Heart-Healthy and Stroke-Free: A Social Environment Handbook

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Chapter Seven: Practical Methods—Key Informant Interviews

Chapters Introduction Chapter 1: Getting Started Chapter 2: Preventive and Medical Services Chapter 3: Heart-Healthy Living Chapter 4: Quality of Life Chapter 5: Direct Observations and Windshield Surveys Chapter 6: Photography and Videography Chapter 7: Key Informant Interviews Chapter 8: Library Resources and Newspapers Chapter 9: Searching the Internet Chapter 10: Worksheets Chapter 11: Heart Disease and Stroke Resources

Key informant interviews are inexpensive ways to collect current, qualitative data from carefully selected members of the target community. This resource affords researchers, either outside or within the community, an opportunity to gain firsthand views—or a “pulse”—of the community from residents.

It is vital to note that, with some agencies or institutions, thorough prior review, approval, and permission are required, since human subjects are involved in this method. Find out what protocol your organization or its affiliates require.

Getting Started

Usually, open-ended questions work well for interviewing, allowing the interviewer to probe for further information in a colloquial manner. For example:

• How would you define your community?
• What are some of the major health concerns of people in your community?
• Please tell me about some of the social services and health services or agencies available in your community.

After writing a questionnaire draft, design a contact record, which the interviewer will use to document the interaction (see the table below). The contact record should include logistical information, such as interviewee name, times and dates of attempted contact, and results of the interaction.

Next, you should develop a small package of mailing materials to be sent to possible contacts—including a letter explaining how and why the person was selected to be interviewed. The information should also provide general details about the purpose, scope, and desired outcomes of your project, contact information if the person has questions about some of the package, and information about when and how you would like to conduct the interview.

After developing the questionnaire and other documents, you can concentrate on defining your sample population. When seeking opinions or information about the community, it is a good idea to select people who are socially active in the community, such as council members, directors of organizations, or community activists. Be sure your list includes more names than your desired number of completed interviews, to allow for lack of response.

Approval of Interview Material

Depending on the size of your study, you may have to get institutional review board (IRB) approval. Larger studies usually require IRB approval for use of human subjects, especially if the information will be published in journals, used in conference presentations, or distributed to other public outlets. For a smaller study with results that will be kept “in house” (within the agency or department), IRB approval may not be required. Check with the director or supervisor to be certain.

The Interview Process

Once all documents are ready, you can begin the interviews. Interviewers may want to keep in mind some key points:

• It is important to develop good rapport with your interviewees.

• Be clear, enunciate, and smile when speaking.

• Use appropriate vocabulary; be as unambiguous as possible.

• Be aware of background noise, which may be distracting or make an interviewee feel uneasy (e.g., a clicking keyboard).

• Try to record verbatim any comments that you think are particularly important or interesting, and note any further questions they generate.

After the interview, consider the following:

• Take time to make post-interview notes, recording observations such as whether the interviewee appeared to be truthful and her emotional state.

• Consult with other interviewers after doing two or three interviews to compare notes. Did the interviewees have difficulty with certain questions? (If so, agree on an explanatory statement to read with the question. Changing the question substantially will require resubmitting it to your IRB). What other issues have arisen that might not have been addressed during the design of the questionnaire? Do you need to incorporate new questions into the questionnaire? If so, begin looking into how you might amend your document and the potential impact of doing so.

Probing Versus Prompting

The main difference between probing and prompting is that prompting injects the interviewer’s bias, but probing elicits information in an ambiguous manner, thus decreasing bias and increasing the chance of receiving a genuinely conceived answer. Probing effectively can produce a wealth of information that could be easily missed.

Example of Prompting

Interviewer:  Are exercise classes offered at your facility?
Respondent:  Yes.
Interviewer:  What kinds of classes?
Respondent:  Oh, several different ones.
Interviewer:  Like aerobics, yoga, or weight training?

Example of Probing:

Interviewer:  Are exercise classes offered at your facility?
Respondent:  Yes.
Interviewer:  What kinds of classes?
Respondent:  Oh, several different ones.
Interviewer:  OK, could you name some of the specific classes offered?

When probing, the interviewer uses nonsuggestive questions to avoid introducing bias. Conversely, when prompting, an interviewer automatically offers some examples, as in the sample dialogue above, in which the interviewer named specific types of exercise class. Such prompts can bias the respondent’s answer, because the respondent may just default to the interviewer’s examples.

There are many forms of probing during an interview:

Echo Probe:  Repeating the last thing an informant has said and asking him or her to continue. Example: “I see, so you went to work in Mexico City. Where else did you go?”

Uh-huh Probe: Offer affirmative, yet neutral, utterances such as “right,” “uh-huh,” “I see,” “yes.” Example: “Right, and did you work anywhere else?”

Long Question Probe: Obtain more descriptive responses by making the question longer. Example: Instead of “How do you plant a garden?” you might ask, “What are all of the things you would need to start a garden?”

Phased Assertion: This is akin to “baiting,” where you reveal your knowledge about something to get the informant to comment. Example: “So I’ve learned that there is a new health clinic in Fort Dixon that provides care on Sundays …”.

Probing methods should only be used as necessary, and with variation, because overuse can be irritating or appear condescending, thus jeopardizing rapport with the interviewee.

Contact Worksheet for Key Informant Interviews
Use Before, During, and After Your Interviews

Use this worksheet to keep track of contact information for the key informants you want to interview in your community. You can photocopy the blank Key Informant Interview Contact Worksheet in Chapter Ten.

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Date last reviewed: 07/09/2007
Content source: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion