PSY1023 Chap.7 Interview Guides and Interviewing Skills
Interview Guides and Interviewing Skills
Weeks 6 to 8 turn the research question into a working instrument and then put that instrument to use. Week 6 asks what kind of interview suits the project and how to write questions that open people up instead of closing them down. Week 7 refines the guide through feedback and piloting.
Week 8 is interview week itself, when each student interviews a member of another group for about 15 minutes, observes a teammate for AT2 feedback, and later transcribes the recording for analysis. Because the transcripts become the data for AT3, mistakes made at this stage carry through to the final report.
The first decision concerns structure.
Fully structured interviews are easy to compare but rigid, while unstructured interviews yield rich stories that are hard to analyse and easy to lose control of. Semi-structured interviewing, with planned questions used flexibly, sits in the middle and needs practice to do well. Within the guide, questions follow a running order from background through transition and main questions to probes and a closing.
Main questions draw on experiences, feelings, opinions, knowledge, sensory detail and background, and they must avoid leading wording, double-barrelled phrasing and the temptation to simply read out the research question.
Refinement follows a published four-step framework from Castillo-Montoya (2016): check that each question serves the research question, build a natural inquiry-based conversation, gather feedback on clarity, and pilot the protocol under realistic conditions.
Piloting within your own group reveals whether questions are understood as intended, whether probes actually produce more detail, and whether the recording setup works before it matters.
A simple mapping matrix, with interview questions down one side and research questions or areas of interest across the top, makes gaps and doubled-up coverage visible before anyone is interviewed.
Interview skills extend well beyond the wording of questions, and they are what your teammate will be watching.
A good interviewer opens with clear introductions and consent, listens actively through attention, silence, paraphrasing and reflecting feelings, and closes by thanking the participant and explaining what happens next. Peer feedback in AT2 judges a teammate on 10 elements, each with a strength and an opportunity backed by a specific example.
Transcription then uses Braun and Clarke's notation so that pauses, laughter and cut-off words survive into the written record. The paid pages include two figures, a repaired main question with probes, and practice on question diagnosis and notation.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews
- 02
Purpose and quality of an interview guide
- 03
Question running order and content types
- 04
Recognising leading questions
- 05
Interview Protocol Refinement framework
- 06
Opening, active listening and closing
- 07
Transcription notation for Braun and Clarke
Worked example · free
Drafting opening and transition questions for an AI study-tools guide
- 1Write a background question that is general and non-threatening, for example asking which units the participant is taking this semester and how their week is usually organised.
- 1Explain that this question is easy to answer, builds rapport and supplies context without touching the sensitive topic of tool use too early.
- 1Write a transition question that signals the change of topic and defines the key term, for example explaining that AI study tools means chatbots or summarisers and asking where these come up in their study.
- 1Explain that the transition defines terms in plain language, stays open, and avoids assuming the participant uses such tools at all.
Key terms
- Semi-Structured Interview
- An interview format using predetermined questions flexibly, allowing spontaneous exploration while keeping comparable data across participants.
- Interview Guide
- The planned list of questions and probes that steers an interview toward the research topic while inviting rich responses.
- Leading Question
- A question that introduces the interviewer's terms, assumptions or judgements and so pushes the participant toward a particular answer.
- Probe
- A follow-up prompt built on the participant's last answer to draw out a fuller story, more detail or a check on accuracy.
- Orthographic Transcription
- A verbatim written record of spoken words, including partial words and hesitations, that is the common form used for thematic analysis.
Interview Guides and Interviewing Skills FAQ
How many main questions should the guide include?
The tutorial guidance is roughly four main open questions for a 15-minute interview, supported by planned probes. Fewer, broader questions leave time for follow-up, which is where much of the useful detail appears.
Why shouldn't I just ask participants my research question?
A research question is written in analytic language for the researcher. Asking it directly pushes your framing onto the participant and invites a summary rather than an account of what actually happened, which weakens the data.
Whose interview do I transcribe after Week 8?
Each student transcribes the interview in which they acted as interviewer, using Braun and Clarke's notation. Recording that same interview yourself matters, so the tutorial suggests a backup device in case one recording fails.
What does piloting add if our tutor has already checked the guide?
Feedback checks whether questions read clearly, while piloting tests them under realistic conditions, including consent, recording, timing and whether probes genuinely produce more detail. It often exposes questions that look fine on paper but stall in conversation.
Assessment move
Begin with the structure continuum: sketch the three interview formats on a line and write one strength and one limitation under each without looking. Then take your group's draft guide and label every question by its role in the running order and by the content type it targets, such as experience, feeling or opinion. Any question you cannot label clearly is a candidate for rewriting. Next, run a leading-question audit.
For each main question, ask three things: does it use a word the participant has not used, does it assume something they have not said, and does it reveal what I think? Rewrite anything that fails, and write two probes per main question that you could use regardless of the answer.
Practise active listening with a friend for five minutes at a time, summarising what they said before asking anything new, then swap roles and note which behaviours made you feel heard. Before Week 8, rehearse your opening script aloud until introductions, consent and timing feel natural.
After the interview, transcribe a short section first and compare it with the notation table before doing the rest, because consistent notation is much easier to build from the start than to repair later. Finally, draft AT2 feedback notes during the interview in dot points tied to the 10 elements, then expand each into a strength and an opportunity backed by a specific moment.
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