological paradigm chosen for the study, whether that paradigm is interpretivist, critical, positivist, or participative in nature (or a combination of these).

TRANSCRIPTION

Before embarking on a transcription project, it's worthwhile to invest in the time and effort necessary to capture good audio, which will make the transcription process much easier. If you haven't already done so, check out the audio capture guidelines from Harvard Library's Virtual Media Lab , or contact a media staff member for customized recommendations. First and foremost, be mindful of common pitfalls by watching this short video that identifies the most common errors to avoid!

SOFTWARE:

Adobe Premiere Pro Speech-To-Text automatically generates transcripts and adds captions to your videos. Harvard affiliates can download Adobe Premiere in the Creative Cloud Suite.
GoTranscript provides cost-effective human-generated transcriptions.
pyTranscriber is an app for generating automatic transcription and/or subtitles for audio and video files. It uses the Google Cloud Speech-to-Text service, has a friendly graphical user interface, and is purported to work nicely with Chinese.
Otter provides a new way to capture, store, search and share voice conversations, lectures, presentations, meetings, and interviews. The startup is based in Silicon Valley with a team of experienced Ph.Ds and engineers from Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Nuance (à la Dragon). Free accounts available. This is the software that Zoom uses to generate automated transcripts, so if you have access to a Zoom subscription, you have access to Otter transcriptions with it (applicable in several languages ). As with any automated approach, be prepared to correct any errors after the fact, by hand.
Panopto is available to Harvard affiliates and generates ASR (automated speech recognition) captions . You may upload compatible audio files into it. As with any automatically generated transcription, you will need to make manual revisions. ASR captioning is available in several languages . Panopto maintains robust security practices, including strong authentication measures and end-to-end encryption, ensuring your content remains private and protected.
REV.Com allows you to record and transcribe any calls on the iPhone, both outgoing and incoming. It may be useful for recording phone interviews. Rev lets you choose whether you want an AI- or human-generated transcription, with a fast turnaround. Rev has Service Organization Controls Type II (SOC2) certification (a SOC2 cert looks at and verifies an organization’s processing integrity, privacy practices, and security safeguards).
Scribie Audio/Video Transcription provides automated or manual transcriptions for a small fee. As with any transcription service, some revisions will be necessary after the fact, particularly for its automated transcripts.
Sonix automatically transcribes, translates, and helps to organize audio and video files in over 40 languages. It's fast and affordable, with good accuracy. The free trial includes 30 minutes of free transcription.
TranscriptionWing uses a human touch process to clean up machine-generated transcripts so that the content will far more accurately reflect your audio recording.
Whisper is a tool from OpenAI that facilitates transcription of sensitive audiovisual recordings (e.g., of research interviews) on your own device. Installation and use depends on your operating system and which version you install. Important Note: The Whisper API, where audio is sent to OpenAI to be processed by them and then sent back (usually through a programming language like Python) is NOT appropriate for sensitive data. The model should be downloaded with tools such as those described in this FAQ , so that audio is kept to your local machine. For assistance, contact James Capobianco .

EQUIPMENT:

Transcription pedals are in circulation and available to borrow from the Circulation desk at Lamont, or use at Lamont Library's Media Lab on level B. For hand-transcribing your interviews, they work in conjunction with software such as Express Scribe , which is loaded on Media Lab computers, or you may download for free on your own machine (Mac or PC versions; scroll down the downloads page for the latter). The pedals are plug-and-play USB, allow a wide range of playback speeds, and have 3 programmable buttons, which are typically set to rewind/play/fast-forward. Instructions are included in the bag that covers installation and set-up of the software, and basic use of the pedals.

NEED HELP?

Try the virtual office hours offered by the Lamont Multimedia Lab!
If you're creating podcasts, login to Canvas and check out the Podcasting/Audio guide .

Helpful Texts:

"Transcription as a Crucial Step of Data Analysis" in Chapter 5 of The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysisby Uwe Flick (Editor) Covers basic terminology for transcription, shares caveats for transcribers, and identifies components of vocal behavior. Provides notation systems for transcription, suggestions for transcribing turn-taking, and discusses new technologies and perspectives. Includes a bibliography for further reading.
"Transcribing the Oral Interview: Part Art, Part Science " on p. 10 of the Centre for Community Knowledge (CCK) newsletter: TIMESTAMPby Mishika Chauhan and Saransh Srivastav

QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Software .

Free download available for Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) affiliates
Desktop access at Lamont Library Media Lab, 3rd floor
Desktop access at Harvard Kennedy School Library (with HKS ID)
Remote desktop access for Harvard affiliates from IQSS Computer Labs . Email them at [email protected] and ask for a new lab account and remote desktop access to NVivo.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) access available to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health affiliates

CODING AND THEMEING YOUR DATA

Data analysis methods should flow from, or align with, the methodological paradigm chosen for your study, whether that paradigm is interpretivist, critical, positivist, or participative in nature (or a combination of these). Some established methods include Content Analysis, Critical Analysis, Discourse Analysis, Gestalt Analysis, Grounded Theory Analysis, Interpretive Analysis, Narrative Analysis, Normative Analysis, Phenomenological Analysis, Rhetorical Analysis, and Semiotic Analysis, among others. The following resources should help you navigate your methodological options and put into practice methods for coding, themeing, interpreting, and presenting your data.

Users can browse content by topic, discipline, or format type (reference works, book chapters, definitions, etc.). SRM offers several research tools as well: a methods map, user-created reading lists, a project planner, and advice on choosing statistical tests.
Abductive Coding: Theory Building and Qualitative (Re)Analysis by Vila-Henninger, et al. The authors recommend an abductive approach to guide qualitative researchers who are oriented towards theory-building. They outline a set of tactics for abductive analysis, including the generation of an abductive codebook, abductive data reduction through code equations, and in-depth abductive qualitative analysis.
Analyzing and Interpreting Qualitative Research: After the Interview by Charles F. Vanover, Paul A. Mihas, and Johnny Saldana (Editors) Providing insight into the wide range of approaches available to the qualitative researcher and covering all steps in the research process, the authors utilize a consistent chapter structure that provides novice and seasoned researchers with pragmatic, "how-to" strategies. Each chapter author introduces the method, uses one of their own research projects as a case study of the method described, shows how the specific analytic method can be used in other types of studies, and concludes with three questions/activities to prompt class discussion or personal study.
"Analyzing Qualitative Data." Theory Into Practice 39, no. 3 (2000): 146-54 by Margaret D. LeCompte This article walks readers though rules for unbiased data analysis and provides guidance for getting organized, finding items, creating stable sets of items, creating patterns, assembling structures, and conducting data validity checks.
"Coding is Not a Dirty Word" in Chapter 1 (pp. 1–30) of Enhancing Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research with Technology by Shalin Hai-Jew (Editor) Current discourses in qualitative research, especially those situated in postmodernism, represent coding and the technology that assists with coding as reductive, lacking complexity, and detached from theory. In this chapter, the author presents a counter-narrative to this dominant discourse in qualitative research. The author argues that coding is not necessarily devoid of theory, nor does the use of software for data management and analysis automatically render scholarship theoretically lightweight or barren. A lack of deep analytical insight is a consequence not of software but of epistemology. Using examples informed by interpretive and critical approaches, the author demonstrates how NVivo can provide an effective tool for data management and analysis. The author also highlights ideas for critical and deconstructive approaches in qualitative inquiry while using NVivo. By troubling the positivist discourse of coding, the author seeks to create dialogic spaces that integrate theory with technology-driven data management and analysis, while maintaining the depth and rigor of qualitative research.
The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers by Johnny Saldana An in-depth guide to the multiple approaches available for coding qualitative data. Clear, practical and authoritative, the book profiles 32 coding methods that can be applied to a range of research genres from grounded theory to phenomenology to narrative inquiry. For each approach, Saldaña discusses the methods, origins, a description of the method, practical applications, and a clearly illustrated example with analytic follow-up. Essential reading across the social sciences.
Flexible Coding of In-depth Interviews: A Twenty-first-century Approach by Nicole M. Deterding and Mary C. Waters The authors suggest steps in data organization and analysis to better utilize qualitative data analysis technologies and support rigorous, transparent, and flexible analysis of in-depth interview data.
From the Editors: What Grounded Theory is Not by Roy Suddaby Walks readers through common misconceptions that hinder grounded theory studies, reinforcing the two key concepts of the grounded theory approach: (1) constant comparison of data gathered throughout the data collection process and (2) the determination of which kinds of data to sample in succession based on emergent themes (i.e., "theoretical sampling").
“Good enough” methods for life-story analysis, by Wendy Luttrell. In Quinn N. (Ed.), Finding culture in talk (pp. 243–268). Demonstrates for researchers of culture and consciousness who use narrative how to concretely document reflexive processes in terms of where, how and why particular decisions are made at particular stages of the research process.
The Ethnographic Interview by James P. Spradley “Spradley wrote this book for the professional and student who have never done ethnographic fieldwork (p. 231) and for the professional ethnographer who is interested in adapting the author’s procedures (p. iv) ... Steps 6 and 8 explain lucidly how to construct a domain and a taxonomic analysis” (excerpted from book review by James D. Sexton, 1980). See also: Presentation slides on coding and themeing your data, derived from Saldana, Spradley, and LeCompte Click to request access.
Qualitative Data Analysis by Matthew B. Miles; A. Michael Huberman A practical sourcebook for researchers who make use of qualitative data, presenting the current state of the craft in the design, testing, and use of qualitative analysis methods. Strong emphasis is placed on data displays matrices and networks that go beyond ordinary narrative text. Each method of data display and analysis is described and illustrated.
"A Survey of Qualitative Data Analytic Methods" in Chapter 4 (pp. 89–138) of Fundamentals of Qualitative Research by Johnny Saldana Provides an in-depth introduction to coding as a heuristic, particularly focusing on process coding, in vivo coding, descriptive coding, values coding, dramaturgical coding, and versus coding. Includes advice on writing analytic memos, developing categories, and themeing data.
"Thematic Networks: An Analytic Tool for Qualitative Research." Qualitative Research : QR, 1(3), 385–405 by Jennifer Attride-Stirling Details a technique for conducting thematic analysis of qualitative material, presenting a step-by-step guide of the analytic process, with the aid of an empirical example. The analytic method presented employs established, well-known techniques; the article proposes that thematic analyses can be usefully aided by and presented as thematic networks.
Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology by Virginia Braun and Victoria Clark Walks readers through the process of reflexive thematic analysis, step by step. The method may be adapted in fields outside of psychology as relevant. Pair this with One Size Fits All? What Counts as Quality Practice in Reflexive Thematic Analysis? by Virginia Braun and Victoria Clark

TESTING OR GENERATING THEORIES

The quality of your data analysis depends on how you situate what you learn within a wider body of knowledge. Consider the following advice:

Once you have coalesced around a theory, realize that a theory should reveal rather than color your discoveries. Allow your data to guide you to what's most suitable. Grounded theory researchers may develop their own theory where current theories fail to provide insight. This guide on Theoretical Models from Alfaisal University Library provides a helpful overview on using theory.

MANAGING & FINDING INTERVIEW DATA

Managing your elicited interview data, general guidance: .

Research Data Management @ Harvard A reference guide with information and resources to help you manage your research data. See also: Harvard Research Data Security Policy , on the Harvard University Research Data Management website.
Data Management For Researchers: Organize, Maintain and Share Your Data for Research Success by Kristin Briney. A comprehensive guide for scientific researchers providing everything they need to know about data management and how to organize, document, use and reuse their data.
Open Science Framework (OSF) An open-source project management tool that makes it easy to collaborate within and beyond Harvard throughout a project's lifecycle. With OSF you can manage, store, and share documents, datasets, and other information with your research team. You can also publish your work to share it with a wider audience. Although data can be stored privately, because this platform is hosted on the Internet and designed with open access in mind, it is not a good choice for highly sensitive data.
Free cloud storage solutions for Harvard affiliates to consider include: Google Drive , DropBox , or OneDrive ( up to DSL3 )

Data Confidentiality and Secure Handling:

Data Security Levels at Harvard - Research Data Examples This resource provided by Harvard Data Security helps you determine what level of access is appropriate for your data. Determine whether it should be made available for public use, limited to the Harvard community, or be protected as either "confidential and sensitive," "high risk," or "extremely sensitive." See also: Harvard Data Classification Table
Harvard's Best Practices for Protecting Privacy and Harvard Information Security Collaboration Tools Matrix Follow the nuts-and-bolts advice for privacy best practices at Harvard. The latter resource reveals the level of security that can be relied upon for a large number of technological tools and platforms used at Harvard to conduct business, such as email, Slack, Accellion Kiteworks, OneDrive/SharePoint, etc.
“Protecting Participant Privacy While Maintaining Content and Context: Challenges in Qualitative Data De‐identification and Sharing.” Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting 57 (1) (2020): e415-420 by Myers, Long, and Polasek Presents an informed and tested protocol, based on the De-Identification guidelines published by the Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) at Syracuse University. Qualitative researchers may consult it to guide their data de-identification efforts.
QDS Qualitative Data Sharing Toolkit The Qualitative Data Sharing (QDS) project and its toolkit was funded by the NIH National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG009351). It provides tools and resources to help researchers, especially those in the health sciences, share qualitative research data while protecting privacy and confidentiality. It offers guidance on preparing data for sharing through de-identification and access control. These health sciences research datasets in ICPSR's Qualitative Data Sharing (QDS) Project Series were de-identified using the QuaDS Software and the project’s QDS guidelines.
Table of De-Identification Techniques
Generative AI Harvard-affiliated researchers should not enter data classified as confidential ( Level 2 and above ), including non-public research data, into publicly-available generative AI tools, in accordance with the University’s Information Security Policy. Information shared with generative AI tools using default settings is not private and could expose proprietary or sensitive information to unauthorized parties.
Harvard Information Security Quick Reference Guide Storage guidelines, based on the data's security classification level (according to its IRB classification) is displayed on page 2, under "handling."
Email Encryption Harvard Microsoft 365 users can now send encrypted messages and files directly from the Outlook web or desktop apps. Encrypting an email adds an extra layer of security to the message and its attachments (up to 150MB), and means only the intended recipient (and their inbox delegates with full access) can view it. Message encryption in Outlook is approved for sending high risk ( level 4 ) data and below.

Sharing Qualitative Data:

Repositories for Qualitative Data If you have cleared this intention with your IRB, secured consent from participants, and properly de-identified your data, consider sharing your interviews in one of the data repositories included in the link above. Depending on the nature of your research and the level of risk it may present to participants, sharing your interview data may not be appropriate. If there is any chance that sharing such data will be desirable, you will be much better off if you build this expectation into your plans from the beginning.
Guide for Sharing Qualitative Data at ICPSR The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) has created this resource for investigators planning to share qualitative data at ICPSR. This guide provides an overview of elements and considerations for archiving qualitative data, identifies steps for investigators to follow during the research life cycle to ensure that others can share and reuse qualitative data, and provides information about exemplars of qualitative data

International Projects:

Research Compliance Program for FAS/SEAS at Harvard The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), including the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) have established a shared Research Compliance Program (RCP). An area of common concern for interview studies is international projects and collaboration . RCP is a resource to provide guidance on which international activities may be impacted by US sanctions on countries, individuals, or entities and whether licenses or other disclosure are required to ship or otherwise share items, technology, or data with foreign collaborators.

Finding Extant Interview Data

Finding journalistic interviews: .

Academic Search Premier This all-purpose database is great for finding articles from magazines and newspapers. In the Advanced Search, it allows you to specify "Document Type": Interview.
Guide to Newspapers and Newspaper Indexes Use this guide created to Harvard Librarians to identify newspapers collections you'd like to search. To locate interviews, try adding the term "interview" to your search, or explore a database's search interface for options to limit your search to interviews. Nexis Uni and Factiva are the two main databases for current news.
Listen Notes Search for podcast episodes at this podcast aggregator, and look for podcasts that include interviews. Make sure to vet the podcaster for accuracy and quality! (Listen Notes does not do much vetting.)
NPR and ProPublica are two sites that offer high-quality long-form reporting, including journalistic interviews, for free.

Finding Oral History and Social Research Interviews:

To find oral histories, see the Oral History page of this guide for helpful resources on Oral History interviewing.
Repositories for Qualitative Data It has not been a customary practice among qualitative researchers in the social sciences to share raw interview data, but some have made this data available in repositories, such as the ones listed on the page linked above. You may find published data from structured interview surveys (e.g., questionnaire-based computer-assisted telephone interview data), as well as some semi-structured and unstructured interviews.
If you are merely interested in studies interpreting data collected using interviews, rather than finding raw interview data, try databases like PsycInfo , Sociological Abstracts , or Anthropology Plus , among others.

Finding Interviews in Archival Collections at Harvard Library:

In addition to the databases and search strategies mentioned under the "Finding Oral History and Social Research Interviews" category above, you may search for interviews and oral histories (whether in textual or audiovisual formats) held in archival collections at Harvard Library.

HOLLIS searches all documented collections at Harvard, whereas HOLLIS for Archival Discovery searches only those with finding aids. Although HOLLIS for Archival Discovery covers less material, you may find it easier to parse your search results, especially when you wish to view results at the item level (within collections). Try these approaches:

Search in HOLLIS :

To retrieve items available online, do an Advanced Search for interview* OR "oral histor*" (in Subject), with Resource Type "Archives/Manuscripts," then refine your search by selecting "Online" under "Show Only" on the right of your initial result list. Revise the search above by adding your topic in the Keywords or Subject field (for example: African Americans ) and resubmitting the search.
To enlarge your results set, you may also leave out the "Online" refinement; if you'd like to limit your search to a specific repository, try the technique of searching for Code: Library + Collection on the "Advanced Search" page .

Search in HOLLIS for Archival Discovery :

To retrieve items available online, search for interview* OR "oral histor*" limited to digital materials . Revise the search above by adding your topic (for example: artist* ) in the second search box (if you don't see the box, click +).
To preview results by collection, search for interview* OR "oral histor*" limited to collections . Revise the search above by adding your topic (for example: artist* ) in the second search box (if you don't see the box, click +). Although this method does not allow you to isolate digitized content, you may find the refinement options on the right side of the screen (refine by repository, subject or names) helpful. Once your select a given collection, you may search within it (e.g., for your topic or the term interview).

UX & MARKET RESEARCH INTERVIEWS

Ux at harvard library .

User Experience and Market Research interviews can inform the design of tangible products and services through responsive, outcome-driven insights. The User Research Center at Harvard Library specializes in this kind of user-centered design, digital accessibility, and testing. They also offer guidance and resources to members of the Harvard Community who are interested in learning more about UX methods. Contact [email protected] or consult the URC website for more information.

Websites

User Interviews: The Beginner’s Guide (Chris Mears)
Interviewing Users (Jakob Nielsen)

Books

Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights by Steve Portigal; Grant McCracken (Foreword by) Interviewing is a foundational user research tool that people assume they already possess. Everyone can ask questions, right? Unfortunately, that's not the case. Interviewing Users provides invaluable interviewing techniques and tools that enable you to conduct informative interviews with anyone. You'll move from simply gathering data to uncovering powerful insights about people.
Rapid Contextual Design by Jessamyn Wendell; Karen Holtzblatt; Shelley Wood This handbook introduces Rapid CD, a fast-paced, adaptive form of Contextual Design. Rapid CD is a hands-on guide for anyone who needs practical guidance on how to use the Contextual Design process and adapt it to tactical projects with tight timelines and resources. Rapid Contextual Design provides detailed suggestions on structuring the project and customer interviews, conducting interviews, and running interpretation sessions. The handbook walks you step-by-step through organizing the data so you can see your key issues, along with visioning new solutions, storyboarding to work out the details, and paper prototype interviewing to iterate the design all with as little as a two-person team with only a few weeks to spare *Includes real project examples with actual customer data that illustrate how a CD project actually works.

Videos

Instructional Presentations on Interview Skills

Interview/Oral History Research for RSRA 298B: Master's Thesis Reading and Research (Spring 2023) Slideshow covers: Why Interviews?, Getting Context, Engaging Participants, Conducting the Interview, The Interview Guide, Note Taking, Transcription, File management, and Data Analysis.
Interview Skills From an online class on February 13, 2023: Get set up for interview research. You will leave prepared to choose among the three types of interviewing methods, equipped to develop an interview schedule, aware of data management options and their ethical implications, and knowledgeable of technologies you can use to record and transcribe your interviews. This workshop complements Intro to NVivo, a qualitative data analysis tool useful for coding interview data.

NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy (DMSP) This policy, effective January 25, 2023, applies to all research, funded or conducted in whole or in part by NIH, that results in the generation of scientific data , including NIH-funded qualitative research. Click here to see some examples of how the DMSP policy has been applied in qualitative research studies featured in the 2021 Qualitative Data Management Plan (DMP) Competition . As a resource for the community, NIH has developed a resource for developing informed consent language in research studies where data and/or biospecimens will be stored and shared for future use. It is important to note that the DMS Policy does NOT require that informed consent obtained from research participants must allow for broad sharing and the future use of data (either with or without identifiable private information). See the FAQ for more information.

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Research Design Review

A discussion of qualitative & quantitative research design, rapport & reflection: the pivotal role of note taking in in-depth interview research.

In fact, an effective note taker is a more effective interviewer. This is because

Taking notes during an interview helps to focus the interviewer’s attention on the participant’s point of view and lived experience relevant to the research question.
Taking notes helps the interviewer internalize what is being said by the participant which in turn helps the interviewer identify seemingly contradictory statements and follow up on new, insightful topic areas that may not appear on the interview guide.
The interviewer’s heightened focused attention and internalization helps to build rapport and enhances the participant-researcher relationship .
The interviewer can add sidebar notations while taking notes that add context to what is being discussed or remind the interviewer to follow up on a particular comment.
Taking notes allows the interviewer to identify and flag important quotes made by the participant in the moment when the contextual import of participant’s statements can be fully appreciated and noted.

An effective note taker is also better equipped to conduct meaningful analyses of the data, leading to useful outcomes. This is because

The notes serve as an immediate resource for reflection : 1) during the interview – when the interviewer can flip back and forth to consider the participant’s earlier comments and ask for clarification as the need arises to fully comprehend and better analyze the participant’s point of view – and 2) at the completion of the interview – when the interviewer can quietly review the interview notes and add any informative annotations that will aid analysis.
The interviewer can use the notes from each interview to record the participant’s attitudes and behavior related to each primary and secondary research question . Ideally, this should be done within an hour of the interview completion and by way of a spreadsheet of some kind, where the columns consist of key research questions and the rows contain input from each participant. This format allows the researcher to quickly capture interview data when it is fresh on the mind as well as easily review and analyze the data within and across participants.

Importantly, the note taking discussed here pertains to notes written by hand (pen [or smartpen ] on paper) in contrast to tapping notes directly into an electronic device. Research has shown that the use of laptops (for example) is great at creating large volumes of notes (with lots of verbatims) but it also encourages a “mindless” transcription rather than a meaningful engagement with the material. Indeed, as reported in this research , individuals who wrote their notes by hand demonstrated “a stronger conceptual understanding and were more successful in applying and integrating the material” compared to those who took notes with their laptops.

Handwritten note taking compels the interviewer to fully engage with the participant and fosters highly reflective behavior in the researcher. You might say that, in this way, note taking helps to maintain the all-important participant-researcher relationship throughout data collection and analysis; a relationship that can be too easily lost when utilizing more mechanical processes such as the reliance on audio recordings and data transcripts.

Image captured from: https://www.skipprichard.com/power-handwritten-note/

How to Write an Interview Summary (Full Guide + with Templates)

What is an Interview Summary?

An interview summary is a brief recap of the key points from an interview. It highlights the main takeaways and key information obtained during the interview.

The purpose of an interview summary is to provide a condensed overview of what was discussed. It allows the interviewer to easily reference back to the main points that were covered, without having to re-listen to an entire interview recording or re-read pages of notes.

An effective interview summary should:

Concisely summarize the key discussion points
Highlight the main takeaways and pieces of information learned
Include brief context around why the interview occurred
Identify next steps or follow-ups needed post-interview
Be written clearly and coherently for the intended audience
Omit unnecessary details and tangents
Be 1-2 pages in length or less

The summary aims to capture the essence of the conversation in a short synopsis. It extracts the vital nuggets of information so readers understand what transpired without needing the full transcript.

Before the Interview

Before conducting an interview, it's important to thoroughly research the interviewee and their company. This will help you craft thoughtful questions and have insightful discussions during the interview.

Some tips for preparing before an interview:

Research the interviewee's background, career history, accomplishments, etc. Review their LinkedIn profile or bio to get a sense of their expertise.
Research the company they work for, including the products/services offered, company culture, recent news, etc. Understand the company's goals and challenges.
Prepare a list of interview questions that are specific and relevant. Avoid generic questions that could apply to anyone. Tailor questions based on your research.
Organize your questions so they flow well during the conversation. Start with an icebreaker, then move to career history and accomplishments, then discuss current role and goals, and wrap up with vision for the industry.
Bring a notepad and pen to take thorough notes. Consider bringing a recorder as backup, if allowed.
Bring copies of the interviewee's bio/resume, your questions, and any other relevant documents.
Arrive early to set up any equipment and settle in. Test your recorder.

Thorough preparation and research sets the stage for an engaging, focused interview that provides unique insights. The interview will be more productive if you've done your homework beforehand.

During the Interview

Taking detailed notes during the interview is crucial for writing an accurate and comprehensive summary later. Come prepared with a notebook, laptop, or recording device to capture important points.

Take detailed notes on the key points the interviewee makes, including facts, figures, examples, and direct quotes. Focus on writing down the substantive information rather than trying to transcribe everything verbatim.
Ask follow-up questions to get clarification or probe for more details when needed. Taking notes isn't very useful if you don't understand something the interviewee said. Follow up right then to ensure you fully grasp their points.
Record the interview if possible. An audio or video recording allows you to revisit the interview later and fill in any gaps in your notes. Be sure to get permission from the interviewee first. Let them know it's only for your own reference when writing the summary.

The interview itself is the most important part of the process for gathering the details needed to write a strong summary. Take thorough notes, ask good questions, and record the discussion if able. Having comprehensive documentation of what was said will make summarizing the key points much easier.

After the Interview

Review your notes soon after the interview while it's still fresh in your mind. Highlight the key points made and topics discussed. If you recorded the interview, transcribe the audio recording or take additional notes.

Focus on summarizing the main themes and takeaways rather than trying to capture everything verbatim. Look for insights about the interviewee's background, personality, skills, experience, goals, and fit for the role.

Identify any follow-up items you need to research or verify. Review any questions that need clarification. Make note of any red flags or concerns.

Ensure you understand the key points the interviewee communicated and that you can support them with your notes. Organize your notes into a logical structure in preparation for writing the summary.

Writing the Summary

When writing the interview summary, it's important to follow a logical structure to convey the key takeaways in a clear and concise way. Here are some tips:

Organize the summary chronologically, following the flow of the interview. Start by briefly recapping when and where the interview took place, who was present, and the purpose of the interview.
Focus on highlighting the key points and main themes that emerged from the interview. Don't try to include every single detail discussed. Instead, synthesize the most important insights, opinions, and pieces of information.
Use subheadings to organize the summary by topic or theme. This helps cluster related information together for easy digestion.
Use concise language and tight writing. Avoid verbosity. Summarize points succinctly instead of using long blocks of text.
However, do ensure you include sufficient detail and context so the summary makes sense to someone who wasn't present at the interview. The right balance of brevity and detail is key.
Only include relevant details. Don't pad the summary with tangential points or fluff. Every sentence should serve the purpose of conveying a key takeaway.
Close the summary by briefly recapping the main conclusions from the interview and any planned next steps, if applicable.
Keep the summary 1-2 pages maximum. Anything longer than that is too detailed for an interview recap.

Summary Structure

The summary should be structured with an introductory paragraph, a main body, and a conclusion.

Intro Paragraph

The introductory paragraph should provide some background information to set the context. This includes details like:

Who conducted the interview
Who was interviewed
The date and location of the interview
The purpose of the interview

Keep this section brief, as the focus should be on the key points covered in the interview.

The main body covers the key points and highlights from the interview. Organize this section thematically rather than chronologically. Group related topics and points together under headings to make it easy to follow.

Be concise and only include the most essential information - not every single thing discussed. Use paraphrasing rather than direct quotes to summarize the key points concisely.

The conclusion should summarize the main takeaways and highlights from the interview. Briefly recap the key points covered in the main body to reinforce the core information.

Keep this section short and avoid introducing any new information here. The conclusion should leave the reader with a clear understanding of the interview's purpose and the topics covered.

When writing an interview summary, focus on using clear, concise language to convey the key points. Avoid flowery or overly complex wording. The goal is to summarize the interview clearly and efficiently.

Relevant quotes from the interviewee can help bring their perspectives to life. Choose impactful quotes that get to the essence of what was said. But don't rely too heavily on quotes; paraphrase the key points in your own words as well.

Stick to the facts and objectives from the interview. Do not insert your own opinions or commentary. Report objectively on what was said, focusing on the most relevant and noteworthy information. Avoid speculation or subjective assessments.

By honing a clear, concise writing style that spotlights the interview details, you'll create a focused summary readers can quickly grasp. Remove any extraneous details that don't directly support the purpose of the summary. Every word should move the summary forward.

Things to Avoid

When writing an interview summary, it's important to avoid including your own personal opinions or bias. The goal is to objectively summarize the interview, not insert commentary. Stick to just the facts.

Additionally, be cautious with using jargon or technical terms, especially if they were used by the interviewee. Not all readers will be familiar with insider language, so it's best to rephrase responses in a way that's broadly understandable.

