Introduction to Semi-Structured Interviewing

These are slides I use in an applied research course to introduce how to conduct semi-structured interviews.  Semi-structured interviews are in the domain of qualitative research which is characterized by the collection, analysis and presentation of textual information (among other things).  Semi-structured interviews use a “guide” with topics that the interviewer wants to explore but questions asked based on the guide are open and, while the interviewer has a guide, s/he is encouraged to let the respondent lead.

Here is the checklist that is a bit hard to view in the slides:

My friend, Paulette Moore, who has been teaching a course on “Research as Art and Transformation” clued me into this interview she did with Ken Crawford, Producer and Director at the Newseum in Washington, DC. Crawford Directed and Produced Running Toward Danger – a film about the journalists who covered 9/11 and The Pulitzer Photographs: A Glimpse of Life. – a series of films about Pulitzer Prize winning photographers.

He talks here about approaches to conducting interviews and while he speaks more as a journalist, I think his insights are valuable to the qualitative researcher as well.