research instruments for interview

Chapter 11. Interviewing

Introduction.

Interviewing people is at the heart of qualitative research. It is not merely a way to collect data but an intrinsically rewarding activity—an interaction between two people that holds the potential for greater understanding and interpersonal development. Unlike many of our daily interactions with others that are fairly shallow and mundane, sitting down with a person for an hour or two and really listening to what they have to say is a profound and deep enterprise, one that can provide not only “data” for you, the interviewer, but also self-understanding and a feeling of being heard for the interviewee. I always approach interviewing with a deep appreciation for the opportunity it gives me to understand how other people experience the world. That said, there is not one kind of interview but many, and some of these are shallower than others. This chapter will provide you with an overview of interview techniques but with a special focus on the in-depth semistructured interview guide approach, which is the approach most widely used in social science research.

An interview can be variously defined as “a conversation with a purpose” ( Lune and Berg 2018 ) and an attempt to understand the world from the point of view of the person being interviewed: “to unfold the meaning of peoples’ experiences, to uncover their lived world prior to scientific explanations” ( Kvale 2007 ). It is a form of active listening in which the interviewer steers the conversation to subjects and topics of interest to their research but also manages to leave enough space for those interviewed to say surprising things. Achieving that balance is a tricky thing, which is why most practitioners believe interviewing is both an art and a science. In my experience as a teacher, there are some students who are “natural” interviewers (often they are introverts), but anyone can learn to conduct interviews, and everyone, even those of us who have been doing this for years, can improve their interviewing skills. This might be a good time to highlight the fact that the interview is a product between interviewer and interviewee and that this product is only as good as the rapport established between the two participants. Active listening is the key to establishing this necessary rapport.

Patton ( 2002 ) makes the argument that we use interviews because there are certain things that are not observable. In particular, “we cannot observe feelings, thoughts, and intentions. We cannot observe behaviors that took place at some previous point in time. We cannot observe situations that preclude the presence of an observer. We cannot observe how people have organized the world and the meanings they attach to what goes on in the world. We have to ask people questions about those things” ( 341 ).

Types of Interviews

There are several distinct types of interviews. Imagine a continuum (figure 11.1). On one side are unstructured conversations—the kind you have with your friends. No one is in control of those conversations, and what you talk about is often random—whatever pops into your head. There is no secret, underlying purpose to your talking—if anything, the purpose is to talk to and engage with each other, and the words you use and the things you talk about are a little beside the point. An unstructured interview is a little like this informal conversation, except that one of the parties to the conversation (you, the researcher) does have an underlying purpose, and that is to understand the other person. You are not friends speaking for no purpose, but it might feel just as unstructured to the “interviewee” in this scenario. That is one side of the continuum. On the other side are fully structured and standardized survey-type questions asked face-to-face. Here it is very clear who is asking the questions and who is answering them. This doesn’t feel like a conversation at all! A lot of people new to interviewing have this ( erroneously !) in mind when they think about interviews as data collection. Somewhere in the middle of these two extreme cases is the “ semistructured” interview , in which the researcher uses an “interview guide” to gently move the conversation to certain topics and issues. This is the primary form of interviewing for qualitative social scientists and will be what I refer to as interviewing for the rest of this chapter, unless otherwise specified.

Informal (unstructured conversations). This is the most “open-ended” approach to interviewing. It is particularly useful in conjunction with observational methods (see chapters 13 and 14). There are no predetermined questions. Each interview will be different. Imagine you are researching the Oregon Country Fair, an annual event in Veneta, Oregon, that includes live music, artisan craft booths, face painting, and a lot of people walking through forest paths. It’s unlikely that you will be able to get a person to sit down with you and talk intensely about a set of questions for an hour and a half. But you might be able to sidle up to several people and engage with them about their experiences at the fair. You might have a general interest in what attracts people to these events, so you could start a conversation by asking strangers why they are here or why they come back every year. That’s it. Then you have a conversation that may lead you anywhere. Maybe one person tells a long story about how their parents brought them here when they were a kid. A second person talks about how this is better than Burning Man. A third person shares their favorite traveling band. And yet another enthuses about the public library in the woods. During your conversations, you also talk about a lot of other things—the weather, the utilikilts for sale, the fact that a favorite food booth has disappeared. It’s all good. You may not be able to record these conversations. Instead, you might jot down notes on the spot and then, when you have the time, write down as much as you can remember about the conversations in long fieldnotes. Later, you will have to sit down with these fieldnotes and try to make sense of all the information (see chapters 18 and 19).

Interview guide ( semistructured interview ). This is the primary type employed by social science qualitative researchers. The researcher creates an “interview guide” in advance, which she uses in every interview. In theory, every person interviewed is asked the same questions. In practice, every person interviewed is asked mostly the same topics but not always the same questions, as the whole point of a “guide” is that it guides the direction of the conversation but does not command it. The guide is typically between five and ten questions or question areas, sometimes with suggested follow-ups or prompts . For example, one question might be “What was it like growing up in Eastern Oregon?” with prompts such as “Did you live in a rural area? What kind of high school did you attend?” to help the conversation develop. These interviews generally take place in a quiet place (not a busy walkway during a festival) and are recorded. The recordings are transcribed, and those transcriptions then become the “data” that is analyzed (see chapters 18 and 19). The conventional length of one of these types of interviews is between one hour and two hours, optimally ninety minutes. Less than one hour doesn’t allow for much development of questions and thoughts, and two hours (or more) is a lot of time to ask someone to sit still and answer questions. If you have a lot of ground to cover, and the person is willing, I highly recommend two separate interview sessions, with the second session being slightly shorter than the first (e.g., ninety minutes the first day, sixty minutes the second). There are lots of good reasons for this, but the most compelling one is that this allows you to listen to the first day’s recording and catch anything interesting you might have missed in the moment and so develop follow-up questions that can probe further. This also allows the person being interviewed to have some time to think about the issues raised in the interview and go a little deeper with their answers.

Standardized questionnaire with open responses ( structured interview ). This is the type of interview a lot of people have in mind when they hear “interview”: a researcher comes to your door with a clipboard and proceeds to ask you a series of questions. These questions are all the same whoever answers the door; they are “standardized.” Both the wording and the exact order are important, as people’s responses may vary depending on how and when a question is asked. These are qualitative only in that the questions allow for “open-ended responses”: people can say whatever they want rather than select from a predetermined menu of responses. For example, a survey I collaborated on included this open-ended response question: “How does class affect one’s career success in sociology?” Some of the answers were simply one word long (e.g., “debt”), and others were long statements with stories and personal anecdotes. It is possible to be surprised by the responses. Although it’s a stretch to call this kind of questioning a conversation, it does allow the person answering the question some degree of freedom in how they answer.

Survey questionnaire with closed responses (not an interview!). Standardized survey questions with specific answer options (e.g., closed responses) are not really interviews at all, and they do not generate qualitative data. For example, if we included five options for the question “How does class affect one’s career success in sociology?”—(1) debt, (2) social networks, (3) alienation, (4) family doesn’t understand, (5) type of grad program—we leave no room for surprises at all. Instead, we would most likely look at patterns around these responses, thinking quantitatively rather than qualitatively (e.g., using regression analysis techniques, we might find that working-class sociologists were twice as likely to bring up alienation). It can sometimes be confusing for new students because the very same survey can include both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The key is to think about how these will be analyzed and to what level surprises are possible. If your plan is to turn all responses into a number and make predictions about correlations and relationships, you are no longer conducting qualitative research. This is true even if you are conducting this survey face-to-face with a real live human. Closed-response questions are not conversations of any kind, purposeful or not.

In summary, the semistructured interview guide approach is the predominant form of interviewing for social science qualitative researchers because it allows a high degree of freedom of responses from those interviewed (thus allowing for novel discoveries) while still maintaining some connection to a research question area or topic of interest. The rest of the chapter assumes the employment of this form.

Creating an Interview Guide

Your interview guide is the instrument used to bridge your research question(s) and what the people you are interviewing want to tell you. Unlike a standardized questionnaire, the questions actually asked do not need to be exactly what you have written down in your guide. The guide is meant to create space for those you are interviewing to talk about the phenomenon of interest, but sometimes you are not even sure what that phenomenon is until you start asking questions. A priority in creating an interview guide is to ensure it offers space. One of the worst mistakes is to create questions that are so specific that the person answering them will not stray. Relatedly, questions that sound “academic” will shut down a lot of respondents. A good interview guide invites respondents to talk about what is important to them, not feel like they are performing or being evaluated by you.

Good interview questions should not sound like your “research question” at all. For example, let’s say your research question is “How do patriarchal assumptions influence men’s understanding of climate change and responses to climate change?” It would be worse than unhelpful to ask a respondent, “How do your assumptions about the role of men affect your understanding of climate change?” You need to unpack this into manageable nuggets that pull your respondent into the area of interest without leading him anywhere. You could start by asking him what he thinks about climate change in general. Or, even better, whether he has any concerns about heatwaves or increased tornadoes or polar icecaps melting. Once he starts talking about that, you can ask follow-up questions that bring in issues around gendered roles, perhaps asking if he is married (to a woman) and whether his wife shares his thoughts and, if not, how they negotiate that difference. The fact is, you won’t really know the right questions to ask until he starts talking.

There are several distinct types of questions that can be used in your interview guide, either as main questions or as follow-up probes. If you remember that the point is to leave space for the respondent, you will craft a much more effective interview guide! You will also want to think about the place of time in both the questions themselves (past, present, future orientations) and the sequencing of the questions.

Researcher Note

Suggestion : As you read the next three sections (types of questions, temporality, question sequence), have in mind a particular research question, and try to draft questions and sequence them in a way that opens space for a discussion that helps you answer your research question.

Type of Questions

Experience and behavior questions ask about what a respondent does regularly (their behavior) or has done (their experience). These are relatively easy questions for people to answer because they appear more “factual” and less subjective. This makes them good opening questions. For the study on climate change above, you might ask, “Have you ever experienced an unusual weather event? What happened?” Or “You said you work outside? What is a typical summer workday like for you? How do you protect yourself from the heat?”

Opinion and values questions , in contrast, ask questions that get inside the minds of those you are interviewing. “Do you think climate change is real? Who or what is responsible for it?” are two such questions. Note that you don’t have to literally ask, “What is your opinion of X?” but you can find a way to ask the specific question relevant to the conversation you are having. These questions are a bit trickier to ask because the answers you get may depend in part on how your respondent perceives you and whether they want to please you or not. We’ve talked a fair amount about being reflective. Here is another place where this comes into play. You need to be aware of the effect your presence might have on the answers you are receiving and adjust accordingly. If you are a woman who is perceived as liberal asking a man who identifies as conservative about climate change, there is a lot of subtext that can be going on in the interview. There is no one right way to resolve this, but you must at least be aware of it.

Feeling questions are questions that ask respondents to draw on their emotional responses. It’s pretty common for academic researchers to forget that we have bodies and emotions, but people’s understandings of the world often operate at this affective level, sometimes unconsciously or barely consciously. It is a good idea to include questions that leave space for respondents to remember, imagine, or relive emotional responses to particular phenomena. “What was it like when you heard your cousin’s house burned down in that wildfire?” doesn’t explicitly use any emotion words, but it allows your respondent to remember what was probably a pretty emotional day. And if they respond emotionally neutral, that is pretty interesting data too. Note that asking someone “How do you feel about X” is not always going to evoke an emotional response, as they might simply turn around and respond with “I think that…” It is better to craft a question that actually pushes the respondent into the affective category. This might be a specific follow-up to an experience and behavior question —for example, “You just told me about your daily routine during the summer heat. Do you worry it is going to get worse?” or “Have you ever been afraid it will be too hot to get your work accomplished?”

Knowledge questions ask respondents what they actually know about something factual. We have to be careful when we ask these types of questions so that respondents do not feel like we are evaluating them (which would shut them down), but, for example, it is helpful to know when you are having a conversation about climate change that your respondent does in fact know that unusual weather events have increased and that these have been attributed to climate change! Asking these questions can set the stage for deeper questions and can ensure that the conversation makes the same kind of sense to both participants. For example, a conversation about political polarization can be put back on track once you realize that the respondent doesn’t really have a clear understanding that there are two parties in the US. Instead of asking a series of questions about Republicans and Democrats, you might shift your questions to talk more generally about political disagreements (e.g., “people against abortion”). And sometimes what you do want to know is the level of knowledge about a particular program or event (e.g., “Are you aware you can discharge your student loans through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program?”).

Sensory questions call on all senses of the respondent to capture deeper responses. These are particularly helpful in sparking memory. “Think back to your childhood in Eastern Oregon. Describe the smells, the sounds…” Or you could use these questions to help a person access the full experience of a setting they customarily inhabit: “When you walk through the doors to your office building, what do you see? Hear? Smell?” As with feeling questions , these questions often supplement experience and behavior questions . They are another way of allowing your respondent to report fully and deeply rather than remain on the surface.

Creative questions employ illustrative examples, suggested scenarios, or simulations to get respondents to think more deeply about an issue, topic, or experience. There are many options here. In The Trouble with Passion , Erin Cech ( 2021 ) provides a scenario in which “Joe” is trying to decide whether to stay at his decent but boring computer job or follow his passion by opening a restaurant. She asks respondents, “What should Joe do?” Their answers illuminate the attraction of “passion” in job selection. In my own work, I have used a news story about an upwardly mobile young man who no longer has time to see his mother and sisters to probe respondents’ feelings about the costs of social mobility. Jessi Streib and Betsy Leondar-Wright have used single-page cartoon “scenes” to elicit evaluations of potential racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and classism. Barbara Sutton ( 2010 ) has employed lists of words (“strong,” “mother,” “victim”) on notecards she fans out and asks her female respondents to select and discuss.

Background/Demographic Questions

You most definitely will want to know more about the person you are interviewing in terms of conventional demographic information, such as age, race, gender identity, occupation, and educational attainment. These are not questions that normally open up inquiry. [1] For this reason, my practice has been to include a separate “demographic questionnaire” sheet that I ask each respondent to fill out at the conclusion of the interview. Only include those aspects that are relevant to your study. For example, if you are not exploring religion or religious affiliation, do not include questions about a person’s religion on the demographic sheet. See the example provided at the end of this chapter.

Temporality

Any type of question can have a past, present, or future orientation. For example, if you are asking a behavior question about workplace routine, you might ask the respondent to talk about past work, present work, and ideal (future) work. Similarly, if you want to understand how people cope with natural disasters, you might ask your respondent how they felt then during the wildfire and now in retrospect and whether and to what extent they have concerns for future wildfire disasters. It’s a relatively simple suggestion—don’t forget to ask about past, present, and future—but it can have a big impact on the quality of the responses you receive.

Question Sequence

Having a list of good questions or good question areas is not enough to make a good interview guide. You will want to pay attention to the order in which you ask your questions. Even though any one respondent can derail this order (perhaps by jumping to answer a question you haven’t yet asked), a good advance plan is always helpful. When thinking about sequence, remember that your goal is to get your respondent to open up to you and to say things that might surprise you. To establish rapport, it is best to start with nonthreatening questions. Asking about the present is often the safest place to begin, followed by the past (they have to know you a little bit to get there), and lastly, the future (talking about hopes and fears requires the most rapport). To allow for surprises, it is best to move from very general questions to more particular questions only later in the interview. This ensures that respondents have the freedom to bring up the topics that are relevant to them rather than feel like they are constrained to answer you narrowly. For example, refrain from asking about particular emotions until these have come up previously—don’t lead with them. Often, your more particular questions will emerge only during the course of the interview, tailored to what is emerging in conversation.

Once you have a set of questions, read through them aloud and imagine you are being asked the same questions. Does the set of questions have a natural flow? Would you be willing to answer the very first question to a total stranger? Does your sequence establish facts and experiences before moving on to opinions and values? Did you include prefatory statements, where necessary; transitions; and other announcements? These can be as simple as “Hey, we talked a lot about your experiences as a barista while in college.… Now I am turning to something completely different: how you managed friendships in college.” That is an abrupt transition, but it has been softened by your acknowledgment of that.

Probes and Flexibility

Once you have the interview guide, you will also want to leave room for probes and follow-up questions. As in the sample probe included here, you can write out the obvious probes and follow-up questions in advance. You might not need them, as your respondent might anticipate them and include full responses to the original question. Or you might need to tailor them to how your respondent answered the question. Some common probes and follow-up questions include asking for more details (When did that happen? Who else was there?), asking for elaboration (Could you say more about that?), asking for clarification (Does that mean what I think it means or something else? I understand what you mean, but someone else reading the transcript might not), and asking for contrast or comparison (How did this experience compare with last year’s event?). “Probing is a skill that comes from knowing what to look for in the interview, listening carefully to what is being said and what is not said, and being sensitive to the feedback needs of the person being interviewed” ( Patton 2002:374 ). It takes work! And energy. I and many other interviewers I know report feeling emotionally and even physically drained after conducting an interview. You are tasked with active listening and rearranging your interview guide as needed on the fly. If you only ask the questions written down in your interview guide with no deviations, you are doing it wrong. [2]

The Final Question

Every interview guide should include a very open-ended final question that allows for the respondent to say whatever it is they have been dying to tell you but you’ve forgotten to ask. About half the time they are tired too and will tell you they have nothing else to say. But incredibly, some of the most honest and complete responses take place here, at the end of a long interview. You have to realize that the person being interviewed is often discovering things about themselves as they talk to you and that this process of discovery can lead to new insights for them. Making space at the end is therefore crucial. Be sure you convey that you actually do want them to tell you more, that the offer of “anything else?” is not read as an empty convention where the polite response is no. Here is where you can pull from that active listening and tailor the final question to the particular person. For example, “I’ve asked you a lot of questions about what it was like to live through that wildfire. I’m wondering if there is anything I’ve forgotten to ask, especially because I haven’t had that experience myself” is a much more inviting final question than “Great. Anything you want to add?” It’s also helpful to convey to the person that you have the time to listen to their full answer, even if the allotted time is at the end. After all, there are no more questions to ask, so the respondent knows exactly how much time is left. Do them the courtesy of listening to them!

Conducting the Interview

Once you have your interview guide, you are on your way to conducting your first interview. I always practice my interview guide with a friend or family member. I do this even when the questions don’t make perfect sense for them, as it still helps me realize which questions make no sense, are poorly worded (too academic), or don’t follow sequentially. I also practice the routine I will use for interviewing, which goes something like this:

• Introduce myself and reintroduce the study
• Provide consent form and ask them to sign and retain/return copy
• Ask if they have any questions about the study before we begin
• Ask if I can begin recording
• Ask questions (from interview guide)
• Turn off the recording device
• Ask if they are willing to fill out my demographic questionnaire
• Collect questionnaire and, without looking at the answers, place in same folder as signed consent form
• Thank them and depart

A note on remote interviewing: Interviews have traditionally been conducted face-to-face in a private or quiet public setting. You don’t want a lot of background noise, as this will make transcriptions difficult. During the recent global pandemic, many interviewers, myself included, learned the benefits of interviewing remotely. Although face-to-face is still preferable for many reasons, Zoom interviewing is not a bad alternative, and it does allow more interviews across great distances. Zoom also includes automatic transcription, which significantly cuts down on the time it normally takes to convert our conversations into “data” to be analyzed. These automatic transcriptions are not perfect, however, and you will still need to listen to the recording and clarify and clean up the transcription. Nor do automatic transcriptions include notations of body language or change of tone, which you may want to include. When interviewing remotely, you will want to collect the consent form before you meet: ask them to read, sign, and return it as an email attachment. I think it is better to ask for the demographic questionnaire after the interview, but because some respondents may never return it then, it is probably best to ask for this at the same time as the consent form, in advance of the interview.

What should you bring to the interview? I would recommend bringing two copies of the consent form (one for you and one for the respondent), a demographic questionnaire, a manila folder in which to place the signed consent form and filled-out demographic questionnaire, a printed copy of your interview guide (I print with three-inch right margins so I can jot down notes on the page next to relevant questions), a pen, a recording device, and water.

After the interview, you will want to secure the signed consent form in a locked filing cabinet (if in print) or a password-protected folder on your computer. Using Excel or a similar program that allows tables/spreadsheets, create an identifying number for your interview that links to the consent form without using the name of your respondent. For example, let’s say that I conduct interviews with US politicians, and the first person I meet with is George W. Bush. I will assign the transcription the number “INT#001” and add it to the signed consent form. [3] The signed consent form goes into a locked filing cabinet, and I never use the name “George W. Bush” again. I take the information from the demographic sheet, open my Excel spreadsheet, and add the relevant information in separate columns for the row INT#001: White, male, Republican. When I interview Bill Clinton as my second interview, I include a second row: INT#002: White, male, Democrat. And so on. The only link to the actual name of the respondent and this information is the fact that the consent form (unavailable to anyone but me) has stamped on it the interview number.

Many students get very nervous before their first interview. Actually, many of us are always nervous before the interview! But do not worry—this is normal, and it does pass. Chances are, you will be pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it begins to feel. These “purposeful conversations” are often a delight for both participants. This is not to say that sometimes things go wrong. I often have my students practice several “bad scenarios” (e.g., a respondent that you cannot get to open up; a respondent who is too talkative and dominates the conversation, steering it away from the topics you are interested in; emotions that completely take over; or shocking disclosures you are ill-prepared to handle), but most of the time, things go quite well. Be prepared for the unexpected, but know that the reason interviews are so popular as a technique of data collection is that they are usually richly rewarding for both participants.

One thing that I stress to my methods students and remind myself about is that interviews are still conversations between people. If there’s something you might feel uncomfortable asking someone about in a “normal” conversation, you will likely also feel a bit of discomfort asking it in an interview. Maybe more importantly, your respondent may feel uncomfortable. Social research—especially about inequality—can be uncomfortable. And it’s easy to slip into an abstract, intellectualized, or removed perspective as an interviewer. This is one reason trying out interview questions is important. Another is that sometimes the question sounds good in your head but doesn’t work as well out loud in practice. I learned this the hard way when a respondent asked me how I would answer the question I had just posed, and I realized that not only did I not really know how I would answer it, but I also wasn’t quite as sure I knew what I was asking as I had thought.

—Elizabeth M. Lee, Associate Professor of Sociology at Saint Joseph’s University, author of Class and Campus Life , and co-author of Geographies of Campus Inequality

How Many Interviews?

Your research design has included a targeted number of interviews and a recruitment plan (see chapter 5). Follow your plan, but remember that “ saturation ” is your goal. You interview as many people as you can until you reach a point at which you are no longer surprised by what they tell you. This means not that no one after your first twenty interviews will have surprising, interesting stories to tell you but rather that the picture you are forming about the phenomenon of interest to you from a research perspective has come into focus, and none of the interviews are substantially refocusing that picture. That is when you should stop collecting interviews. Note that to know when you have reached this, you will need to read your transcripts as you go. More about this in chapters 18 and 19.

Your Final Product: The Ideal Interview Transcript

A good interview transcript will demonstrate a subtly controlled conversation by the skillful interviewer. In general, you want to see replies that are about one paragraph long, not short sentences and not running on for several pages. Although it is sometimes necessary to follow respondents down tangents, it is also often necessary to pull them back to the questions that form the basis of your research study. This is not really a free conversation, although it may feel like that to the person you are interviewing.

Final Tips from an Interview Master

Annette Lareau is arguably one of the masters of the trade. In Listening to People , she provides several guidelines for good interviews and then offers a detailed example of an interview gone wrong and how it could be addressed (please see the “Further Readings” at the end of this chapter). Here is an abbreviated version of her set of guidelines: (1) interview respondents who are experts on the subjects of most interest to you (as a corollary, don’t ask people about things they don’t know); (2) listen carefully and talk as little as possible; (3) keep in mind what you want to know and why you want to know it; (4) be a proactive interviewer (subtly guide the conversation); (5) assure respondents that there aren’t any right or wrong answers; (6) use the respondent’s own words to probe further (this both allows you to accurately identify what you heard and pushes the respondent to explain further); (7) reuse effective probes (don’t reinvent the wheel as you go—if repeating the words back works, do it again and again); (8) focus on learning the subjective meanings that events or experiences have for a respondent; (9) don’t be afraid to ask a question that draws on your own knowledge (unlike trial lawyers who are trained never to ask a question for which they don’t already know the answer, sometimes it’s worth it to ask risky questions based on your hypotheses or just plain hunches); (10) keep thinking while you are listening (so difficult…and important); (11) return to a theme raised by a respondent if you want further information; (12) be mindful of power inequalities (and never ever coerce a respondent to continue the interview if they want out); (13) take control with overly talkative respondents; (14) expect overly succinct responses, and develop strategies for probing further; (15) balance digging deep and moving on; (16) develop a plan to deflect questions (e.g., let them know you are happy to answer any questions at the end of the interview, but you don’t want to take time away from them now); and at the end, (17) check to see whether you have asked all your questions. You don’t always have to ask everyone the same set of questions, but if there is a big area you have forgotten to cover, now is the time to recover ( Lareau 2021:93–103 ).

Sample: Demographic Questionnaire

ASA Taskforce on First-Generation and Working-Class Persons in Sociology – Class Effects on Career Success

Supplementary Demographic Questionnaire

Thank you for your participation in this interview project. We would like to collect a few pieces of key demographic information from you to supplement our analyses. Your answers to these questions will be kept confidential and stored by ID number. All of your responses here are entirely voluntary!

What best captures your race/ethnicity? (please check any/all that apply)

• White (Non Hispanic/Latina/o/x)
• Black or African American
• Hispanic, Latino/a/x of Spanish
• Asian or Asian American
• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Middle Eastern or North African
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
• Other : (Please write in: ________________)

What is your current position?

• Grad Student
• Full Professor

Please check any and all of the following that apply to you:

• I identify as a working-class academic
• I was the first in my family to graduate from college
• I grew up poor

What best reflects your gender?

• Transgender female/Transgender woman
• Transgender male/Transgender man
• Gender queer/ Gender nonconforming

Anything else you would like us to know about you?

Example: Interview Guide

In this example, follow-up prompts are italicized.  Note the sequence of questions.  That second question often elicits an entire life history , answering several later questions in advance.

Introduction Script/Question

Thank you for participating in our survey of ASA members who identify as first-generation or working-class.  As you may have heard, ASA has sponsored a taskforce on first-generation and working-class persons in sociology and we are interested in hearing from those who so identify.  Your participation in this interview will help advance our knowledge in this area.

• The first thing we would like to as you is why you have volunteered to be part of this study? What does it mean to you be first-gen or working class?  Why were you willing to be interviewed?
• How did you decide to become a sociologist?
• Can you tell me a little bit about where you grew up? ( prompts: what did your parent(s) do for a living?  What kind of high school did you attend?)
• Has this identity been salient to your experience? (how? How much?)
• How welcoming was your grad program? Your first academic employer?
• Why did you decide to pursue sociology at the graduate level?
• Did you experience culture shock in college? In graduate school?
• Has your FGWC status shaped how you’ve thought about where you went to school? debt? etc?
• Were you mentored? How did this work (not work)?  How might it?
• What did you consider when deciding where to go to grad school? Where to apply for your first position?
• What, to you, is a mark of career success? Have you achieved that success?  What has helped or hindered your pursuit of success?
• Do you think sociology, as a field, cares about prestige?
• Let’s talk a little bit about intersectionality. How does being first-gen/working class work alongside other identities that are important to you?
• What do your friends and family think about your career? Have you had any difficulty relating to family members or past friends since becoming highly educated?
• Do you have any debt from college/grad school? Are you concerned about this?  Could you explain more about how you paid for college/grad school?  (here, include assistance from family, fellowships, scholarships, etc.)
• (You’ve mentioned issues or obstacles you had because of your background.) What could have helped?  Or, who or what did? Can you think of fortuitous moments in your career?
• Do you have any regrets about the path you took?
• Is there anything else you would like to add? Anything that the Taskforce should take note of, that we did not ask you about here?

Further Readings

Britten, Nicky. 1995. “Qualitative Interviews in Medical Research.” BMJ: British Medical Journal 31(6999):251–253. A good basic overview of interviewing particularly useful for students of public health and medical research generally.

Corbin, Juliet, and Janice M. Morse. 2003. “The Unstructured Interactive Interview: Issues of Reciprocity and Risks When Dealing with Sensitive Topics.” Qualitative Inquiry 9(3):335–354. Weighs the potential benefits and harms of conducting interviews on topics that may cause emotional distress. Argues that the researcher’s skills and code of ethics should ensure that the interviewing process provides more of a benefit to both participant and researcher than a harm to the former.

Gerson, Kathleen, and Sarah Damaske. 2020. The Science and Art of Interviewing . New York: Oxford University Press. A useful guidebook/textbook for both undergraduates and graduate students, written by sociologists.

Kvale, Steiner. 2007. Doing Interviews . London: SAGE. An easy-to-follow guide to conducting and analyzing interviews by psychologists.

Lamont, Michèle, and Ann Swidler. 2014. “Methodological Pluralism and the Possibilities and Limits of Interviewing.” Qualitative Sociology 37(2):153–171. Written as a response to various debates surrounding the relative value of interview-based studies and ethnographic studies defending the particular strengths of interviewing. This is a must-read article for anyone seriously engaging in qualitative research!

Pugh, Allison J. 2013. “What Good Are Interviews for Thinking about Culture? Demystifying Interpretive Analysis.” American Journal of Cultural Sociology 1(1):42–68. Another defense of interviewing written against those who champion ethnographic methods as superior, particularly in the area of studying culture. A classic.

Rapley, Timothy John. 2001. “The ‘Artfulness’ of Open-Ended Interviewing: Some considerations in analyzing interviews.” Qualitative Research 1(3):303–323. Argues for the importance of “local context” of data production (the relationship built between interviewer and interviewee, for example) in properly analyzing interview data.

Weiss, Robert S. 1995. Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies . New York: Simon and Schuster. A classic and well-regarded textbook on interviewing. Because Weiss has extensive experience conducting surveys, he contrasts the qualitative interview with the survey questionnaire well; particularly useful for those trained in the latter.

• I say “normally” because how people understand their various identities can itself be an expansive topic of inquiry. Here, I am merely talking about collecting otherwise unexamined demographic data, similar to how we ask people to check boxes on surveys. ↵
• Again, this applies to “semistructured in-depth interviewing.” When conducting standardized questionnaires, you will want to ask each question exactly as written, without deviations! ↵
• I always include “INT” in the number because I sometimes have other kinds of data with their own numbering: FG#001 would mean the first focus group, for example. I also always include three-digit spaces, as this allows for up to 999 interviews (or, more realistically, allows for me to interview up to one hundred persons without having to reset my numbering system). ↵

A method of data collection in which the researcher asks the participant questions; the answers to these questions are often recorded and transcribed verbatim. There are many different kinds of interviews - see also semistructured interview , structured interview , and unstructured interview .

A document listing key questions and question areas for use during an interview.  It is used most often for semi-structured interviews.  A good interview guide may have no more than ten primary questions for two hours of interviewing, but these ten questions will be supplemented by probes and relevant follow-ups throughout the interview.  Most IRBs require the inclusion of the interview guide in applications for review.  See also interview and  semi-structured interview .

A data-collection method that relies on casual, conversational, and informal interviewing.  Despite its apparent conversational nature, the researcher usually has a set of particular questions or question areas in mind but allows the interview to unfold spontaneously.  This is a common data-collection technique among ethnographers.  Compare to the semi-structured or in-depth interview .

A form of interview that follows a standard guide of questions asked, although the order of the questions may change to match the particular needs of each individual interview subject, and probing “follow-up” questions are often added during the course of the interview.  The semi-structured interview is the primary form of interviewing used by qualitative researchers in the social sciences.  It is sometimes referred to as an “in-depth” interview.  See also interview and  interview guide .

The cluster of data-collection tools and techniques that involve observing interactions between people, the behaviors, and practices of individuals (sometimes in contrast to what they say about how they act and behave), and cultures in context.  Observational methods are the key tools employed by ethnographers and Grounded Theory .

Follow-up questions used in a semi-structured interview  to elicit further elaboration.  Suggested prompts can be included in the interview guide  to be used/deployed depending on how the initial question was answered or if the topic of the prompt does not emerge spontaneously.

A form of interview that follows a strict set of questions, asked in a particular order, for all interview subjects.  The questions are also the kind that elicits short answers, and the data is more “informative” than probing.  This is often used in mixed-methods studies, accompanying a survey instrument.  Because there is no room for nuance or the exploration of meaning in structured interviews, qualitative researchers tend to employ semi-structured interviews instead.  See also interview.

The point at which you can conclude data collection because every person you are interviewing, the interaction you are observing, or content you are analyzing merely confirms what you have already noted.  Achieving saturation is often used as the justification for the final sample size.

An interview variant in which a person’s life story is elicited in a narrative form.  Turning points and key themes are established by the researcher and used as data points for further analysis.

Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods Copyright © 2023 by Allison Hurst is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Research Methods Guide: Interview Research

• Introduction
• Research Design & Method
• Survey Research
• Data Analysis
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Tutorial Videos: Interview Method

Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research

Goals of Interview Research

• Preferences
• They help you explain, better understand, and explore research subjects' opinions, behavior, experiences, phenomenon, etc.
• Interview questions are usually open-ended questions so that in-depth information will be collected.

Mode of Data Collection

There are several types of interviews, including:

• Face-to-Face
• Online (e.g. Skype, Googlehangout, etc)

FAQ: Conducting Interview Research

What are the important steps involved in interviews?

• Think about who you will interview
• Think about what kind of information you want to obtain from interviews
• Think about why you want to pursue in-depth information around your research topic
• Introduce yourself and explain the aim of the interview
• Devise your questions so interviewees can help answer your research question
• Have a sequence to your questions / topics by grouping them in themes
• Make sure you can easily move back and forth between questions / topics
• Make sure your questions are clear and easy to understand
• Do not ask leading questions
• Do you want to bring a second interviewer with you?
• Do you want to bring a notetaker?
• Do you want to record interviews? If so, do you have time to transcribe interview recordings?
• Where will you interview people? Where is the setting with the least distraction?
• How long will each interview take?
• Do you need to address terms of confidentiality?

Do I have to choose either a survey or interviewing method?

No.  In fact, many researchers use a mixed method - interviews can be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to surveys, e.g., to further investigate their responses.

Is training an interviewer important?

Yes, since the interviewer can control the quality of the result, training the interviewer becomes crucial.  If more than one interviewers are involved in your study, it is important to have every interviewer understand the interviewing procedure and rehearse the interviewing process before beginning the formal study.

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Research Methodologies: Research Instruments

• Research Methodology Basics
• Research Instruments
• Types of Research Methodologies

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Types of Research Instruments

A research instrument is a tool you will use to help you collect, measure and analyze the data you use as part of your research.  The choice of research instrument will usually be yours to make as the researcher and will be whichever best suits your methodology. 

There are many different research instruments you can use in collecting data for your research:

• Interviews  (either as a group or one-on-one). You can carry out interviews in many different ways. For example, your interview can be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured. The difference between them is how formal the set of questions is that is asked of the interviewee. In a group interview, you may choose to ask the interviewees to give you their opinions or perceptions on certain topics.
• Surveys  (online or in-person). In survey research, you are posing questions in which you ask for a response from the person taking the survey. You may wish to have either free-answer questions such as essay style questions, or you may wish to use closed questions such as multiple choice. You may even wish to make the survey a mixture of both.
• Focus Groups.  Similar to the group interview above, you may wish to ask a focus group to discuss a particular topic or opinion while you make a note of the answers given.
• Observations.  This is a good research instrument to use if you are looking into human behaviors. Different ways of researching this include studying the spontaneous behavior of participants in their everyday life, or something more structured. A structured observation is research conducted at a set time and place where researchers observe behavior as planned and agreed upon with participants.

These are the most common ways of carrying out research, but it is really dependent on your needs as a researcher and what approach you think is best to take. It is also possible to combine a number of research instruments if this is necessary and appropriate in answering your research problem.

Data Collection

How to Collect Data for Your Research   This article covers different ways of collecting data in preparation for writing a thesis.

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Research Interviews: An effective and insightful way of data collection

Research interviews play a pivotal role in collecting data for various academic, scientific, and professional endeavors. They provide researchers with an opportunity to delve deep into the thoughts, experiences, and perspectives of an individual, thus enabling a comprehensive understanding of complex phenomena. It is important for researchers to design an effective and insightful method of data collection on a particular topic. A research interview is typically a two-person meeting conducted to collect information on a certain topic. It is a qualitative data collection method to gain primary information.

The three key features of a research interview are as follows:

Table of Contents

The Significance of Research Interviews in Gathering Primary Data

The role of research interviews in gathering first-hand information is invaluable. Additionally, they allow researchers to interact directly with participants, enabling them to collect unfiltered primary data.

1. Subjective Experience

Research interviews facilitate in-depth exploration of a research topic. Thus, by engaging in one-to-one conversation with participants, researchers can delve into the nuances and complexities of their experiences, perspectives, and opinions. This allows comprehensive understanding of the research subject that may not be possible through other methods. Also, research interviews offer the unique advantage of capturing subjective experiences through personal narratives. Moreover, participants can express their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, which add depth to the findings.

2. Personal Insights

Research interviews offer an opportunity for participants to share their views and opinions on the objective they are being interviewed for. Furthermore, participants can express their thoughts and experiences, providing rich qualitative data . Consequently, these personal narratives add a human element to the research, thus enhancing the understanding of the topic from the participants’ perspectives. Research interviews offer the opportunity to uncover unanticipated insights or emerging themes. Additionally, open-ended questions and active listening can help the researchers to identify new perspectives, ideas, or patterns that may not have been initially considered. As a result, these factors can lead to new avenues for exploration.

3. Clarification and Validation

Researchers can clarify participants’ responses and validate their understanding during an interview. This ensures accurate data collection and interpretation. Additionally, researchers can probe deeper into participants’ statements and seek clarification on any ambiguity in the information.

4. Contextual Information

Research interviews allow researchers to gather contextual information that offers a comprehensive understanding of the research topic. Additionally, participants can provide insights into the social, cultural, or environmental factors that shape their experiences, behaviors, and beliefs. This contextual information helps researchers place the data in a broader context and facilitates a more nuanced analysis.

5. Non-verbal Cues

In addition to verbal responses, research interviews allow researchers to observe non-verbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. Additionally, non-verbal cues can convey information, such as emotions, attitudes, or levels of comfort. Furthermore, integrating non-verbal cues with verbal responses provides a more holistic understanding of participants’ experiences and enriches the data collection process.

Research interviews offer several advantages, making them a reliable tool for collecting information. However, choosing the right type of research interview is essential for collecting useful data.

Types of Research Interviews

There are several types of research interviews that researchers can use based on their research goals , the nature of their study, and the data they aim to collect. Here are some common types of research interviews:

1. Structured Interviews

• Structured interviews are standardized and follow a fixed format.
• Therefore, these interviews have a pre-determined set of questions.
• All the participants are asked the same set of questions in the same order.
• Therefore, this type of interview facilitates standardization and allows easy comparison and quantitative analysis of responses.
• As a result, structured interviews are used in surveys or studies which aims for a high level of standardization and comparability.

2. Semi-structured Interviews

• Semi-structured interviews offer a flexible framework by combining pre-determined questions.
• So, this gives an opportunity for follow-up questions and open-ended discussions.
• Researchers have a list of core questions but can adapt the interview depending on the participant’s responses.
• Consequently, this allows for in-depth exploration while maintaining some level of consistency across interviews.
• As a result, semi-structured interviews are widely used in qualitative research, where content-rich data is desired.

3. Unstructured Interviews

• Unstructured interviews provide the greatest flexibility and freedom in the interview process.
• This type do not have a pre-determined set of questions.
• Thus, the conversation flows naturally based on the participant’s responses and the researcher’s interests.
• Moreover, this type of interview allows for open-ended exploration and encourages participants to share their experiences, thoughts, and perspectives freely.
• Unstructured interviews useful to explore new or complex research topics, with limited preconceived questions.

4. Group Interviews (Focus Groups)

• Group interviews involve multiple participants who engage in a facilitated discussion on a specific topic.
• This format allows the interaction and exchange of ideas among participants, generating a group dynamic.
• Therefore, group interviews are beneficial for capturing diverse perspectives, and generating collective insights.
• They are often used in market research, social sciences, or studies demanding shared experiences.

5. Narrative Interviews

• Narrative interviews focus on eliciting participants’ personal stories, views, experiences, and narratives. Researchers aim to look into the individual’s life journey.
• As a result, this type of interview allows participants to construct and share their own narratives, providing rich qualitative data.
• Qualitative research, oral history, or studies focusing on individual experiences and identities uses narrative interviews.

6. Ethnographic Interviews

• Ethnographic interviews are conducted within the context of ethnographic research, where researchers immerse themselves in a specific social or cultural setting.
• These interviews aim to understand participants’ experiences, beliefs, and practices within their cultural context, thereby understanding diversity in different ethnic groups.
• Furthermore, ethnographic interviews involve building rapport, observing the participants’ daily lives, and engaging in conversations that capture the nuances of the culture under study.

It must be noted that these interview types are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, researchers often employ a combination of approaches to gather the most comprehensive data for their research. The choice of interview type depends on the research objectives and the nature of the research topic.

Steps of Conducting a Research Interview

Research interviews offer several benefits, and thus careful planning and execution of the entire process are important to gather in-depth information from the participants. While conducting an interview, it is essential to know the necessary steps to follow for ensuring success. The steps to conduct a research interview are as follows:

• Identify the objectives and understand the goals
• Select an appropriate interview format
• Organize the necessary materials for the interview
• Understand the questions to be addressed
• Analyze the demographics of interviewees
• Select the interviewees
• Design the interview questions to gather sufficient information
• Schedule the interview
• Explain the purpose of the interview
• Analyze the interviewee based on his/her responses

Considerations for Research Interviews

Since the flexible nature of research interviews makes them an invaluable tool for data collection, researchers must consider certain factors to make the process effective. They should avoid bias and preconceived notion against the participants. Furthermore, researchers must comply with ethical considerations and respect the cultural differences between them and the participants. Also, they should ensure careful tailoring of the questions to avoid making them offensive or derogatory. The interviewers must respect the privacy of the participants and ensure the confidentiality of their details.

By ensuring due diligence of these considerations associated with research interviews, researchers can maximize the validity and reliability of the collected data, leading to robust and meaningful research outcomes.

Have you ever conducted a research interview? What was your experience? What factors did you consider when conducting a research interview? Share it with researchers worldwide by submitting your thought piece on Enago Academy’s Open Blogging Platform .

Frequently Asked Questions

• Identify the objectives of the interview • State and explain the purpose of the interview • Select an appropriate interview format • Organize the necessary materials for the Interview • Check the demographics of the participants • Select the Interviewees or the participants • Prepare the list of questions to gather maximum useful data from the participants • Schedule the Interview • Analyze the participant based on his/ her Responses

Interviews are important in research as it helps to gather elaborative first-hand information. It helps to draw conclusions from the non-verbal views and personal experiences. It reduces the ambiguity of data through detailed discussions.

The advantages of research interviews are: • It offers first-hand information • Offers detailed assessment which can result in elaborate conclusions • It is easy to conduct • Provides non-verbal cues The disadvantages of research interviews are: • There is a risk of personal bias • It can be time consuming • The outcomes might be unpredictable

The difference between structured and unstructured interview are: • Structured interviews have well-structured questions in a pre-determined order; while unstructured interviews are flexible and do not have a pre-planned set of questions. • Structured interview is more detailed; while unstructured interviews are exploratory in nature. • Structured interview is easier to replicate as compared to unstructured interview.

Focus groups is a group of multiple participants engaging in a facilitated discussion on a specific topic. This format allows for interaction and exchange of ideas among participants.

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Qualitative Data Collection Tools Design, Development, and Applications

• Felice D. Billups - Johnson & Wales University, USA
• Description

Qualitative Data Collection Tools  is a new and unique supplementary text that will guide students and new researchers to design, develop, pilot, and employ qualitative tools in order to collect qualitative data. An often-omitted subject in general qualitative textbooks, qualitative tools form the backbone of the data collection process. Students and new researchers are frequently left to create their own qualitative tools from scratch, an unnecessary hurdle in the qualitative research design process. Author Felice D. Billups has used her experience as a qualitative researcher, and in teaching and advising students about qualitative research, to develop the templates in this book as a starting point for readers conducting original qualitative research. The author briefly describes each method of data collection and offers readers suggestions for using and adapting the qualitative instrument templates within the text. Templates of interview protocols, focus group moderator guides, content analysis tools, document analysis tools, reflective questionnaires, diary and journal logs, and observational rubrics give the reader either a cut-and-paste solution for their own research or a starting point to design their own personalized qualitative tools. The first three chapters illuminate the qualitative data collection process and the role each type of qualitative tool plays in that process. The next six chapters provide detailed guides and numerous templates for each qualitative data collection method, covering interviews, focus groups, conversation and discourse analysis, observations, document analysis, field notes, journaling, and other reflective practices. A final chapter pulls together the multifaceted nature of qualitative research design and connects each tool back to the methodology to ensure trustworthiness and rigor in the data collection and instrument development process. Exemplars populate the appendices, offering readers concrete inspiration for ways to use and adapt the tools provided.  If you have ever puzzled over how to best to design qualitative tools in order to guide and structure your qualitative data collection, or if you are embarking on your first qualitative study,  Qualitative Data Collection Tools  will give you a practical starting point to help make your qualitative data collection process easier and more organized. 

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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I think that the more exposure that students have to instrumentation the more informed that can be when they build their own research studies.

[This text] offers a rich and much-needed perspective in the field of qualitative research.

A comprehensive guide for the novice and even intermediate qualitative researcher. I highly recommend this easy-to-follow textbook for anyone considering a qualitative study.

This new book fills a dire need in qualitative research--effectively and rigorously designing qualitative interview instruments and observation and artifact rubrics. (The author) has skillfully woven together necessary elements of qualitative design, research strategies, and research question development in order for researchers to operationalize their curiosities into successful, effective, and ethical research studies. I am particularly taken by the tone of the book. (The author) has written a book that challenges yet scaffolds readers to produce qualitative research studies with integrity and rigor.

This is a very practical text for doctoral students learning research, in particular for those doctoral students in professional non-traditional doctoral degree programs who have never been exposed to the process of conducting qualitative research. The text brings students through the journey of qualitative data collection and provides a how-to approach to qualitative methodology.

Practical, clear and concise, and has lots of templates for new researchers

It depends on the students research design- qualitative research design I have recommended it to student

This is a great resource

A valuable text for under and post graduates and for early career researchers. I would have liked to see a little more on the various uses of observations but otherwise a comprehensive text. Thank you.

• Covers an often-omitted subject in general qualitative textbook
• Benefits from the extensive qualitative research experience of its author
• Provides starting point templates for readers conducting original qualitative research
• Offers readers suggestions for using and adapting the qualitative instrument templates
• Ties each template back to methods and methodology to ensure trustworthiness and rigor
• Provides templates of interview protocols, focus group moderator guides, content analysis tools, document analysis tools, reflective questionnaires, diary and journal logs, and observational rubrics
• Gives the reader either a cut-and-paste solution for their own research or a starting point to design their own personalized qualitative tools.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1. The Qualitative Data Collection Cycle

Chapter 6. Focus Group Moderator Guides

Chapter 2. Using the Research Question to Guide Qualitative Data Collection Tool

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• Published: 05 October 2018

Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the digital age

• P. Gill 1 &
• J. Baillie 2  

British Dental Journal volume  225 ,  pages 668–672 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

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Highlights that qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry. Interviews and focus groups remain the most common qualitative methods of data collection.

Suggests the advent of digital technologies has transformed how qualitative research can now be undertaken.

Suggests interviews and focus groups can offer significant, meaningful insight into participants' experiences, beliefs and perspectives, which can help to inform developments in dental practice.

Qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry, due to its potential to provide meaningful, in-depth insights into participants' experiences, perspectives, beliefs and behaviours. These insights can subsequently help to inform developments in dental practice and further related research. The most common methods of data collection used in qualitative research are interviews and focus groups. While these are primarily conducted face-to-face, the ongoing evolution of digital technologies, such as video chat and online forums, has further transformed these methods of data collection. This paper therefore discusses interviews and focus groups in detail, outlines how they can be used in practice, how digital technologies can further inform the data collection process, and what these methods can offer dentistry.

You have full access to this article via your institution.

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Determinants of behaviour and their efficacy as targets of behavioural change interventions

Interviews in the social sciences

Principal component analysis

Introduction.

Traditionally, research in dentistry has primarily been quantitative in nature. 1 However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in qualitative research within the profession, due to its potential to further inform developments in practice, policy, education and training. Consequently, in 2008, the British Dental Journal (BDJ) published a four paper qualitative research series, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 to help increase awareness and understanding of this particular methodological approach.

Since the papers were originally published, two scoping reviews have demonstrated the ongoing proliferation in the use of qualitative research within the field of oral healthcare. 1 , 6 To date, the original four paper series continue to be well cited and two of the main papers remain widely accessed among the BDJ readership. 2 , 3 The potential value of well-conducted qualitative research to evidence-based practice is now also widely recognised by service providers, policy makers, funding bodies and those who commission, support and use healthcare research.

Besides increasing standalone use, qualitative methods are now also routinely incorporated into larger mixed method study designs, such as clinical trials, as they can offer additional, meaningful insights into complex problems that simply could not be provided by quantitative methods alone. Qualitative methods can also be used to further facilitate in-depth understanding of important aspects of clinical trial processes, such as recruitment. For example, Ellis et al . investigated why edentulous older patients, dissatisfied with conventional dentures, decline implant treatment, despite its established efficacy, and frequently refuse to participate in related randomised clinical trials, even when financial constraints are removed. 7 Through the use of focus groups in Canada and the UK, the authors found that fears of pain and potential complications, along with perceived embarrassment, exacerbated by age, are common reasons why older patients typically refuse dental implants. 7

The last decade has also seen further developments in qualitative research, due to the ongoing evolution of digital technologies. These developments have transformed how researchers can access and share information, communicate and collaborate, recruit and engage participants, collect and analyse data and disseminate and translate research findings. 8 Where appropriate, such technologies are therefore capable of extending and enhancing how qualitative research is undertaken. 9 For example, it is now possible to collect qualitative data via instant messaging, email or online/video chat, using appropriate online platforms.

These innovative approaches to research are therefore cost-effective, convenient, reduce geographical constraints and are often useful for accessing 'hard to reach' participants (for example, those who are immobile or socially isolated). 8 , 9 However, digital technologies are still relatively new and constantly evolving and therefore present a variety of pragmatic and methodological challenges. Furthermore, given their very nature, their use in many qualitative studies and/or with certain participant groups may be inappropriate and should therefore always be carefully considered. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a detailed explication regarding the use of digital technologies in qualitative research, insight is provided into how such technologies can be used to facilitate the data collection process in interviews and focus groups.

In light of such developments, it is perhaps therefore timely to update the main paper 3 of the original BDJ series. As with the previous publications, this paper has been purposely written in an accessible style, to enhance readability, particularly for those who are new to qualitative research. While the focus remains on the most common qualitative methods of data collection – interviews and focus groups – appropriate revisions have been made to provide a novel perspective, and should therefore be helpful to those who would like to know more about qualitative research. This paper specifically focuses on undertaking qualitative research with adult participants only.

Overview of qualitative research

Qualitative research is an approach that focuses on people and their experiences, behaviours and opinions. 10 , 11 The qualitative researcher seeks to answer questions of 'how' and 'why', providing detailed insight and understanding, 11 which quantitative methods cannot reach. 12 Within qualitative research, there are distinct methodologies influencing how the researcher approaches the research question, data collection and data analysis. 13 For example, phenomenological studies focus on the lived experience of individuals, explored through their description of the phenomenon. Ethnographic studies explore the culture of a group and typically involve the use of multiple methods to uncover the issues. 14

While methodology is the 'thinking tool', the methods are the 'doing tools'; 13 the ways in which data are collected and analysed. There are multiple qualitative data collection methods, including interviews, focus groups, observations, documentary analysis, participant diaries, photography and videography. Two of the most commonly used qualitative methods are interviews and focus groups, which are explored in this article. The data generated through these methods can be analysed in one of many ways, according to the methodological approach chosen. A common approach is thematic data analysis, involving the identification of themes and subthemes across the data set. Further information on approaches to qualitative data analysis has been discussed elsewhere. 1

Qualitative research is an evolving and adaptable approach, used by different disciplines for different purposes. Traditionally, qualitative data, specifically interviews, focus groups and observations, have been collected face-to-face with participants. In more recent years, digital technologies have contributed to the ongoing evolution of qualitative research. Digital technologies offer researchers different ways of recruiting participants and collecting data, and offer participants opportunities to be involved in research that is not necessarily face-to-face.

Research interviews are a fundamental qualitative research method 15 and are utilised across methodological approaches. Interviews enable the researcher to learn in depth about the perspectives, experiences, beliefs and motivations of the participant. 3 , 16 Examples include, exploring patients' perspectives of fear/anxiety triggers in dental treatment, 17 patients' experiences of oral health and diabetes, 18 and dental students' motivations for their choice of career. 19

Interviews may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured, 3 according to the purpose of the study, with less structured interviews facilitating a more in depth and flexible interviewing approach. 20 Structured interviews are similar to verbal questionnaires and are used if the researcher requires clarification on a topic; however they produce less in-depth data about a participant's experience. 3 Unstructured interviews may be used when little is known about a topic and involves the researcher asking an opening question; 3 the participant then leads the discussion. 20 Semi-structured interviews are commonly used in healthcare research, enabling the researcher to ask predetermined questions, 20 while ensuring the participant discusses issues they feel are important.

Interviews can be undertaken face-to-face or using digital methods when the researcher and participant are in different locations. Audio-recording the interview, with the consent of the participant, is essential for all interviews regardless of the medium as it enables accurate transcription; the process of turning the audio file into a word-for-word transcript. This transcript is the data, which the researcher then analyses according to the chosen approach.

Types of interview

Qualitative studies often utilise one-to-one, face-to-face interviews with research participants. This involves arranging a mutually convenient time and place to meet the participant, signing a consent form and audio-recording the interview. However, digital technologies have expanded the potential for interviews in research, enabling individuals to participate in qualitative research regardless of location.

Telephone interviews can be a useful alternative to face-to-face interviews and are commonly used in qualitative research. They enable participants from different geographical areas to participate and may be less onerous for participants than meeting a researcher in person. 15 A qualitative study explored patients' perspectives of dental implants and utilised telephone interviews due to the quality of the data that could be yielded. 21 The researcher needs to consider how they will audio record the interview, which can be facilitated by purchasing a recorder that connects directly to the telephone. One potential disadvantage of telephone interviews is the inability of the interviewer and researcher to see each other. This is resolved using software for audio and video calls online – such as Skype – to conduct interviews with participants in qualitative studies. Advantages of this approach include being able to see the participant if video calls are used, enabling observation of non-verbal communication, and the software can be free to use. However, participants are required to have a device and internet connection, as well as being computer literate, potentially limiting who can participate in the study. One qualitative study explored the role of dental hygienists in reducing oral health disparities in Canada. 22 The researcher conducted interviews using Skype, which enabled dental hygienists from across Canada to be interviewed within the research budget, accommodating the participants' schedules. 22

A less commonly used approach to qualitative interviews is the use of social virtual worlds. A qualitative study accessed a social virtual world – Second Life – to explore the health literacy skills of individuals who use social virtual worlds to access health information. 23 The researcher created an avatar and interview room, and undertook interviews with participants using voice and text methods. 23 This approach to recruitment and data collection enables individuals from diverse geographical locations to participate, while remaining anonymous if they wish. Furthermore, for interviews conducted using text methods, transcription of the interview is not required as the researcher can save the written conversation with the participant, with the participant's consent. However, the researcher and participant need to be familiar with how the social virtual world works to engage in an interview this way.

Conducting an interview

Ensuring informed consent before any interview is a fundamental aspect of the research process. Participants in research must be afforded autonomy and respect; consent should be informed and voluntary. 24 Individuals should have the opportunity to read an information sheet about the study, ask questions, understand how their data will be stored and used, and know that they are free to withdraw at any point without reprisal. The qualitative researcher should take written consent before undertaking the interview. In a face-to-face interview, this is straightforward: the researcher and participant both sign copies of the consent form, keeping one each. However, this approach is less straightforward when the researcher and participant do not meet in person. A recent protocol paper outlined an approach for taking consent for telephone interviews, which involved: audio recording the participant agreeing to each point on the consent form; the researcher signing the consent form and keeping a copy; and posting a copy to the participant. 25 This process could be replicated in other interview studies using digital methods.

There are advantages and disadvantages of using face-to-face and digital methods for research interviews. Ultimately, for both approaches, the quality of the interview is determined by the researcher. 16 Appropriate training and preparation are thus required. Healthcare professionals can use their interpersonal communication skills when undertaking a research interview, particularly questioning, listening and conversing. 3 However, the purpose of an interview is to gain information about the study topic, 26 rather than offering help and advice. 3 The researcher therefore needs to listen attentively to participants, enabling them to describe their experience without interruption. 3 The use of active listening skills also help to facilitate the interview. 14 Spradley outlined elements and strategies for research interviews, 27 which are a useful guide for qualitative researchers:

Greeting and explaining the project/interview

Asking descriptive (broad), structural (explore response to descriptive) and contrast (difference between) questions

Asymmetry between the researcher and participant talking

Expressing interest and cultural ignorance

Repeating, restating and incorporating the participant's words when asking questions

Creating hypothetical situations

Asking friendly questions

Knowing when to leave.

For semi-structured interviews, a topic guide (also called an interview schedule) is used to guide the content of the interview – an example of a topic guide is outlined in Box 1 . The topic guide, usually based on the research questions, existing literature and, for healthcare professionals, their clinical experience, is developed by the research team. The topic guide should include open ended questions that elicit in-depth information, and offer participants the opportunity to talk about issues important to them. This is vital in qualitative research where the researcher is interested in exploring the experiences and perspectives of participants. It can be useful for qualitative researchers to pilot the topic guide with the first participants, 10 to ensure the questions are relevant and understandable, and amending the questions if required.

Regardless of the medium of interview, the researcher must consider the setting of the interview. For face-to-face interviews, this could be in the participant's home, in an office or another mutually convenient location. A quiet location is preferable to promote confidentiality, enable the researcher and participant to concentrate on the conversation, and to facilitate accurate audio-recording of the interview. For interviews using digital methods the same principles apply: a quiet, private space where the researcher and participant feel comfortable and confident to participate in an interview.

Box 1: Example of a topic guide

Study focus: Parents' experiences of brushing their child's (aged 0–5) teeth

1. Can you tell me about your experience of cleaning your child's teeth?

How old was your child when you started cleaning their teeth?

Why did you start cleaning their teeth at that point?

How often do you brush their teeth?

What do you use to brush their teeth and why?

2. Could you explain how you find cleaning your child's teeth?

Do you find anything difficult?

What makes cleaning their teeth easier for you?

3. How has your experience of cleaning your child's teeth changed over time?

Has it become easier or harder?

Have you changed how often and how you clean their teeth? If so, why?

4. Could you describe how your child finds having their teeth cleaned?

What do they enjoy about having their teeth cleaned?

Is there anything they find upsetting about having their teeth cleaned?

5. Where do you look for information/advice about cleaning your child's teeth?

What did your health visitor tell you about cleaning your child's teeth? (If anything)

What has the dentist told you about caring for your child's teeth? (If visited)

Have any family members given you advice about how to clean your child's teeth? If so, what did they tell you? Did you follow their advice?

6. Is there anything else you would like to discuss about this?

Focus groups

A focus group is a moderated group discussion on a pre-defined topic, for research purposes. 28 , 29 While not aligned to a particular qualitative methodology (for example, grounded theory or phenomenology) as such, focus groups are used increasingly in healthcare research, as they are useful for exploring collective perspectives, attitudes, behaviours and experiences. Consequently, they can yield rich, in-depth data and illuminate agreement and inconsistencies 28 within and, where appropriate, between groups. Examples include public perceptions of dental implants and subsequent impact on help-seeking and decision making, 30 and general dental practitioners' views on patient safety in dentistry. 31

Focus groups can be used alone or in conjunction with other methods, such as interviews or observations, and can therefore help to confirm, extend or enrich understanding and provide alternative insights. 28 The social interaction between participants often results in lively discussion and can therefore facilitate the collection of rich, meaningful data. However, they are complex to organise and manage, due to the number of participants, and may also be inappropriate for exploring particularly sensitive issues that many participants may feel uncomfortable about discussing in a group environment.

Focus groups are primarily undertaken face-to-face but can now also be undertaken online, using appropriate technologies such as email, bulletin boards, online research communities, chat rooms, discussion forums, social media and video conferencing. 32 Using such technologies, data collection can also be synchronous (for example, online discussions in 'real time') or, unlike traditional face-to-face focus groups, asynchronous (for example, online/email discussions in 'non-real time'). While many of the fundamental principles of focus group research are the same, regardless of how they are conducted, a number of subtle nuances are associated with the online medium. 32 Some of which are discussed further in the following sections.

Focus group considerations

Some key considerations associated with face-to-face focus groups are: how many participants are required; should participants within each group know each other (or not) and how many focus groups are needed within a single study? These issues are much debated and there is no definitive answer. However, the number of focus groups required will largely depend on the topic area, the depth and breadth of data needed, the desired level of participation required 29 and the necessity (or not) for data saturation.

The optimum group size is around six to eight participants (excluding researchers) but can work effectively with between three and 14 participants. 3 If the group is too small, it may limit discussion, but if it is too large, it may become disorganised and difficult to manage. It is, however, prudent to over-recruit for a focus group by approximately two to three participants, to allow for potential non-attenders. For many researchers, particularly novice researchers, group size may also be informed by pragmatic considerations, such as the type of study, resources available and moderator experience. 28 Similar size and mix considerations exist for online focus groups. Typically, synchronous online focus groups will have around three to eight participants but, as the discussion does not happen simultaneously, asynchronous groups may have as many as 10–30 participants. 33

The topic area and potential group interaction should guide group composition considerations. Pre-existing groups, where participants know each other (for example, work colleagues) may be easier to recruit, have shared experiences and may enjoy a familiarity, which facilitates discussion and/or the ability to challenge each other courteously. 3 However, if there is a potential power imbalance within the group or if existing group norms and hierarchies may adversely affect the ability of participants to speak freely, then 'stranger groups' (that is, where participants do not already know each other) may be more appropriate. 34 , 35

Focus group management

Face-to-face focus groups should normally be conducted by two researchers; a moderator and an observer. 28 The moderator facilitates group discussion, while the observer typically monitors group dynamics, behaviours, non-verbal cues, seating arrangements and speaking order, which is essential for transcription and analysis. The same principles of informed consent, as discussed in the interview section, also apply to focus groups, regardless of medium. However, the consent process for online discussions will probably be managed somewhat differently. For example, while an appropriate participant information leaflet (and consent form) would still be required, the process is likely to be managed electronically (for example, via email) and would need to specifically address issues relating to technology (for example, anonymity and use, storage and access to online data). 32

The venue in which a face to face focus group is conducted should be of a suitable size, private, quiet, free from distractions and in a collectively convenient location. It should also be conducted at a time appropriate for participants, 28 as this is likely to promote attendance. As with interviews, the same ethical considerations apply (as discussed earlier). However, online focus groups may present additional ethical challenges associated with issues such as informed consent, appropriate access and secure data storage. Further guidance can be found elsewhere. 8 , 32

Before the focus group commences, the researchers should establish rapport with participants, as this will help to put them at ease and result in a more meaningful discussion. Consequently, researchers should introduce themselves, provide further clarity about the study and how the process will work in practice and outline the 'ground rules'. Ground rules are designed to assist, not hinder, group discussion and typically include: 3 , 28 , 29

Discussions within the group are confidential to the group

Only one person can speak at a time

All participants should have sufficient opportunity to contribute

There should be no unnecessary interruptions while someone is speaking

Everyone can be expected to be listened to and their views respected

Challenging contrary opinions is appropriate, but ridiculing is not.

Moderating a focus group requires considered management and good interpersonal skills to help guide the discussion and, where appropriate, keep it sufficiently focused. Avoid, therefore, participating, leading, expressing personal opinions or correcting participants' knowledge 3 , 28 as this may bias the process. A relaxed, interested demeanour will also help participants to feel comfortable and promote candid discourse. Moderators should also prevent the discussion being dominated by any one person, ensure differences of opinions are discussed fairly and, if required, encourage reticent participants to contribute. 3 Asking open questions, reflecting on significant issues, inviting further debate, probing responses accordingly, and seeking further clarification, as and where appropriate, will help to obtain sufficient depth and insight into the topic area.

Moderating online focus groups requires comparable skills, particularly if the discussion is synchronous, as the discussion may be dominated by those who can type proficiently. 36 It is therefore important that sufficient time and respect is accorded to those who may not be able to type as quickly. Asynchronous discussions are usually less problematic in this respect, as interactions are less instant. However, moderating an asynchronous discussion presents additional challenges, particularly if participants are geographically dispersed, as they may be online at different times. Consequently, the moderator will not always be present and the discussion may therefore need to occur over several days, which can be difficult to manage and facilitate and invariably requires considerable flexibility. 32 It is also worth recognising that establishing rapport with participants via online medium is often more challenging than via face-to-face and may therefore require additional time, skills, effort and consideration.

As with research interviews, focus groups should be guided by an appropriate interview schedule, as discussed earlier in the paper. For example, the schedule will usually be informed by the review of the literature and study aims, and will merely provide a topic guide to help inform subsequent discussions. To provide a verbatim account of the discussion, focus groups must be recorded, using an audio-recorder with a good quality multi-directional microphone. While videotaping is possible, some participants may find it obtrusive, 3 which may adversely affect group dynamics. The use (or not) of a video recorder, should therefore be carefully considered.

At the end of the focus group, a few minutes should be spent rounding up and reflecting on the discussion. 28 Depending on the topic area, it is possible that some participants may have revealed deeply personal issues and may therefore require further help and support, such as a constructive debrief or possibly even referral on to a relevant third party. It is also possible that some participants may feel that the discussion did not adequately reflect their views and, consequently, may no longer wish to be associated with the study. 28 Such occurrences are likely to be uncommon, but should they arise, it is important to further discuss any concerns and, if appropriate, offer them the opportunity to withdraw (including any data relating to them) from the study. Immediately after the discussion, researchers should compile notes regarding thoughts and ideas about the focus group, which can assist with data analysis and, if appropriate, any further data collection.

Qualitative research is increasingly being utilised within dental research to explore the experiences, perspectives, motivations and beliefs of participants. The contributions of qualitative research to evidence-based practice are increasingly being recognised, both as standalone research and as part of larger mixed-method studies, including clinical trials. Interviews and focus groups remain commonly used data collection methods in qualitative research, and with the advent of digital technologies, their utilisation continues to evolve. However, digital methods of qualitative data collection present additional methodological, ethical and practical considerations, but also potentially offer considerable flexibility to participants and researchers. Consequently, regardless of format, qualitative methods have significant potential to inform important areas of dental practice, policy and further related research.

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Gill, P., Baillie, J. Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the digital age. Br Dent J 225 , 668–672 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.815

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Accepted : 02 July 2018

Published : 05 October 2018

Issue Date : 12 October 2018

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.815

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Qualitative research method-interviewing and observation

Shazia jamshed.

Department of Pharmacy Practice, Kulliyyah of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan Campus, Pahang, Malaysia

Buckley and Chiang define research methodology as “a strategy or architectural design by which the researcher maps out an approach to problem-finding or problem-solving.”[ 1 ] According to Crotty, research methodology is a comprehensive strategy ‘that silhouettes our choice and use of specific methods relating them to the anticipated outcomes,[ 2 ] but the choice of research methodology is based upon the type and features of the research problem.[ 3 ] According to Johnson et al . mixed method research is “a class of research where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative and qualitative research techniques, methods, approaches, theories and or language into a single study.[ 4 ] In order to have diverse opinions and views, qualitative findings need to be supplemented with quantitative results.[ 5 ] Therefore, these research methodologies are considered to be complementary to each other rather than incompatible to each other.[ 6 ]

Qualitative research methodology is considered to be suitable when the researcher or the investigator either investigates new field of study or intends to ascertain and theorize prominent issues.[ 6 , 7 ] There are many qualitative methods which are developed to have an in depth and extensive understanding of the issues by means of their textual interpretation and the most common types are interviewing and observation.[ 7 ]

Interviewing

This is the most common format of data collection in qualitative research. According to Oakley, qualitative interview is a type of framework in which the practices and standards be not only recorded, but also achieved, challenged and as well as reinforced.[ 8 ] As no research interview lacks structure[ 9 ] most of the qualitative research interviews are either semi-structured, lightly structured or in-depth.[ 9 ] Unstructured interviews are generally suggested in conducting long-term field work and allow respondents to let them express in their own ways and pace, with minimal hold on respondents’ responses.[ 10 ]

Pioneers of ethnography developed the use of unstructured interviews with local key informants that is., by collecting the data through observation and record field notes as well as to involve themselves with study participants. To be precise, unstructured interview resembles a conversation more than an interview and is always thought to be a “controlled conversation,” which is skewed towards the interests of the interviewer.[ 11 ] Non-directive interviews, form of unstructured interviews are aimed to gather in-depth information and usually do not have pre-planned set of questions.[ 11 ] Another type of the unstructured interview is the focused interview in which the interviewer is well aware of the respondent and in times of deviating away from the main issue the interviewer generally refocuses the respondent towards key subject.[ 11 ] Another type of the unstructured interview is an informal, conversational interview, based on unplanned set of questions that are generated instantaneously during the interview.[ 11 ]

In contrast, semi-structured interviews are those in-depth interviews where the respondents have to answer preset open-ended questions and thus are widely employed by different healthcare professionals in their research. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews are utilized extensively as interviewing format possibly with an individual or sometimes even with a group.[ 6 ] These types of interviews are conducted once only, with an individual or with a group and generally cover the duration of 30 min to more than an hour.[ 12 ] Semi-structured interviews are based on semi-structured interview guide, which is a schematic presentation of questions or topics and need to be explored by the interviewer.[ 12 ] To achieve optimum use of interview time, interview guides serve the useful purpose of exploring many respondents more systematically and comprehensively as well as to keep the interview focused on the desired line of action.[ 12 ] The questions in the interview guide comprise of the core question and many associated questions related to the central question, which in turn, improve further through pilot testing of the interview guide.[ 7 ] In order to have the interview data captured more effectively, recording of the interviews is considered an appropriate choice but sometimes a matter of controversy among the researcher and the respondent. Hand written notes during the interview are relatively unreliable, and the researcher might miss some key points. The recording of the interview makes it easier for the researcher to focus on the interview content and the verbal prompts and thus enables the transcriptionist to generate “verbatim transcript” of the interview.

Similarly, in focus groups, invited groups of people are interviewed in a discussion setting in the presence of the session moderator and generally these discussions last for 90 min.[ 7 ] Like every research technique having its own merits and demerits, group discussions have some intrinsic worth of expressing the opinions openly by the participants. On the contrary in these types of discussion settings, limited issues can be focused, and this may lead to the generation of fewer initiatives and suggestions about research topic.

Observation

Observation is a type of qualitative research method which not only included participant's observation, but also covered ethnography and research work in the field. In the observational research design, multiple study sites are involved. Observational data can be integrated as auxiliary or confirmatory research.[ 11 ]

Research can be visualized and perceived as painstaking methodical efforts to examine, investigate as well as restructure the realities, theories and applications. Research methods reflect the approach to tackling the research problem. Depending upon the need, research method could be either an amalgam of both qualitative and quantitative or qualitative or quantitative independently. By adopting qualitative methodology, a prospective researcher is going to fine-tune the pre-conceived notions as well as extrapolate the thought process, analyzing and estimating the issues from an in-depth perspective. This could be carried out by one-to-one interviews or as issue-directed discussions. Observational methods are, sometimes, supplemental means for corroborating research findings.

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What is a Research Instrument?

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• October 9, 2020

The term research instrument refers to any tool that you may use to collect or obtain data, measure data and analyse data that is relevant to the subject of your research.

Research instruments are often used in the fields of social sciences and health sciences. These tools can also be found within education that relates to patients, staff, teachers and students.

The format of a research instrument may consist of questionnaires, surveys, interviews, checklists or simple tests. The choice of which specific research instrument tool to use will be decided on the by the researcher. It will also be strongly related to the actual methods that will be used in the specific study.

What Makes a Good Research Instrument?

A good research instrument is one that has been validated and has proven reliability. It should be one that can collect data in a way that’s appropriate to the research question being asked.

The research instrument must be able to assist in answering the research aims , objectives and research questions, as well as prove or disprove the hypothesis of the study.

It should not have any bias in the way that data is collect and it should be clear as to how the research instrument should be used appropriately.

What are the Different Types of Interview Research Instruments?

The general format of an interview is where the interviewer asks the interviewee to answer a set of questions which are normally asked and answered verbally. There are several different types of interview research instruments that may exist.

• A structural interview may be used in which there are a specific number of questions that are formally asked of the interviewee and their responses recorded using a systematic and standard methodology.
• An unstructured interview on the other hand may still be based on the same general theme of questions but here the person asking the questions (the interviewer) may change the order the questions are asked in and the specific way in which they’re asked.
• A focus interview is one in which the interviewer will adapt their line or content of questioning based on the responses from the interviewee.
• A focus group interview is one in which a group of volunteers or interviewees are asked questions to understand their opinion or thoughts on a specific subject.
• A non-directive interview is one in which there are no specific questions agreed upon but instead the format is open-ended and more reactionary in the discussion between interviewer and interviewee.

What are the Different Types of Observation Research Instruments?

An observation research instrument is one in which a researcher makes observations and records of the behaviour of individuals. There are several different types.

Structured observations occur when the study is performed at a predetermined location and time, in which the volunteers or study participants are observed used standardised methods.

Naturalistic observations are focused on volunteers or participants being in more natural environments in which their reactions and behaviour are also more natural or spontaneous.

A participant observation occurs when the person conducting the research actively becomes part of the group of volunteers or participants that he or she is researching.

Final Comments

The types of research instruments will depend on the format of the research study being performed: qualitative, quantitative or a mixed methodology. You may for example utilise questionnaires when a study is more qualitative or use a scoring scale in more quantitative studies.

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The term research instrument refers to any tool that you may use to collect, measure and analyse research data.

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Awu Isaac Oben Faculty of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

Awu Isaac Oben is a PhD scholar of Educational Leadership and Management at Southwest University, Chongqing, China. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree of Education (B.Ed. and M.Ed.) in Curriculum Studies and Teaching from the University of Buea. His research interest includes; Higher Education, Educational Leadership and Management, STEM/STEAM Education-Integrated teaching, Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Policies, Teacher Education, Preservice and In‐Service teacher preparation, School Improvement, English Language Teaching and learning, Teachers and Principals professional development, Research Policy, Policies to Improve Research.

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RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS: A QUESTIONNAIRE AND AN INTERVIEW GUIDE USED TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION OBJECTIVES AND THE ATTAINMENT OF CAMEROON'S VISION 2035

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Original research article, “imagine, maths is used anywhere, and we don’t get to know this”—upper secondary students and the relevance of advanced mathematics.

• 1 Department of Mathematics, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
• 2 Department of Language, Literature, Mathematics, and Interpreting, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway
• 3 Department of Mathematics, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

People are more motivated to put effort into learning when they know they will be able to put the learnt content to use. These relevance perceptions play a motivating role in the learning of mathematics, a subject renowned for its abstraction, hard examinations, and usefulness in many fields in society (research, industries, etc.). In this article, we describe a study on upper secondary students in an advanced mathematics course and their perception of the relevance of mathematics in future professions, in particular regarding two concepts in their curriculum (logarithms, trigonometry). We defined relevance as a connection between an object (relevance of what?), a subject (relevant for whom?), an asserter (relevant according to whom?), and a purpose (relevant to what end?). The aim of the study was to know (1) what relevance perceptions students held regarding the advanced abstract mathematical concepts, and (2) how students can develop these considering that students do not yet know exactly what future is ahead of them. We interviewed pairs of students ( n  = 14, 17–19 years old) in two parts. The first part of the interview revealed that students learned mathematics within a traditional school culture that emphasized practice-and-drill of pure mathematics and that did not in any way inform students about the use of mathematics in research and workplaces. After exposing students to authentic applications of logarithms and trigonometry, the second part of the interview showed the power of imagination when it connected students to future professions for which mathematics was relevant. Instrumental in effectively prompting students’ imagination were visualizations showing applications of the mathematical concepts within workplace contexts. Drawing on Leont’ev’s version of Activity Theory, we theorize students’ assertions of the relevance of mathematics through the dialectics of self and collective (relating one’s own goals and more general motives), the dialectics of use-value and exchange-value (needing mathematics for later life or for examinations), and the dialectics of mathematization and de-mathematization (while mathematics is used in many workplaces, it is hidden in instruments).