Finally, avoid including long blocks of transcribed text from the interview. The purpose of a summary is to distill and condense the key points into a readable format. Quote sparingly, if at all. Instead, paraphrase responses in your own words.

The summary should flow as a piece of writing unto itself, not simply a collection of verbatim quotes. Maintain objectivity, use accessible language, and condense effectively.

Editing Your Summary

After you've written your initial draft, it's important to take the time to edit your interview summary. This will help ensure it is clear, concise, and accurate.

When editing, focus on the following:

Check for clarity - Make sure your summary flows logically and is easy for the reader to follow. Break up any lengthy paragraphs into shorter ones. Read it aloud to check for clarity.
Check for brevity - Summaries should be concise, so look for any repetitive or unnecessary information that can be removed or condensed.
Check for accuracy - Double check any key points, facts, or figures mentioned to ensure they are correct. Verify spelling of names.
Have someone else review it - Get a second pair of eyes on your summary to provide feedback. They may catch things you missed.
Format document consistently - Use consistent formatting like bolding interviewee names, indenting quotes, line spacing, etc. Format any lists or headers uniformly.
Check for typos/grammar errors - Do a final sweep for any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors. Reading backwards can help spot typos.

Putting in the time to properly edit your interview summary will help make it polished and professional. The editing process helps refine your work into a clear, accurate recounting of the key discussion points.

Sample Interview Summaries (Format #1)

Here are two example interview summaries, one shorter and one longer, to illustrate what effective summaries might look like:

Shorter Example

I interviewed Jane Doe, a product manager at Acme Software Company, to learn about her career path and experiences. Jane has worked in product management for 7 years. She started as an associate product manager after completing her MBA, and worked her way up to senior product manager. Jane finds product management rewarding because she enjoys collaborating cross-functionally, gathering customer insights, and shaping product strategy. One challenge she faces is prioritizing features with limited development resources. Jane's advice for aspiring product managers is to seek opportunities to demonstrate analytical skills and leadership potential.

Longer Example

On March 15, I interviewed Alex Johnson, a 10-year veteran at Smith & Jones Consulting Firm. Alex started as a business analyst before being promoted to senior consultant 2 years ago. He specializes in digital transformation projects across industries.

Alex enjoys consulting because he can work on diverse projects and help clients solve complex problems. He says every project brings new learning opportunities. However, traveling 4 days per week can be tiring. The most rewarding project Alex worked on was a 2-year digital transformation engagement for a large retailer. The project had a rocky start as the client team was initially resistant to change. However, Alex was able to build strong relationships and credibility over time. He helped craft a vision and roadmap focused on using technology to improve the customer experience. This project taught Alex the importance of empathy, strategic thinking and influencing skills in consulting.

Alex's advice for new consultants is to proactively seek feedback and self-reflect. He wishes he had focused more on developing soft skills earlier in his career. For aspiring consultants from non-traditional backgrounds, Alex suggests looking for entry-level roles and being patient. He believes the field is becoming more diverse. Alex's future goals are to become a partner and give back by mentoring up-and-coming consultants.

Interview Summary Examples (Format #2)

When creating an interview summary, you'll need to do legwork and gather information. If you want to get started in no time, here are a few interview summary examples and templates.

Here is a sample of the interview summary.

[Name of the candidate]

[Candidate's contact information]

[Date and location of the interview]

[Your name and position]

[Introduce the candidate, their education, and the role for which they've applied]

[Summarize the responses of the candidate]

[If necessary, include any relevant information or expand on the candidate's previous experience]

[Your recommendations or comments on the candidate]

[Your name, date, and signature]

Job Interview Summary Example

A job interview should include the purpose and necessary information in a few sentences.

Here's a sample of a job interview summary.

[Candidate Name]

[Purpose of the interview]

[Introduce the candidate and how their skillset matches the job description]

[Write about the candidate's skills, abilities, and knowledge]
[Who they are]
[Why they should/should not be hired]

[Goal of the interview]

[End the summary with key takeaways of the interview]

[Write your recommendations]

Best Regards,

[Your Name]

Interview Summary Report Example

Here is an interview summary report example and template you can use to create the content.

Company Name: Interviewing the Candidate

[Summarize who you interviewed and why.]

[Use bullet points to write the remaining information.]

[Candidate background]

[Skills, abilities, and competencies]

[Relevant examples]

[Future prospects of the interviewee]

[Next, you need to focus on the main points in the right format.]

[If you want to write any point in detail, add the section here.]

[Conclude the summary and add the major takeaway from the interview.]

[Here you can write any recommendation.]

XY Company: Interviewing the John Cross

John Cross's education includes a bachelor's degree in writing, which is a requirement for the position of Content Manager. His experience includes working as a senior writer for over seven years.

Before applying at XY, the candidate worked with YZ company for over three years as a senior writer.
His role and responsibilities at the previous company included creating authentic content and managing the publishing process.
He had worked closely with the designer and other team to ensure smooth operation.
John has demonstrated excellent interpersonal skills and good judgment, with a keen interest in the position.

I'd recommend we conduct the next interview round with John to see if he aligns with the company's requirements.

Paul Wilson

Generating Your Interview Summaries With Glyph AI

To transcribe and summarize meetings or interviews quickly and accurately, consider using an AI tool like Glyph. Glyph saves time by automating these tasks for you.

Here’s how to use it for transcribing and creating summaries of interviews:

Navigate to your Glyph AI dashboard and choose "Upload a file" to begin uploading your interviews or conversations.

Then click the "Transcribe" button.

After the transcription is done, you can save the project and start generating summaries or analyze the interview using ready-made templates.

Whether it's to analyze a customer interview or a recruitment interview, you can select them. Wait for a few seconds, and voilà, you'll have the full summary of your interview with important key points and highlights.

To learn more about use case, check this https://www.joinglyph.com/use-cases/hr

To watch full demo in action, check this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pulrC2ykz0

How to Write a Good Interview Report? An interview report is a detailed document capturing the essence of the conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee. To craft an effective interview report, consider these tips:

Focus on collecting relevant information about the interviewee. Prepare by researching and organizing your materials in advance.
Adjust the writing style based on the audience. For example, a report for a magazine will differ in tone from one intended for a recruitment team.
Use summary examples and templates as guides to create clear, concise reports tailored to your readers' needs.
Fill in the template with essential details right after the interview. Doing so while the discussion is still fresh in your mind will help you complete the report efficiently.

What Does a Candidate Interview Summary Include? A candidate interview summary is a document prepared by the interviewer after the interview, summarizing the key information and responses provided by the candidate. It usually includes the candidate's name, location, skills, job interest, and responses.

The main purpose of this summary is to assist the hiring manager and recruitment team in determining whether the candidate is a suitable match for the company.

Why Are Interview Summaries Important? Interview summaries condense one-on-one interview sessions into concise, readable texts, facilitating the sharing of the candidate's profile with the team.

The benefits of interview summaries include:

They provide a searchable record of the interview, making information easily accessible.
They help speed up the decision-making process for hiring.
Summaries are more straightforward to share and review than full reports.

Key Points to Remember An interview summary distills the critical aspects of the interview into a brief paragraph, efficiently conveying information that would otherwise require several paragraphs to describe.

If recording, transcribing, or summarizing interviews poses a challenge, consider using Glyph AI . This interview transcription software offers real-time, accurate interview summaries, streamlining the process with efficiency.

Your Multi-Purposed TranscriptionOS for Business Workflows

Writing effective qualitative research notes

Simbar Dube

With all the hype around video and voice recordings, it’s easy to think that note-taking is no longer necessary. Let’s face it, this is 2019 and digital devices have since remodeled the way we gather information in any research. But, some of us still swear by pen and paper —and this comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Whether we are conducting a focus group, or we are carrying out in-depth customer interviews . Or, maybe we are conducting a usability test to eliminate the risk of creating a wrong website. Whatever the case, taking notes is, and will remain, a worthy and valuable part of our qualitative research process.

In his book, How to take good notes: The science behind note taking , Angelos Georgakis writes that note-taking is about cognitive science and it is a skill that can become second nature if constantly practiced.

So, to help you get started with note-taking during qualitative research, this article will indicate the importance of note-taking and the steps you need to take.

Why should you take qualitative research notes?

If you can’t remember what you did a fortnight ago, what makes you think you’ll remember the words said by each and every person you interviewed during your research? Taking notes allows you to capture the precise details you will need to improve your product going forward.

In most cases, we all rarely write what we don’t understand, isn’t it? If you write it down, then the chances are that the brain comprehended it first, and integrated it in a way that is understandable. This is something that can’t be guaranteed when using digital devices, and in this regard, Ayat Shukairy says:

Don’t underestimate the use of the good old pen and paper to capture information during usability tests or customer interviews. The way our brains work putting pen to paper is very different than trying to type it up .

Just like technological devices, human memory fails and we can’t depend on it at all times. Chances are (that) your research will tank if you rely on memory and interpretations. Mind you, not everyone has an eidetic memory . This doesn’t necessarily mean that we shouldn’t use devices to record research sessions —you can always revisit your recordings often, but this shouldn’t be done because of poor note-taking.

I get it, though: most of the people find it difficult to keep track of all the words said by participants/customers, and sometimes, words can slip through while the head is looking down. But that makes note-taking all the more special.

Not everything said by your research participants will be useful to you. So, with note-taking, you learn to listen to the most pertinent information in a conversatşon. Or rather, you develop the ability to distinguish what’s important from irrelevant pieces of information. Here is how Peter Rogers , author of Straight A at Stanford and on to Harvard , says it:

You have to make your own condensed notes. You learn from MAKING them. A lot of thinking goes into deciding what to include and exclude. You develop your own system of abbreviations and memory methods for the information.

In journalism, it’s often said that a reporter’s story is only as good as her notes . This premise applies to a lot of the qualitative research we conduct, particular research with active participants (like interviews). Notes can either contaminate your whole research efforts or they can be the saving grace.

But either way, they just have to exist.

Here are some of the tried-and-tested steps that you should consider whenever you intend to take down research notes.

Step 1. Preparation

As the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell once said, “ before anything else, preparation is the key to success .” He might not have been talking about anything to do with taking notes during a usability test, but his statements relate to everything to do about it.

Note-taking preparations might sound uninteresting, but they are essential and not optional. In fact, scientists have pointed out that note-taking can be as mentally demanding as it can be for an expert who is playing chess. So, as a chess game would demand more adequate preparations, so is note-taking.

At Invesp, preparing and identifying the what and whys of any qualitative or quantitative process is a key factor that helps with the focus and shapes the outcome. There are many things we have to put in order before we begin the research.

Suppose you are planning to take notes during customer interviews, we preview the research questions to see if they are aligned to our goals, and we jot down the timeline diagram — thinking about the “first thought” event1, event 2, the pull and the push factors. This also helps the researchers direct their line of questioning.

If you are analyzing visitor recordings, there also has to be some sort of preparations if you are to take notes. For instance, the preparation may involve drawing a table on your notebook where you record your observations. The table doesn’t have to be fancy, it may look like the one below:

Besides keeping everyone on the same page, this makes it easy to compare notes and to identify the same patterns and issues in the same videos.

Preparation for a usability test isn’t only confined to writing usability tasks, determining the number of participants and recruiting them. It may sound pretty basic, but it is of paramount importance to have a discussion on what to write down during the session. This will help give you a general understanding of what to look out for during the test.

Step 2. Decide on the format to use

This is a bleed-over from step #1, but it has to be given too much attention because it’s important.

You are much more likely to maintain clarity and a clean look using a clear format than writing your observations in a free form. Using a format will allow you to identify and track key areas in your observations at the same time signaling their occurrence in a clear way.

Pen and paper are extremely flexible, so there are a number of accepted note-taking formats available for you:

Outline Format

Being the easiest way of taking down notes, chances are that you have used this format, at some point, but you didn’t realize that it actually has a name. The outline format requires you to take notes in a highly organized and structural fashion —using bullet points, arrows or numbered lists to identify key different items.

Let’s say you are conducting a usability test to find out if users understand the functionality of your website interface. Using the outline format, you can write every major observation you make on the far left of your page and add descriptions of the observations below.

Notes taken using the mapping format are so unique and this format is for specific types of research. Customer interviews that require researchers to draw the timeline diagram are perfect for this method of taking notes.

Image Source: JTBD

Important statements uttered by the customers are scribbled in the slots that are in the customer journey map . Taking notes using this format gives researchers a handle on how certain customer events are related.

Data logging

Developed by animal and human behavior students, Data logging is probably the fastest way of taking down notes. This format requires the note-taker to use a form of shorthand, such as single-letter codes, to distinguish the research insights.

Let’s say you are conducting a focus group interviews, and one of your participants is a fast-talker who reveals a string of important points —using the data logging technique, you will just have to note the observation codes for each point —and later after the session, review the codes.

Below is a list of some of the most popular shorthand codes that are used by researchers when taking notes during a usability test.

You are more likely to keep track of the participants’ words if you are using this format.

Step 3. Focus on new and relevant points

When taking research notes, your focus should be on the new and relevant notes, this then begs the question: What determines the relevance of points?

The relevance of points in research is steered by the research objectives. If you have a good idea of what exactly you want to explore or learn, then the points you jot down during your research should help you attain that goal. If it will be useful later, then it is relevant.

The essence of note-taking is summarizing key concepts that are more likely to be of use later. Trying to capture every word said by your participant(s) leaves no room to recognize the new and the relevant points. Stick to the salient points, don’t write everything.

In his book , The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future , Ryder Carroll says,

The more content you try to capture during a lecture or a meeting, the less you’re thinking about what’s being said. You burn through most of your attention parroting the source.

If you focus on capturing the important notes, you won’t have to wade through the irrelevant notes to bring out the few nuggets of relevant information — and that saves you time.

Step 4. Write in your own words

The Feynman note-taking technique explains that only in the process of converting the speaker’s words into your own words, will you understand what they are talking about. Taking notes when observing users in a usability test usually requires one to paraphrase.

As you put your findings in your own words, to save time, you avoid writing in complete sentences. You can avoid missing out on some of the important points if you use a shorthand style of writing.

So there is a great need to paraphrase what is being said and you can also make use of the data-logging technique.

Step 5. Label your Notes

One area in which one can particularly tend to forget when taking down research notes is labeling them. This might sound insignificant, but clearly labeled notes save a lot of stress and time, especially during the analysis. With labeled notes, it’s easy to differentiate and identify points without having to wade through some other scribblings.

Step 6. Have a note-taking partner

Having one person moderate, observe and take notes at the same time isn’t impossible, but it might lead to poor cognitive performance. Ideally, a user test should have two facilitators: a moderator and a separate note-taker. As the moderator helps in facilitating the whole session, the note-taking partner would be observing, listening and jotting down anything that may be of use later.

Parting words…

Taking down notes during any research helps separate the wheat from the chaff, otherwise, you’re better off using recording devices to capture everything. Regardless of the type of research you are conducting, if you are going to take notes, the bottom line is:

You have to keep eye contact with your users so as to capture their facial expressions as they describe the experience they had when using your product.
You should pay attention to what the users say, not how they say it.
To get the user to say more, you should show that what they are saying makes sense nodding at appropriate times.
Handwritten notes are better when it comes to memory retention than typing notes.
The sound you make with your keyboard when typing notes may distract your users.
You cannot control the speed of how your participants speak, so you should focus on the new and pertinent points only.
For every observation you make, don’t forget to write down the time followed by a short description.
When you conduct a user test, you probably want to know something about your product, right? So whatever objective you have, your notes should be reflective of your goals.
Using a format will help you streamline the entire note-taking process and save you much time.
Paraphrasing, acronyms, abbreviations, and shorthands might help you keep up with the words of your participants. Writing in complete sentences will do you no good.
And then for the golden rule: you shouldn’t write down every word emanating from your participant’s mouth verbatim. Develop the habit of deciphering between necessary and unnecessary information.j

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How to Take Good Interview Notes

Updated on:

Taking notes during an interview can serve various purposes, but it’s not always easy to do. You want to show attentiveness and actively participate in the conversation, but you also want to record important details to remember for later.

Therefore, learning how to take good interview notes is essential if you want to walk away from the interview with valuable information and a greater sense of productivity. In today’s guide, we will provide some of the best tips for taking good interview notes, as well as some ways to make the entire note-taking process easier and more efficient, particularly in a virtual environment. Before we get into interview note-taking best practices, let’s look at a few of the reasons why you should take notes in an interview:

Why You Should Take Interview Notes

Many people go back and forth over the question of taking notes during an interview. Is it unprofessional to take notes during an interview? Most experts agree that the answer is no . In fact, taking notes during an interview has various benefits:

Taking notes shows greater attentiveness
It gives you a written record of the interview
Writing notes helps you remember important details [ 1 ]
In a job interview, note-taking makes you look like a more serious candidate
In a research interview, note-taking ensures that you document the right information

“Note-taking allows people to outsource their memories to an external source…as well as make content explicit for future reference. Critically, learning can occur during both the production and review of notes by allowing the learner to make connections between idea units and engage in deep processing.” - Michael C. Friedman, Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching [ 2 ]

Whether you are taking notes during a job interview , research interview, journalistic interview, or even an interview for something else altogether, there are countless benefits to the practice. First and foremost, while some might see the act of note-taking during a formal interview as rude, it actually shows that you are taking the conversation very seriously.

Rather than merely listening to the information the other person provides, you are actively typing or writing down what you hear to ensure that you do not misquote or misremember something. Alternatively, you can record notes or have automated notes created to share with all participants.

Additionally, both formal and informal interviews necessitate the exchange of important information. Whether you are conducting the interview or you are the “interviewee,” having a record of the event is vital for future reference. You may wish to recall important topics or quotes later on, in which case you will need diligent notes and records of the conversation that transpired.

Whether you are conducting the interview or you are the “interviewee,” having a record of the event is vital for future reference.

These days, most interviews are conducted virtually via video conferencing tools. However, if you are participating in a face-to-face interview, you may wish to jot down notes by hand.

While this is certainly not the fastest, most accurate, or most efficient way to take notes, it does help you retain the information better. For this reason, taking notes by hand is often recommended for students in the classroom, but it can also be useful during an in-person interview.

Finally, the two most common types of interviews are related to applying for jobs or conducting research in business or academics. In either case, taking notes can serve you well.

For example, in a job interview, taking notes shows that you are taking the process very seriously and have the potential to be a very diligent, hard-working employee. Alternatively, in a research interview setting, taking notes is absolutely essential, as it ensures that you do not miss out on vital information shared during the interview.

How to Take Notes During an Interview

Now that you know how taking notes during an interview can benefit you in various situations and circumstances, it is time to look at a few tips to take good, effective interview notes.

Paraphrase Interview Quotes

Many people wrongly believe that taking notes requires you to type or write down everything that is said during a conversation. Fortunately, interviews are not courts of law. You do not need to be a stenographer that types every word verbatim during the conversation.

Instead, you simply need to combine efficient writing tactics with accurate note-taking and listening. Naturally, you never want to misquote someone during an interview, but unless you plan on using live transcription software (more on that below), you will need to paraphrase quotes from the other person (or people) in the interview. This way, you can quickly take down the most important information without inhibiting the integrity and quality of your interview notes.

You never want to misquote someone during an interview, but unless you plan on using live transcription software, you will need to paraphrase quotes from the other person in the interview.

Paraphrasing is especially important for saving time while taking notes. People usually talk much faster than you can write or type, so keeping your notes short and “to the point” can ensure that you can record quotes as accurately as humanly possible.

Otherwise, you may find yourself trying to play catch up throughout the entire interview, which will greatly reduce the quality of your notes.

Ask Questions to Fill in the Blanks

Asking questions during an interview serves a dual purpose. On the one hand, asking questions is one of the only ways that you can get the most pertinent information you need.

Whether someone in the interview made a vague statement and you want clarification or you need to dive deeper into a particular subject matter, asking questions can ensure that you get the most out of your interview notes.

