Guide to User-Led Reviews
7. Organising the interviews
Interviews can be very useful but they are time-consuming and you may decide only to use a postal questionnaire. Another option is telephone interviews, but face-to-face interviews will provide better information. The best method for your organisation may be small group interviews.
If you are going to proceed with interviews, consider the following:
- Decide how many people you intend to interview, and how you are going to select them. Ideally it should be people who have used the service for a substantial enquiry or used it on a regular basis. Alternatively you can simply ask people in the questionnaire if they agree to be interviewed, so it becomes a self-selecting process. A combination of selection processes is probably ideal.
- Decide who is going to conduct interviews. Not everyone will be comfortable with the task, not everyone will be suitable for it. Decide who can or will interview whom, matching interviewer to interviewee may be very important.
- Consider whether to have two people interviewing. This can create a more conversational and relaxed setting, and one person can lead the interview whilst the other takes the notes, or take over if the other person is finding it difficult.
- Consider training. Ensure that people have the skills for interviewing or are given help to acquire them. Draw up interview guidelines.
The practical arrangements are very important, pay attention to:
- meeting people’s costs,
- transport requirements,
- venue suitability for interviews,
times which suit each individual, - being flexible in terms of how interviews are conducted, perhaps using an audio tape or braille questionnaire. Always consider accessibility issues for review team members and interviewees. For example, will you need to use a sign language or community language interpreter?
- the possibility of approaching people who used your service in the past or who may use your service in the future but do not use it at present,
- if you plan to interview people away from the office consider safety issues – see the checklist on page 5.
Most of all be flexible in every way you can to meet the needs of the people you plan to interview. Make the process as easy as possible for them.
The questionnaire is the agenda. It is important to get all the questions answered and to achieve consistency. However, there is nothing wrong with completely different approaches to each interview in order to meet the needs of the individual. Be conversational. If someone deals with a topic during conversation, skip the question.
After the first few interviews, interviewers should meet and discuss how it is going. Consider what is working and what is not in terms of interview approaches and practical arrangements, and make adjustments if necessary.
Consider the questions and how they are phrased, and again, make adjustments if necessary.
Tidy up your notes as soon as possible after the interviews. If getting them typed, get it done quickly.
Page updated 08.10.2007