1 Introduction

Mathematics is considered an important subject in general education ( Craig, 2018 ; Lange and Meaney, 2018 ). However, students struggle to see how learning mathematics is relevant to them ( Boaler, 2000 ; Onion, 2004 ; Brown et al., 2008 ; Kollosche, 2017 ; Sachdeva and Eggen, 2023 ) saying that only primary school mathematics could be useful for everyday purposes such as comparing prices when shopping. Research demonstrates that mathematics is often taught within a culture, in which students are not offered convincing explanations of how mathematics can be relevant in their futures. For instance, typical mathematics tasks given to students are known as word problems. These seemingly relate to real life, but are artificially created stories ending with a number question, such as “ there are 20 sheep and 6 goats on a ship, how many legs are there on the ship? ” ( Verschaffel et al., 2000 ). Such tasks do neither reflect real life nor the relevance of mathematics but are meant to instill school mathematics conventions of answer formats (numbers and symbols, not narratives), of using one solution method just taught ( Lave, 1992 ; Gerofsky, 1996 ; Säljö et al., 2009 ), and of a focus on one correct answer (and not on nuancing the correctness by commenting, for instance, that there can be humans and insects on the ship contributing to the count of legs). Typical cultural features of traditional school mathematics observed in the country of the current study (Norway) entail a monological practice of a teacher in front of a board demonstrating techniques ( Andrews and Nosrati, 2018 ), the drilling of techniques through numerous tasks similar to the ones shown by the teacher ( Nergaard, 2017 ), and an emphasis on pure mathematics ( Espeland, 2017 ). As a result of this school mathematics culture, students are exposed to a confined mathematical world, in which they can neither select topics of interest nor explore what would be relevant to them.

Apart from the school mathematics culture, there are two dialectic societal developments that affect how students may see relevance in learning mathematics. On the one hand, there is a mathematization process in society, whereby mathematics is more-and-more used in administration, research, industries and considered there as objective and truthful. On the other hand, there is a de-mathematization process in society, in which mathematics is increasingly hidden in calculators, sensors, and other technological devices ( Jablonka and Gellert, 2007 ; Williams and Wake, 2007 ; Wake, 2015 ). The first process asks for mathematically competent people that schools should produce, but this information is not conveyed to students within the school mathematics culture described above. The second process leads to people relying on the speed and accuracy of calculators. This reduces a need to learn calculation skills that can be off-loaded to digital tools ( Keitel, 1989 ; Kollosche, 2017 ). As a result, a driver for students to learn mathematics is not its perceived relevance in future workplaces, but the high examination grades required to enter further education and get access to better paid jobs ( Pais, 2013 ; Wiik and Vos, 2019 ; Hernandez-Martinez, 2020 ).

There are many different perspectives on the relevance of mathematics. From a student’s perspective, a certain mathematics course can be relevant because it enables them to sit with friends and have a good time ( Hernandez-Martinez and Vos, 2018 ). In this paper, we will focus on the relevance of mathematics as expressed by students’ question when will I ever use this? Being able to use the learnt content is not only an important issue for students; it also is one of the formal goals of mathematics education ( Heymann, 2003 ). Heymann (2003) named other goals, such as learning to think logically and critically, understanding the role of mathematics in society, and developing self-esteem. Such goals make mathematics relevant to many and not just students, such as parents/guardians, teachers, ministries of education, international organizations for economic development, and so forth. Also, there are other, more implicit functionalities of mathematics education ( Kollosche, 2018 ) that make it relevant for selecting students and limiting access to good jobs ( Pais, 2013 ), for instilling trust in mathematics as objective authority ( Jablonka, 2015 ), and for training students to obediently follow procedures and, hence, develop a compliant workforce ( Valero, 2013 ). Within this wide array of how mathematics education can be relevant to different stakeholders, the study presented in this paper focuses on the students’ question when will I ever use this? aiming to study how this genuine question can be answered, not in a general, authoritative way (“ believe me, at some point this will be useful to you ”), but in a concrete and understandable way for students. Studies show that, when students recognize relevance in what they learn, they are more interested and confident ( Sheldrake et al., 2017 ), they spent more time on tasks ( Newby, 1991 ), they rate their abilities higher ( Hernandez-Martinez and Pampaka, 2017 ), and they have a better attitude toward the content and score higher ( Grootenboer and Hemmings, 2007 ). Hernandez-Martinez and Pampaka (2017) suggest that the causality between engagement and relevance perceptions is situated in a feedback-loop: students’ understanding of the relevance of mathematics drives their engagement, which leads to improved dispositions and scores, which opens aspirations toward careers requiring mathematics, and such an interest then again increases their understanding of the relevance of mathematics.

In recent years, curriculum reforms have emerged that focus on making school mathematics more relevant to students, even if they do not yet have workplace experience. In many countries students get mathematical modeling tasks, which are real-life problems, which can be solved through mathematics ( Blum, 2015 ; Frejd and Vos, 2024 ). Other options are to show students posters or videos about professionals explaining the importance of mathematics in their jobs ( Fitzmaurice et al., 2021 ), excursions to enterprises with a mathematical emphasis ( Vos, 2015 , 2018 ), guest lectures by people from industries ( Hernandez-Martinez and Vos, 2018 ), excursions to science centers that show how mathematics assists in predicting disasters, in improving health care or making transport safer ( Vos, 2024 ), the design of curriculum materials for a series of lesson, through which students learn how mathematics is used in scientific, medical and economic contexts ( Gijsbers et al., 2020 ), digital storytelling assignments for students on the relevance of certain mathematical concepts ( Hernandez-Martinez and Keane, 2024 ), and to use mathematics to critically reflect on the distribution of wealth, on consumer behavior, or on environmental issues ( Steflitsch, 2023 ). However, such interventions face several problems. First, as said before, mathematics in workplaces is often hidden through the de-mathematization processes in society. Second, the mathematics needed in real-life (research, industries, etc.) can be quite advanced and discourage students ( Loch and Lamborn, 2015 ). Third, studies have revealed resistance among mathematics teachers, who state restraining factors for showing the relevance of mathematics, such as lack of time, low student motivation, and shortage of resources ( Gainsburg, 2008 ; Prieto-Rodriguez, 2016 ; Cabassut and Ferrando, 2017 ; Fitzmaurice et al., 2021 ). Finally, the messages are often about mathematics holistically, such as “ mathematics is important in this type of work ” without mentioning specifically what aspects of mathematics (primary mathematics, advanced concepts, etc.) are meant.

In light of the above, we aimed at supplementing existing research in several ways. First, many studies so far have focused on the relevance of mathematics holistically, and at students in the middle grades (lower secondary), whereas we wanted to be more specific and focus on the relevance of specific, advanced mathematical content that students in upper secondary schools are learning. Second, research has so far focused on the various aspects of relevance (e.g., Heymann, 2003 ; Kollosche, 2018 ; Sachdeva and Eggen, 2023 ), whereas we wanted to focus narrowly on the students’ question when will I ever use this? and connect advanced mathematical concepts that students in theoretical streams of upper secondary schools are learning to potential use in future jobs. Third, many researchers have studied students and their relevance perceptions through surveys and interviews, whereas we wanted to study how student can develop a sense for the relevance of mathematical concepts within the frames of traditional school practices. More specifically, we aimed at capturing instances when students developed relevance perceptions. Finally, we aimed at applying a Vygotskian perspective, in order to connect individuals to cultural and social aspects. We consider this perspective as potentially fruitful for gaining new insights and explain it further in the next paragraph.

So, we aimed to research processes when upper secondary students discover that mathematics could be relevant in future workplaces. We did not aim at replicating the studies showing that relevance supports motivation, but rather, we wanted to study in-depth student processes of discovering potential relevance in advanced mathematical content at the moment of learning this. For this, we designed instruments to show students implicit mathematics, and a breadth of its applications, in particular in medical, environmental and social areas. We selected two advanced mathematical concepts, logarithms and trigonometric functions, which are part of advanced mathematics curricula in upper secondary schools across the world ( Mullis and Martin, 2014 ). Researchers have documented how teachers and students face challenges with trigonometric functions (e.g., Martinez-Planell and Delgado, 2018 ) and logarithms ( Martínez-Sierra and Méndez-Guevara, 2016 ; Gruver, 2018 ). We selected these topics because, unlike topics from lower secondary (fractions, linear equations, etc.), applications of these concepts are not easily unpacked. Additionally, we anticipated that students in upper secondary could better verbalize their thoughts than younger students. We aimed at studying (1) aspects in students’ relevance perceptions of mathematics, (2) dynamics in processes when discovering relevance in mathematical concepts, and (3) obstacles to students seeing relevance in mathematics.

2 Theoretical framework

2.1 activity theory.

In this study, we analyze discovery processes of the relevance of mathematics not as a mental process of isolated individuals, but as dynamic processes between individuals and their socio-cultural environment. For this, we rely on the approach of Leont’ev (1979) to Activity Theory, for which he proposed three interrelated levels of analysis: (1) unconscious, embodied operations subject to the objective conditions they are performed under; (2) individual, conscious actions oriented toward goals; and (3) collective, conscious activity oriented toward motives. Taking activity as the fundamental unit of analysis implies considering both the individual and the culture, resisting the separation of the two ( Cole, 1985 ). Kaptelinin (2005) pointed out that an activity can be oriented toward multiple motives (cultural) and goals (personal) and maintained that the term “object” should be used singularly as “the object of the activity” at the collective level (p. 17). To illustrate, a student may participate in school mathematics with multiple personal goals, such as getting a good grade, learning valuable skills, but without spending so much time that it hinders participating in hobbies. The object of this activity then becomes to obtain this grade by investing just enough time and effort so that she learns the required and desired skills. This object, the result of negotiating different goals, is what gives structure and direction to the activity, informing the actions and operations the student undertakes while participating in this activity.

An individual’s actions are framed within collective activities. A student sitting individually in a classroom doing tasks in order to learn logarithms or trigonometric functions is trapped in a school culture and does the tasks selected by the teacher, all of which are guided by national standards and curricula that express motives of a collective, namely society.

2.2 Relevance

Building on an understanding of students as goal-directed participants in social and culturally-determined activities, Hernandez-Martinez and Vos (2018) defined relevance via four questions:

Relevance of what?          -object

Relevance to whom?       -subject

Relevance according to whom? -asserter

Relevance to what end? -purpose (goals and motives)

Relevance then is conceptualized as a connection between an object, a subject, an asserter (not necessarily the subject), and a personal goal or collective motive (see Figure 1A ). The subject and the asserter can be different people, whose social interactions can take place within different, or within overlapping communities. For example, according to a student (asserter), the successful learning of logarithms (object) can be relevant to another student (subject) to enter a university study (a goal at the individual level). The four points in Figure 1A represent the four questions (relevance of what? to whom? according to whom? and to what end?), whereas the edges represent connections between object, subject, asserter, and purpose. In this case, the two students can be dialogically connected because they discuss their future together, they engage in the same object because they sit in the same class, and share similar goals. In case the asserting student lists a number of good reasons for his/her peer, the object is poly-motivated as illustrated in Figure 1B . The four questions can also yield a totally different picture. For example, according to a researcher (asserter), the successful completion of examination tasks about logarithms (object) can be relevant to an upper secondary student (subject) to navigate the selection processes for better jobs (a motive at the collective level). Note, this motive might not be known to the subject. Figure 1C illustrates this example, with a detached asserter, who neither knows the object personally, nor is (s)he engaged in the object, nor does the motive concern his/her own employability.

Figure 1 . Conceptualization of relevance as (A) a connection among a subject, an object, an asserter, and a goal, (B) poly-motivated relevance, (C) relevance asserted by an outsider to the activity, and (D) relevance asserted by the subject with the goal indirectly related to the activity.

Hernandez-Martinez and Vos (2018) pointed out that the goal-orientation of relevance can be identified at different levels. There can be motives at the collective level (for the community), and there can be goals at the individual level (for the subject). Also, activities can be poly-motivated ( Kaptelinin, 2005 ). So, “learning mathematics” can be relevant in different ways. According to Hernandez-Martinez and Vos (2018) , students can assert an activity as relevant because it will give them a pass to a diploma, or it can give them an enjoyable, sociable time with peers in the classroom. In this study, we focus on students and how they perceive relevance of learning mathematics; this leads to the subject and the asserter being one, in other words: the student has a dual role in acting and asserting his/her own actions (see Figure 1D ).

In this paper, we focus on relevance with a goal-orientation based on use-value in future workplaces, and regarding the learning of trigonometric functions and logarithms. These concepts are not taught for their beauty, but because logarithms and trigonometric functions are historically developed as useful tools to describe, analyze, or solve problems in workplaces and in research ( Alpers et al., 2013 ). Since their use-value is among the formal justifications to include these advanced mathematical concepts into curricula, we denote this as a collective motive. When students have little or no insight into the use-value of mathematics in workplaces, this means they cannot know the collective motive. However, they will know the activity has exchange-value (e.g., high grades needed to enter university). Since the exchange-value is only related to the object via subjective perceptions of students, and not at the collective level, we did not draw a direct connection between object and goal-orientation in Figure 1D .