“Active listening and being fully present for the other person will make you more memorable than you imagine. The willingness to step outside of yourself and your concerns happens when wisdom, generosity of spirit, and compassion are combined with your intent to honor another human being.” - Jacqueline Whitmore, Protocol School of Palm Beach [ 3 ]

Additionally, asking questions inherently shows your interest in the other person (or people), as well as your respect for the interview process. If you simply talk about yourself or rely on the other person to guide the conversation, you fail to engage with them from one human being to another.

This could be interpreted as a lack of interest in the subject matter, the other person, or the interview as a whole. So, taking interview notes and asking questions work hand-in-hand to show that you are engaged in the conversation and want to learn as much as possible.

Focus On Vital Details

Much like paraphrasing quotes, focusing on the most vital details ensures that you ultimately produce good interview notes. Most interviews feature conversation topics or digressions that could be irrelevant to the larger goal of the interview (getting a job, conducting a research project, etc).

So if you try to take down notes about absolutely everything, you will end up with way more information than you actually need. When it is time to review your interview notes, you will find that having a lot of info can be more of a hindrance than a help.

So, go into the interview with a few ideas of what you want to take away from the experience. What data is most relevant to you? How can you steer the conversation in a direction that will get you the pertinent information you need? By doing this before the interview starts, you will have an easier time discerning the vital information from the information that can be discarded.

If you choose to take automated notes or record the conversation , you can focus on vital details by highlighting specific quotes or taking down time stamps.

This is a much faster and more efficient way to collect a large volume of information while also putting greater emphasis on the quotes and facts that matter the most. Note-taking apps can offer a great way to save you time and energy during just about any type of interview.

Ask the Speaker to Repeat Themselves

In many interview situations, there may be a power imbalance that makes it feel awkward or uncomfortable to ask someone to repeat themselves. For example, if you are interviewing for a job, you may not want it to seem like you were not listening or failed to pay attention.

However, in most situations, people are happy to repeat the last thing they said so that you can jot it down correctly. All you have to do is ask and make sure that you get it right the second time.

As previously mentioned, most interviews today take place over the Internet. Video conferencing tools like Zoom and Google Meet make it easier than ever to conduct interviews with people all over the world.

However, a weak or unstable connection on either end of the conversation can increase the frequency of sound delays or even being cut off mid-sentence. Therefore, asking someone to repeat themselves over a video call is not unprofessional.

On the contrary, it is frequently necessary during remote communication , especially if you are trying to take diligent interview notes and ensure that you are absorbing accurate information.

Additionally, hearing a statement or piece of data a second time can help you retain the information better going forward. Combining this with note-taking will ensure that you absorb what the other speaker is saying and can quickly recall the info (with the help of your notes) later on.

So, even if you are in a situation where you want to make the best possible impression, do not be afraid to ask someone to repeat themselves, particularly when it concerns very important details.

Prioritize Listening Over Writing or Typing

Taking good interview notes manually requires you to put some of your focus on the act of writing or typing. Naturally, this means that you won’t be able to put 100% of your attention toward listening to what is being said. Unfortunately, this could lead to misunderstandings, mistakes, and ineffective interview notes.

While there are ways around the need to take notes manually, you should always prioritize listening over note-taking. This is not to say that note-taking is not important or necessary.

It is extremely important to take interview notes (for all of the reasons listed above), but you cannot hope to take good interview notes if you fail to listen to the conversation taking place.

Much like asking questions, showing that you are listening is a good way to maintain a civil, productive conversation during the interview. If your head is buried in your notes the entire time, the other person (or people) may feel like they are talking to themselves or being ignored.

Therefore, taking good interview notes also means practicing good interview habits, particularly when it comes to actively listening and participating in the conversation.

Enhance Your Interview Notes With Otter.ai

If you are struggling to take interview notes manually, Otter.ai provides the perfect solution. Whether you are participating in a virtual interview or an in-person interview, you can take advantage of Otter.ai’s live transcription tool .

Not only does automated note-taking offer an alternative form of documenting important interviews, but it also takes away the pressure of having to listen, actively participate, and take good interview notes — all at the same time.

Using advanced AI and voice-recognition technology, Otter.ai can produce live transcriptions as an interview takes place. You can keep these notes open during the interview so that you can go back and review things that were said earlier (in real-time), highlight important sections, or even make revisions as needed.

This way, you can literally capture every word while still focusing on the most important aspects of the interview.

Not only does automated note-taking offer an alternative form of documenting important interviews, but it also takes off the pressure of having to listen, actively participate, and take good interview notes — all at the same time.

Additionally, Otter.ai provides an excellent note-taking tool for the hearing impaired and physically disabled. Rather than having to type as quickly as possible during a Zoom or Google Meet interview, anyone can let Otter Live Notes transcribe the conversation on their behalf, providing written documentation of everything said. In short, Otter.ai is the perfect tool for anyone in need of a faster, simpler way to take good interview notes.

Do you want to find out more about how to take good interview notes with Otter.ai? Would you like to learn all about the perks of Otter.ai live transcriptions and captions? If so, contact Otter.ai today for more information!

Allison Eck, PBS - https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/taking-notes-by-hand-could-improve-memory-wt/
Michael C. Friedman, Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching - https://hwpi.harvard.edu/files/hilt/files/notetaking_0.pdf
Jacqueline Whitmore, Protocol School of Palm Beach - https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/252070

Product Talk

Make better product decisions.

How to Take Notes During Customer Research Interviews

February 24, 2016 by Teresa Torres

For those of you following along, I’ve been conducting interviews to understand the life of a product manager.

If you need to catch up, you can see my initial call for participants here and my breakdown of how I am selecting participants here .

I’ll be blogging about both how I conduct the research and the trends and patterns that come out of it.

One of the biggest challenges with qualitative research is capturing the overwhelming volume of data you collect throughout the process.

To Record or Not

I have often recommended that people not record their interviews.

It’s rare that an industry research team has the time (or the money) to do full transcriptions and recordings are rarely listened to. So it felt unnecessary.

It also often led to lazy habits when it came to sharing the research with the rest of the team. Too often, I see teams share links to the raw videos rather than synthesizing key learnings.

While these limitations and risks are still true, I’ve recently changed my mind. I now always record my interviews and recommend that others do the same.

When I don’t record, I try to take verbatim notes. I want to capture exactly what the participant said as it’s my only record.

But the challenge (as we’ll see in a later section), is that we can’t synthesize while taking verbatim notes. If I can’t synthesize, I can’t ask good follow-up questions.

So I started recording sessions as a way of easing the burden of verbatim note-taking and of increasing my ability to stay present with the participant.

Record your interview sessions to ease the burden of taking verbatim notes. – Tweet This

Audio vs. Video Recordings

I only record the audio of my interviews. I find that video cameras are intrusive. They interfere with the comfort of the participant. When the participant isn’t comfortable, they don’t share as much.

Audio recorders are less intrusive and are quickly forgotten. However, I never hide the fact that I’m recording the audio from the participant. This is unethical.

In some states, the law requires that you tell a participant that the session is being recorded. But don’t limit yourself to the law—do the right thing and always tell your participants if you are recording.

Video recorders can be intrusive during interviews, whereas audio recorders are quickly forgotten. – Tweet This

For in-person interviews, I use this flash-drive recorder . It’s good enough to pick up a conversation in a conference room or at someone’s house. I like that it’s small and easily forgotten. It also has a long battery life and large storage capacity, so I don’t have to worry about running out of either.

For virtual interviews, I use Call Recorder for Skype . It does mean that I run the risk of having connection issues, but it’s far easier to record a Skype session than to record a phone call, so I deal with the connection issues.

Handwritten vs. Typed Notes

Even though I record the session, I still take notes during the interview.

Before I started recording sessions, I always took notes on my computer. It was the only way that I could capture verbatim notes.

But this introduced a new problem. It’s hard to build rapport with a participant when you are hiding behind a laptop. The participant will often pause to give you time to type, which means they are thinking about you instead of thinking about what they have to say.

Now that I record my sessions, I don’t take verbatim notes and I’ve switched to taking notes with pen and paper.

Even with pen and paper, you have to work to maintain frequent eye contact. I find this to be much easier in person than on virtual calls, but I work to maintain frequent eye contact regardless of the medium.

Regardless of how you take notes, maintain frequent eye contact with your participant. – Tweet This

I like these large sketch books and use whichever pen I can get my hands on.

I find that writing gives me freedom that typing does not. I can use space to set topics apart, use arrows to connect related topics, and can star pivotal moments.

Handwriting Notes Might Help You Synthesize More than Typing

Pam Mueller, a recent PhD student in social psychology at Princeton, and Daniel Oppenheimer, psychology faculty at Princeton, compared the impact of taking notes with pen and paper vs. typing on a computer.

They found that students who handwrite their notes did better on conceptual questions—meaning they were better able to process the information.

Mueller and Oppenheimer speculated, however, that this result was not necessarily due to the medium itself, but due to the fact that students who typed their notes tended to capture verbatim notes. While they captured more content, they did less work to capture it during the note-taking process, and thus processed less of it.

Because handwriting is slower, you have to decide what to capture, and this forces you to process the information. – Tweet This

In a follow-up study, they tried to instruct computer-using students to not take verbatim notes, as a way of teasing apart the impact of the medium vs. the note-taking style, but unfortunately the participants did not heed this instruction.

If you want to learn more about Mueller and Oppenheimer’s work, check out this Freakonomics episode .

I’m skeptical that the difference in comprehension is due to typing vs. handwriting and suspect that it is more tied to verbatim vs. synthesis. Regardless, there are enough benefits to handwriting for me that in interviews, I’ll continue to handwrite.

Since I’m not capturing verbatim notes, let’s turn to what I am capturing.

Capture Enough to Ask Good Questions

I need to write to think. If you’ve ever had a conversation with me in a room with a whiteboard, odds are I started scribbling all over it. Seeing helps me synthesize.

During an interview, I try to capture the structure of what’s being said. My goal is to look for gaps or inconsistencies, as these are areas I want to follow up on.

