Interview Guide

An interview guide is used by an interviewer to guide the conversation and help ensure that all pertinent topics and questions are addressed. The guide can be followed strictly or more flexibly, where the interview has the freedom to change the order of the questions. In developing an interview guide, consider the sequence or order, of the questions and try to limit the guide to one page. A guide can also include a list of domains, or main topic areas, to be explored in lieu of, or in addition, to pre-determined questions.

Ideally, an interview guide is developed in a team environment, where the product is reviewed and refined several times over in an iterative process. Design flexibility, an inherent characteristic of qualitative research, allows for revision of the interview guide based on how it “performed” in pilot or initial interviews. The team may decide to add new questions, remove a question, reorder or reword questions.

Depending on the style of the interview and the interviewer, the interview can be followed on a spectrum from verbatim to strictly to flexibly. The structure of the guide will dictate the level of involvement of the interviewer. This means that during a highly structured interview with a strict interview guide, the interviewer will remain in tight control of the conversation. Using a highly structured interview guide, in which all questions are pre-determined, helps to establish greater comparability across interviews. On the other hand, a less structured interview with a less strict interview guide will allow flexibility in the conversation. Here, the participants’ responses will guide the conversation, although the interviewer should still be conscientious of the questions and topics that need to be covered.

Tip! Use the “funnel method” when developing your interview guide. The funnel method asks broad questions first, followed by more tailored or directed questions.