Skip to main content
Public Health Workforce Training
Link to beginning section of Introduction to Qualitative Research

Considerations for Planning

As Maxine mentioned earlier, thoughtful planning is required in order to successfully execute in-depth interviews or focus groups. Key questions to consider include:

  • Who will be recruited? How will you recruit?
  • Where will the interview be held?
  • What questions will be asked?
  • Who will facilitate the interview?
  • How will the interview be recorded?

There is a great deal of overlap between planning for an in-depth interview or a focus group. As with many aspects of the qualitative research process, there are no “right” or “wrong” answers. Maxine tells Jonathan that the answers to the above questions can be applied to both methods, and that the guidance offered in this part of their discussion should be adapted to reflect the real-world constraints of a project. Management of data collection will depend on time, funding, personnel availability and skills, and other related project resources.

Who will be recruited?

Sampling is an important consideration during data collection planning. How will you find or locate potential interviewees? What characteristic(s) or experience(s) does the individual need to have in order to be eligible for inclusion in the study?

Common types of non-random sampling techniques

Convenience samples

Non-representative groups of subjects are selected because they are the easiest to access. Study subjects are selected on the basis of convenience and not because they are representative of the entire population.

Purposive samples

Non-representative subsets of some larger population, constructed to serve a very specific need or purpose.

Quota sampling

Non-probability sampling technique wherein the assembled sample has the same proportions of individuals as the entire population with respect to known characteristics, traits, or phenomenon.

Extreme or deviant case selection

Used to obtain information on unusual cases.

Maximum variation cases

May be selected to obtain information about the meaning of different circumstances.

Paradigmatic cases

Selected when the desire is to develop a metaphor or establish a school for the domain that the case concerns.

Criterion sampling

Non-probably sampling technique where in the selected sample meets some predetermined criterion of importance (Patton, 2001, p. 238)

Additional resource: Miles & Huberman (1994, p. 28) - Miles MB, Huberman AM. Qualitative Data Analysis: A sourcebook of new methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994.