For example, just last week, I was talking to a product manager who said he was one of five product managers. He then walked me through how the product team was organized—who worked on which products. But he only described four product areas.

Since I had captured that he was one of five product managers and because I was drawing the structure of his org chart as he was describing it to me, I could ask him what the fifth product manager did.

I would have never caught this if I hadn’t been writing notes.

Capture the structure of what is being said. Look for gaps and inconsistencies. – Tweet This

By the way, I do this during phone conversations, too. I need to see to synthesize. My brain wants to outline. I want to see the structure to understand. And I find it immensely useful.

Capture Enough to Reflect Back What You Heard

A key tenet of active listening is to reflect back to the person what you heard. This does two things. First, it shows that you are listening, and second, it allows the participant to clarify any misunderstandings.

I don’t have a good short-term memory. My brain likes to jump around. I’m constantly trying to connect the dots and that means that sometimes I get jumbled up between what I just heard and my own thoughts.

Capturing the structure of what I hear helps me to stay focused on your part of the conversation. It also gives me a handy outline to refer back to when reflecting back what I heard.

With a glance at my notes, I can quickly summarize at any point in the conversation, before jumping into the next topic. This might look something like, “You’ve told me about your current role, how you got there, and what you like about product management. Tell me what you aspire to. Do you have any career goals?” Of course, if I’m doing this in an interview, I’ll include some specific details, so that the participant knows that I’m listening.

I don’t do this just when I’m switching topics, but also when I need clarification on something. I’ll start with what I heard, what I expect that to mean, and then ask about the part that I’m confused about.

For example, I might say, “You mentioned earlier that you do a lot reading at home, almost every day, but several times since you’ve mentioned that you don’t have time for other activities. What’s different about reading?”

Again, this shows that I’m listening and it allows the participant to clarify what they mean, and it helps me to ensure that I’m not misinterpreting what they said.

Reflect back what you heard. It shows that you are listening and allows the participant to clarify. – Tweet This

Capture What Needs Follow Up

I also capture what I want to come back to later so that I don’t have to interrupt.

For example, I ask every product manager to tell me about how an idea goes from concept to launch. Suppose someone says, “Ideas can come from anywhere. We capture them all in a Google Spreadsheet and prioritize them. For the top ideas we start to do research…”

I already have a series of questions.

What are some examples of where ideas come from?
How do you prioritize them?
Who prioritizes them?
What do you mean by research?

But I don’t want to interrupt the participant. He or she is on a roll and I don’t want to interrupt their thought process.

Thankfully, I’m sketching this process as they describe it, so it’s easy for me to return to the places where I need more information.

For something that isn’t as linear, I might just jot down a note in the margins to remind myself to come back to it when there’s an appropriate time in the interview.

Don’t interrupt your participant. Capture your thoughts and come back to them later. – Tweet This

Highlight Key Moments (And Other Notations)

With time, I’ve developed my own style of notations.

I put notable phrases in quotations. If the participant mentions an aside, I usually put it in parentheses.

Some of this is just good punctuation, but it’s easy to get sloppy in note-taking, and it’s important to know what your own punctuation means.

Oftentimes, in the midst of an interview something jumps out at me. Maybe it’s particularly salient, or maybe it’s unique.

I don’t want to just capture that moment. I want to highlight it so that it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

I usually draw a star next to a key moment. Again, something that is easier to do with pen and paper than with computer.

I also make note of the time so that it’s easier for me to find it on the audio recording later.

I also note when something was said in response to a specific prompt.

For example, if I ask you about the people on your team and you say, “We have five developers and one QA person,” and then I respond with, “What about UX?”, I’m going to capture that like this to indicate that I had to prompt for UX.:

Team – 5 developers – 1 QA – UX? Oh yeah, 1 UX

It tells me that you might not consider UX as part of your team.

Develop your own notation to denote key moments in the interview. – Tweet This

Denote Source Material from Your Own Thoughts

The most important notation I use is to distinguish my own thoughts from what the person said.

For example, I talked about using parentheses to note an aside from the participant. I could just as easily use parentheses for my own thoughts. But I don’t want to confuse these.

Because I used to code, I use // to start my own thoughts. This makes it crystal clear what came from my head vs. what the participant said.

So take the following notes:

“we do all the right things” customer interviews, co-creation exercises it leads to no “tangible product output” // outcomes?

This is a snippet from an interview where the person is explaining that they do all the “right things” when it comes to product discovery, but that they get no “tangible product output.” I put that phrase in quotes because it surprised me. I was expecting him to say outcomes (captured in my comment), because product discovery is usually tied to outcomes not output.

Note the mix of summary (the second line) and exact quotes (the first and third lines).

Clearly denote source material (what the participant said) from your own thoughts and reactions. – Tweet This

Review and Extend Your Notes Immediately

It’s easy to misinterpret your notes later. So I always take a few minutes to review my notes as soon as possible after the interview and add any missing detail.

Sometimes my handwriting is illegible and I need to rewrite some words.

Sometimes I already can’t tell what I meant by my note and I’ll make a note to go back and listen to that part of the interview again.

I try to do this immediately after conducting an interview. But interviewing can be tiring, so sometimes I need a break and forget to do it right away.

However, I always do this before my next interview. I don’t want new content to interfere with the interpretation of my old notes.

Review your notes immediately following the interview. Add any missing detail. – Tweet This

Catalog Notes for Later Retrieval

Cataloging your source material is just as important as taking good notes.

I use a post-interview checklist to make sure that I can find everything I need later. It includes:

Create a note in Evernote for this interview
Add a photo of the participant
Capture the three or four most salient things from the interview
Add photos of handwritten notes to the note
Add any screen grabs or other artifacts from the interview
Add the audio file to the note
Send the participant details about his or her incentive

It’s been a lot of fun doing primary research again. I’ve missed it. I’ll keep blogging about the process, and eventually about the results. To follow along, subscribe to the Product Talk mailing list .

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March 2, 2016 at 2:35 am

Hi Teresa, thanks for sharing your experience so far! I really like that you included your own best practises as “how-to” guides can be very theoretical and difficult to apply without detailed examples. I particularly like your point about “Denote Source Material from Your Own Thoughts” as it’s not something I currently do but I can see how it would be useful in the future to bring up actual user quotes in internal conversations.

March 2, 2016 at 8:03 am

Thanks for the comment. I’m glad you found it helpful.

March 2, 2016 at 8:15 am

This is a really good article with a lot of solid, practical advice. Regarding the video-recording of interviews, I like to have video so I can share compelling clips with those who didn’t attend, especially decision makers. Video tends to be much more persuasive than written notes.

March 2, 2016 at 9:27 am

I can definitely see the value of this. But I think it’s a trade-off between how you want to use the research afterwards and what you might learn from it. I’ve seen too many times that video makes people uncomfortable and thus not as open. I wonder if you could get the same benefit by showing a photo of the person and playing audio.

November 28, 2017 at 11:09 am

Great stuff, Teresa. I have found that facial expressions say so much more than words can convey in expressing emotional elements and give some great visual clues to the cognitive processes. If I have enough observers, I will typically pick one person out to focus only on taking notes on body language and facial expressions.

While I definitely prefer video, less obtrusive video like a built-in webcam or Skype (as you pointed out), where they are not constantly reminded of the camera works much better than a physical camera they can see.

November 28, 2017 at 11:12 am

I agree. Facial expressions, tone of voice, body language communicate so much. If we can capture on video great, if not, I think it’s important that the interviewer is not taking verbatim notes so that they have the mental capacity to notice all of these things and properly interpret what they are hearing.

October 23, 2018 at 9:16 am

Something I’ve found to be effective is recording audio, and then capturing video of key things such as: – introducing themselves – retelling a poignant story – answering a specific prompt that’s relevant to the research

This makes it really easy to edit these sound bites into a short video that gives non-attendees a feel for who that person is even though they couldn’t attend in person.

March 3, 2016 at 7:04 am

I find that including one more person in the interview process as notetaker is key. Doing point of interest notes or quick diagrams for your own clarification and processing is great but I find trying to do meaningful facilitation while taking anything more then very light notes is impossible. Sure you can do it but the quality on both ends suffer.

Having a second team member also starts to foster the idea of design collaboration and shared understanding. A developer will hear things differently then you do and provide valuable insight.

Discussing the interview immediately after the interviewee leaves, with a person who was focused on note taking, really ups the clarity of analysis. You get to see where you clearly agree and where you each may have missed important nuggets of gold.

Lastly you can also switch roles between interviews as facilitation is exhausting.

I find by adding this note taker the use case for recording drops dramatically (I still do audio recording with my phone but almost never go back or have ever seen a client actually go back and listen). It is nice to have the customer voice if you really want to pull something out to validate an assumption with absolute clarity with the team or stakeholders.

Just found the blog and am loving it so far. Good work.

March 3, 2016 at 7:59 am

This is a GREAT point. My recent batch of research has been done on my own. But when I was an employee (and as a coach I encourage the same), I always include others in the research process. And having them take notes is a great way to keep them engaged and ease the burden of facilitating.

I also love that you mentioned discussing the interviews after, as each will hear different things and you want to capture all of this.

Thanks for the great comment.

March 13, 2016 at 9:00 pm

I agree with Mike, two people allows for a dedicated note taker and you can switch periodically which is more energizing for the conversation and gives you a chance to de-brief immediately after the interview. I also find it useful to send a summary to the interview subject; they will often elaborate on points they made, point out mistakes in your note or understanding, or clarify what they intended to say. See http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2011/10/19/tips-for-b2b-customer-development-interviews/ and http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2014/11/21/customer-interviews-how-to-organize-findings/ for some more suggestions for how to conduct interviews and organize findings

November 28, 2017 at 8:07 am

I take some handwritten notes, mostly to remind myself of things I’d like to explore further in the conversation. Otherwise, I do record and run the recording (audio) through rev.com for a transcript. This has changed my life (no, really). Now, I can listen much more naturally and carefully and not worry about missing something or being biased by my thoughts as things are unfolding it when I look at my notes later. I’ve definitely noticed that interviews feel much more comfortable this way. Most of my interviews are via Zoom, which has recording built in, and I use Evernote to record audio in person.

