6. Where open-ended interviewing is part of the evaluation, determine how to approach the interviews.
In-depth, open-ended interviewing is aimed at capturing interviewees’ experiences with and perspectives on the program being evaluated to facilitate interview participants expressing their program experiences and judgments in their own terms. Since a major part of what is happening in a program is provided by people in their own terms, the evaluator must find out about those terms rather than impose upon them a preconceived or outsider's scheme of what they are about. It is the interviewer's task to find out what is fundamental or central to the people being interviewed, to capture their stories and their worldviews.
  • Types of interviews: Distinguish and understand the differences between structured, open-ended interviews; interview guide approaches; conversational interviews; and group interviews, including focus groups:
    • Structured, open-ended interviews—standardized questions to provide each interviewee with the same stimulus and to coordinate interviewing among team members.
    • Interview guide approaches—identifies topics, but not actual wording of questions, thereby offering flexibility.
    • Conversational interviews—highly interactive; interviewer reacts as well as shares to create a sense of conversation.
    • Focus groups—interviewer becomes a facilitator among interviewees in a group setting where they hear and react to one another’s responses.
  • Types of questions: Distinguish and understand the different types of interview questions and sequence the interview to get at the issues that are most important to the evaluation’s focus and intended users.
  • Listen carefully to responses: Interviewing involves both asking questions and listening attentively to responses. Using the matrix below if you ask an experiential question, listen to be sure you get an experiential response.
    A Matrix of Question Options
    Question Focus
    Past
    Present
    Future
    Behaviors/Experiences      
    Opinions/Values      
    Feelings/Emotions      
    Knowledge      
    Sensory      
    Background      
  • When tape-recording, monitor equipment to make sure it is working properly and not interfering with the quality of responses.
  • Practice interviewing to develop skill. Get feedback on technique.
  • Adapt interview techniques to the interviewee, e.g., children, key informants, elderly who may have trouble hearing, people with little education, those with and without power, those with different stakes in the evaluation findings.
  • Observe the interviewee. Every interview is also an observation.
  • Use probes to solicit deeper, richer responses. Help the interviewee understand the degree of depth and detail desired through probing and reinforcement for in-depth responses.
  • Honor the interviewee’s experience and perspective. Be empathetic, neutral, nonjudgmental, and appreciative.
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