June 14, 2018 at 4:26 am

Thank you for the tip on clearly separating notes from your own thoughts! Very valuable!

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Acknowledgments

Refers to notes created by the researcher during the act of conducting a field study to remember and record the behaviors, activities, events, and other features of an observation. Field notes are intended to be read by the researcher as evidence to produce meaning and an understanding of the culture, social situation, or phenomenon being studied. The notes may constitute the whole data collected for a research study [e.g., an observational project] or contribute to it, such as when field notes supplement conventional interview data or other techniques of data gathering.

Schwandt, Thomas A. The SAGE Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry . 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2015.

How to Approach Writing Field Notes

The ways in which you take notes during an observational study is very much a personal decision developed over time as you become more experienced in fieldwork. However, all field notes generally consist of two parts:

Descriptive information , in which you attempt to accurately document factual data [e.g., date and time] along with the settings, actions, behaviors, and conversations that you observe; and,
Reflective information , in which you record your thoughts, ideas, questions, and concerns during the observation.

Note that field notes should be fleshed out as soon as possible after an observation is completed. Your initial notes may be recorded in cryptic form and, unless additional detail is added as soon as possible after the observation, important facts and opportunities for fully interpreting the data may be lost.

Characteristics of Field Notes

Be accurate . You only get one chance to observe a particular moment in time so, before you conduct your observations, practice taking notes in a setting that is similar to your observation site in regards to number of people, the environment, and social dynamics. This will help you develop your own style of transcribing observations quickly and accurately.
Be organized . Taking accurate notes while you are actively observing can be difficult. Therefore, it is important that you plan ahead how you will document your observation study [e.g., strictly chronologically or according to specific prompts]. Notes that are disorganized will make it more difficult for you to interpret the data.
Be descriptive . Use descriptive words to document what you observe. For example, instead of noting that a classroom appears "comfortable," state that the classroom includes soft lighting and cushioned chairs that can be moved around by the students. Being descriptive means supplying yourself with enough factual evidence that you don't end up making assumptions about what you meant when you write the final report.
Focus on the research problem . Since it's impossible to document everything you observe, focus on collecting the greatest detail that relates to the research problem and the theoretical constructs underpinning your research; avoid cluttering your notes with irrelevant information. For example, if the purpose of your study is to observe the discursive interactions between nursing home staff and the family members of residents, then it would only be necessary to document the setting in detail if it in some way directly influenced those interactions [e.g., there is a private room available for discussions between staff and family members].
Record insights and thoughts . As you take notes, be thinking about the underlying meaning of what you observe and record your thoughts and ideas accordingly. If needed, this will help you to ask questions or seek clarification from participants after the observation. To avoid any confusion, subsequent comments from participants should be included in a separate, reflective part of your field notes and not merged with the descriptive notes.

General Guidelines for the Descriptive Content

The descriptive content of your notes can vary in detail depending upon what needs to be emphasized in order to address the research problem. However, in most observations, your notes should include at least some of the following elements:

Describe the physical setting.
Describe the social environment and the way in which participants interacted within the setting. This may include patterns of interactions, frequency of interactions, direction of communication patterns [including non-verbal communication], and patterns of specific behavioral events, such as, conflicts, decision-making, or collaboration.
Describe the participants and their roles in the setting.
Describe, as best you can, the meaning of what was observed from the perspectives of the participants.
Record exact quotes or close approximations of comments that relate directly to the purpose of the study.
Describe any impact you might have had on the situation you observed [important!].

General Guidelines for the Reflective Content

You are the instrument of data gathering and interpretation. Therefore, reflective content can include any of the following elements intended to contextualize what you have observed based on your perspective and your own personal, cultural, and situational experiences .

Note ideas, impressions, thoughts, and/or any criticisms you have about what you observed.
Include any unanswered questions or concerns that have arisen from analyzing the observation data.
Clarify points and/or correct mistakes and misunderstandings in other parts of field notes.
Include insights about what you have observed and speculate as to why you believe specific phenomenon occurred.
Record any thoughts that you may have regarding any future observations.

NOTE: Analysis of your field notes should occur as they are being written and while you are conducting your observations. This is important for at least two reasons. First, preliminary analysis fosters self-reflection and self-reflection is crucial for facilitating deep understanding and meaning-making in any research study. Second, preliminary analysis reveals emergent themes. Identifying emergent themes while observing allows you to shift your attention in ways that can foster a more developed investigation.

Emerson, Robert M. et al. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes . 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011; Ethnography, Observational Research, and Narrative Inquiry. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Gambold, Liesl L. “Field Notes.” In Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Edited by Albert J. Mills, Gabrielle Durepos, and Elden Wiebe. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2010; Pace, Tonio. Writing Field Reports. Scribd Online Library; Pyrczak, Fred and Randall R. Bruce. Writing Empirical Research Reports: A Basic Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences . 5th ed. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing, 2005; Report Writing. UniLearning. University of Wollongong, Australia; Ravitch, Sharon M. “Field Notes.” In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation . Edited by Bruce B. Frey. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2018; Tenzek, Kelly E. “Field Notes.” In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods . Edited by Mike Allen. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2017; Wolfinger, Nicholas H. "On Writing Fieldnotes: Collection Strategies and Background Expectancies.” Qualitative Research 2 (April 2002): 85-95; Writing Reports. Anonymous. The Higher Education Academy.

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April 30, 2024

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Low-intensity grazing is locally better for biodiversity but challenging for land users, study shows

by Kati Kietzmann, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig

Low-intensity grazing is locally better for biodiversity but challenging for land users, a new study shows

A team of researchers led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University (UL), and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has investigated the motivation and potential incentives for and challenges of low-intensity grazing among farmers and land users in Europe. The interview results have been published in Land Use Policy .

The grazing of both domestic and wild animals is shaping landscapes across Europe. It can also contribute to multiple ecosystem services , such as providing habitat for biodiversity. Grazing systems with lower densities of animals and with minimal and only targeted applications of deworming and other medicinal treatments offer benefits for local biodiversity protection and various ecosystem services.

However, this type of land management also poses a range of challenges, leading to a constant decline in the number of land users engaged in low-intensity grazing. A team of researchers led by iDiv, UL, and UFZ set out to investigate these challenges and potential interventions in eight European case studies.

Between 2019 and 2021, they conducted 74 face-to-face interviews with farmers, landowners, livestock owners, and managers of a rewilding area with semi-wild herbivores, like wild ponies or semi-wild cattle.

Land users rely on subsidies, but money is not everything

The researchers focused on the motivation and challenges driving decision-making among all land users engaged in low-intensity grazing practices. This was despite economic considerations becoming increasingly important as land users' revenue-generating activities are no longer sufficient to cover the rising cost of equipment, rent, and taxes.

"Money is not everything. Many of the land users we interviewed practice this type of grazing management because they think it is good, not out of economic motivation," says first author Dr. Julia Rouet-Leduc. Rouet-Leduc led the project as a former doctoral researcher at iDiv and UL and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Caring for nature and, in some cases, also the desire to maintain traditional agricultural practices were important aspects of the land users' motivation. For example, a land user working with wild ponies in Galicia (Spain) shared, "The main reason for the maintenance of this system is that people … love the ponies; they 'have a fever,' and this tradition runs very deeply in their hearts."

The researchers found that many land users struggle with rules and regulations that are incompatible with low-intensity grazing management. For example, rules to mark or tag livestock—an extremely challenging task when animals are allowed to graze freely in large areas—were perceived as limiting.

Land users also felt that the policies in place, especially the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Commission (CAP), were holding back nature-friendly and sustainable practices . For example, a land user in Romania noted that farmers were required to remove scrubs from their pastures or they would otherwise not be eligible for subsidies or even have to pay penalties.

However, scrubs have important ecosystem functions, such as providing shade in the summer and as an additional food resource in the winter. In general, the CAP was perceived as too restrictive, and many land users chose not to apply for subsidies at all.

"By not applying for CAP support, we have the freedom to really see what suits the local ecosystem," a Belgian land user stated.

Rural exodus is putting traditional labor at risk

The interviews also showed that many land users struggle with socio-economic changes in the countryside. The so-called "Rural Exodus" is leading to a lack of workforce, while physical work is still very much needed, especially for work with cattle or horses.

"The next generation does not want to farm because it is too hard, too much work," a land user from Lithuania said. "They usually move abroad and choose easier career options."

"The CAP could support farmers in High Nature Value farming regions and put incentives in place to preserve or restore extensive grazing systems," senior author Dr. Guy Pe'er, a senior researcher at UFZ and iDiv, suggests. "It's not a lack of budgets but rather the lack of ambition to support sustainable farming."

More flexibility and improved market access needed

The researchers used the interviews to derive and suggest interventions to encourage better grazing practices. "What is needed is more flexibility for land users," Rouet-Leduc says. "Current policies are, for the most part, not encouraging such practices, and particularly not offering a level playing field for land users."

While the EU's CAP offers important economic support, it also drives counter-productive management due to problematic requirements, she adds. Additional financial incentives could improve the support for more sustainable grazing management, according to the study's authors.

Especially in areas where land has been abandoned, there can be opportunities for rewilding large herbivores, which ultimately provide multiple ecosystem services. However, such systems require flexibility since they differ from management approaches with domestic animals.

The researchers also call for better labeling and certification for environmentally friendly grazing practices to increase public support and to help develop markets for such products. Some of the interviewed land users felt that market access could be improved by supporting direct marketing , for example, via farm shops.

"There are clearly real challenges for farmers, and they are not easy to overcome," Pe'er explains in light of ongoing farmers' demonstrations in countries like Germany, Poland, and Italy. "But removing environmental standards will not help land users.

"They need a package that includes an ambitious CAP reform, providing real support for farmers who need it to be more sustainable; the Nature Restoration Law to improve the standards of good management; and a framework for sustainable food systems to improve the market options for sustainable farming."

Provided by German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig

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