2.3 Imagination

Our study entailed a short intervention aimed at students imagining their futures and connecting these to the use-value of mathematics. Within Activity Theory, the concept of imagination has not played an important role in understanding how individuals are motivated. However, Vygotsky (1987) , whose work is foundational to Activity Theory, wrote about imagination in the context of creativity. He defined creative activity as one that constructs something new, and distinguished between reproductive construction, which is rebuilding an existing reality and combinatory construction, which combines and changes from existing realities to new entities. The latter requires imagination, which Vygotsky saw as the basis of creativity. Therefore, if students are presented with various scenarios in which they can imagine mathematics being used, there is a chance that they will engage in combinatory construction, forging new goals of activity, in which learning mathematics becomes relevant. As Wenger (2010) explains:

As we engage with the world, we are also constructing an image of the world that helps us understand how we belong or not. If you work as a social worker in a given city, you know that there are countless other social workers in other contexts, and you can use your imagination to create a picture of all these social workers and see yourself as one of them. We use such images of the world to locate and orient ourselves, to see ourselves from a different perspective, to reflect on our situation, and to explore new possibilities. The world provides us with many tools to mediate imagination (e.g., language, stories, maps, visits, pictures, TV shows, role models, etc.). These images are essential to our interpretation of our participation in the social world. Imagination can create relations of identification that are as significant as those derived from engagement ( Wenger, 2010 , p. 184).

Hence, imagination, aided by “tools of imagination,” can not only forge new realities where learning mathematics becomes relevant but also, as Wenger says, it can create relations of identification, whereby students produce more positive mathematical dispositions and identities.

With the above theoretical conceptualizations of relevance and imagination, and considering that our study is framed within a restraining instructional culture, we formulated the following research questions:

• How do students within traditional mathematics education perceive the relevance of learning advanced mathematical concepts at the moment of learning these?

• To what extent can students develop perceptions of relevance of advanced mathematical concepts within traditional mathematics education?

• How does imagination play a role in the processes of developing relevance perceptions of mathematical concepts?

3 Materials and methods

We carried out two case studies ( Stake, 2000 ), whereby a “case” was defined as: the learning of an advanced mathematical concept and students’ asserting the use-value of this concept in future workplaces. Study A focused on the mathematical concept of trigonometric functions and Study B focused on logarithms . For both studies, artifacts were designed in order to show applications of the concepts in a wide range of non-mathematical contexts (engineering, medicine, environmental issues, sociology, meteorology, etc.). We conducted interviews with pairs of students in the weeks they were learning about these concepts at school. The interview had two parts: a first part before showing the artifacts and a second part after the students had seen and discussed the artifact. In the first part, we asked students about their perceptions of the relevance of the mathematics they were learning. In the second part, we probed how the artifacts affected students’ perceptions.

3.1 Materials

We created artifacts with concrete examples of applications for the mathematical concepts selected. To design these, we first carried out systematic searches in research resources, undergraduate textbooks, and encyclopedias and asked academic experts directly. We put extra effort into finding applications in medical, environmental, and social areas because these topics are of interest to many students ( Schreiner and Sjøberg, 2010 ; Kacerja, 2011 ). We discarded narrative of how the concepts were historically developed (e.g., in the 17th century, tedious calculations were extremely shortened through logarithm tables), because research on the motivational value of the history of mathematics shows that students find these interesting but irrelevant, since they now have pocket calculators and would never need to use such traditional methods ( Van Gulik-Gulikers, 2005 ).

We selected applications on the following design criteria:

• Accessibility: understandable for upper secondary students within a short time span (less than 10 min).

• Connectivity: a direct application of the mathematical concept in a non-mathematical area. So, the artifact should explicitly show aspects of the mathematical concepts, and not have illustrations of hidden mathematics (de-mathematization). For instance, we did not want to show a picture of an electrical socket to exemplify the application of trigonometry for describing alternating currents in electricity.

• Authenticity: the graphs were true examples taken from research articles and other original resources; they were not constructed or adapted by us ( Vos, 2015 , 2018 ).

• Breadth: a wide selection of applications so as to potentially connect to a variety of students. In particular, we searched for applications in medical, environmental and social areas.

• Visual presentability: a visualization according to principles of multimedia learning by having low cognitive load and being engaging ( Mayer and Moreno, 2003 ; Guo et al., 2014 ).

Based on these criteria, we discarded applications of the concepts in university mathematics. Logarithms are mathematically useful for solving equations involving exponential functions, and trigonometric functions for solving differential equations. However, we considered these applications too inaccessible for a short intervention.

We developed the artifacts in several rounds of piloting and re-designing with the help of each other, departmental colleagues, and a sample of students from the target group but not participating in the study. In hindsight, the artifacts were biased toward scientific research, and could have been broadened by consulting more non-academic experts. In the end, the examples were primarily graphical visualizations with hardly any text. In Study A, the applications of trigonometric functions pertained to periodic phenomena, such as trend waves in the predictions of climate change, winter peaks in daily mortality frequencies (see Figure 2 ), orbits of planets and meteorites, and cycles of war and peace in Europe. In Study B, the applications of logarithms pertained primarily to scales of graphs. Figure 3 displays logarithmic scales in a socio-demographic application on the relation between life expectancy and a nation’s gross domestic product.

Figure 2 . An example of applications of trigonometric functions used in Study B. Daily totals of deaths in Scotland Oct 2006–April 2009 ( Wagner et al., 2013 ). Reprinted with permission from the authors and journal editors.

Figure 3 . An example of applications with logarithmic scales used in Study B. Screenshot from the animated Rösling-graph “Health and wealth of nations” (free material from www.gapminder.org , CC-BY license, see also Rösling and Zhang, 2011 ).

3.2 Participants

The participants were students taking the most advanced mathematics course of non-compulsory, upper secondary education. We interviewed them in pairs in the period when they were taught the two mathematical concepts (or shortly thereafter). Case Study A on trigonometric functions was carried out with students in grade 13 at school A, the final year of Norwegian senior secondary education. Case Study B was carried out with students in grade 12 at school B. Both schools were Norwegian government schools. We opted for eight students in both case studies, to be interviewed in four pairs. We let them choose their interview partner themselves to make them feel more comfortable. However, at school A, there were only seven students altogether in the advanced mathematics class, of which all agreed to participate, but on the day of the interviews one was ill and, hence, we interviewed three pairs at this school. Their anonymized pair-wise names were Isaac and Jens; Kasper and Lukas; and Mathilde and Nora. At school B, the four anonymized pairs were André and Bernt; Christian and Daniel; Emilie and Fredrik; Gertrud and Hilde.

3.3 Interviews

The interviews were carried out in the school environment. To reduce social desirability bias, the teacher was not present in the room and the interviewer was not more than 10 years older than the students. The semi-structured interviews ( Kvale, 1996 ) took 20–25 min, divided into two parts. In the first part, students were interviewed about their ambitions, their perceptions of the relevance of learning mathematics in general, and learning the mathematical concepts trigonometric functions and logarithms, respectively. Thereafter, the artifacts were shown, whereby the interviewer explained the mathematical applications, for example: “ Here you have a graph which is periodic; it is about global temperatures changing. The orange line is a sine function plus a linear function, so it is moving upwards but still showing waves. Researchers created this graph 10 years ago to predict temperature. And the blue lines here are actual temperatures, they filled them in afterwards. Until now, their prediction has proven to be correct.” After the students had watched and listened, the second part of the interview started with a discussion between the peers and the interviewer. The students were encouraged to pose clarifying questions and asked for their reactions to the artifacts: whether they could relate to some of the content and whether the artifact contributed to develop an understanding of how the mathematical concepts could be useful in future professions.

The interviews were held in Norwegian and transcribed verbatim. We analyzed the transcripts by identifying classroom activities described by the students (object), the role the students saw themselves in (subject), and their goals. In this, we highlighted perceptions of use-value of the object of the activity, whether for further studies or future workplaces. We also noted feedback on the accessibility of the artifacts. For both parts of the interview, we selected the most telling episodes and translated these into English. Thereafter, we re-analyzed these in light of students’ understanding of the relevance of the concepts in future workplaces (relevance of what, for whom, according to whom, and to what end), and included a description of students’ expressions and what they imagined. Additionally, we analyzed what students mentioned about their school culture.

4.1 Interview part 1, perceptions of the relevance of learning trigonometry and logarithms

In the first part of the interview, before they saw the artifacts, the interviewer probed them about their future. The students indicated to have a broad range of aspirations. The students at school A, who were in grade 13, mentioned specific university studies, such as industrial economy, construction or civil engineering, nanotechnology, or STEM teacher education, and specific jobs such as army engineer (Isaac) or a leading position in industry (Jens). The students at school B, being 1 year younger, were vaguer, mentioning “ it will most likely be in science (…) it could be sports, too (…) but it could also be social anthropology or psychology ” (Bernt), “ something related to science and technology ” (Gertrud), or “ I have no idea ” (Hilde). The students had chosen the advanced mathematics course because it was required for many university studies. Another reason given was that they were good at it and liked it: “ I think it (advanced mathematics) is fun! ” (Gertrud). This means that they asserted the advanced mathematics course was relevant for personal goals, namely its exchange-value (entry into further education) or for enjoyment. Thereafter, the interviewer asked them about the relevance of learning logarithms, respectively trigonometric functions. Many expressed not to know any use of these concepts, for example “ I have no idea what trigonometry is used for ” (Mathilde). Some students thought they were useful in other school subjects, like chemistry (in pH calculations) and in physics. Others felt there could be redundancy in what they learn:

Daniel: I think that a lot of the maths we’re learning is superfluous, I don’t see any use for this kind of maths. Of course, I can see that many topics can be useful, like differentiation, finding rates of change can be relevant. But there are also useless things.

Nora: I absolutely think all people need some maths. But I doubt that most people will ever use the kinds of maths we’re learning here [in the advanced mathematics course].

Some students indicated to think that the use-value of the advanced concepts existed, but that it was unknown to them:

Kasper: I’m sure someone can use it [trigonometric equations] for something. But I can’t see it.

Gertrud: I feel that what we’re learning is something that we will get use for. Like when I learned the multiplication table, why did we have to learn that? Now I use it all the time. Or like learning to count.

One student stated that advanced mathematics served to grow mentally:

Bernt: It’s more about exercising the brain and how the brain can assemble patterns and stuff.

Two students indicated they did not consider thinking about the relevance of what they learned:

Fredrik: I don’t think much about it [relevance] when I do this.

Hilde: Maybe I should be thinking more [about relevance], because then it might make more sense and I could understand more connections. But no, I usually don’t think about it.

And finally, there were two students who did not mind about the use-value of the concepts in future workplaces, because it had personal relevance, namely for enjoyment:

Isaac: I don’t know if I will ever use trigonometry in daily life. But it’s exciting.

Jens: I don’t think I will ever use that. But I like the grade [Jens and Isaac laugh].

These utterances show that the students were unable to assert the relevance of the advanced mathematical concepts for future professions. They could not name one concrete example thereof. Figure 1C illustrates this—not the students themselves but others asserted on the students’ behalf that they needed to learn advanced mathematics for use in research, industries, etc. From the students’ utterances, it follows that they had neither encountered nor been informed about concrete use-value in research and industries of the two mathematical concepts. We note that the students imagined themselves in university studies and in workplaces, without further insights into the widespread use of mathematics there. When mentioning the use of mathematics, they thought of less-advanced concepts (e.g., multiplication), and of their immediate environments (other school subjects, daily life). So, the increasing use of mathematics, that is the mathematization processes in research and industries, remained largely unknown to them. This could be because of (1) a school culture that did not assist them in understanding why state-mandated curricula made them learn these concepts (collective motive), and (2) the de-mathematization processes in society that hide mathematics in sensors and other instruments. The students accepted these advanced mathematical concepts in the same way as they did holistically for the advanced mathematics course: they asserted the concepts of trigonometric function or logarithms as relevant for personal goals, namely for the exchange-value to enter tertiary education, for being interesting in themselves (without being useful), or for “exercising the mind.” These expressions can be perceived as being specific to the participating students. They sit in an advanced mathematics course in the most theoretical streams and, hence, are potentially more interested and higher achieving in mathematics than many other students. Although some expressed hope that the learnt content could be useful in areas unknown to them, some were not bothered to consider issues of later usage. One student (Daniel) noted that there could be taught content that was irrelevant (“ superfluous ” and “ useless things ”). These cases confirm that the students could not assert the relevance of the learning of advanced mathematics for use in research and industries.

4.2 Interview part 2, discussing the artifacts and the use-value of mathematical concepts

The second part of the interview started with the interviewer showing the artifacts to the students. Their reactions were largely positive and emotive, such as “ that’s crazy! ” (Lukas), “ cool! ” (Nora), “ this is fun! ” (Emilie), and “ this looks like an approximate top list of relevant professions ” (Bernt). In particular, the social applications surprised the students:

André: I find it very surprising that psychology is on the list, since it’s such a mental subject, so to speak, compared to chemistry and such.

Gertrud: When you mentioned the domains… I was like… I can use it in biology, and… and psychology I was a little… what is it… sociology yes… then I was like—oh you can use it there too!

Not all students thought that learning the concepts would be relevant to them personally, albeit possibly to others, but nevertheless found the examples exciting or interesting:

Isaac: Some of this can be interesting and useful. But, you know, [calculating orbits of] planets, I get that it can be very useful for those working with it. But for me as a regular smart guy, this isn’t important to me…. I don’t need this, you know…But it is exciting, nevertheless.

Mathilde: I think this is awesome. That some people [10 years ago] already managed to predict the present climate. But I doubt whether I myself will ever use trig. It depends… on what I’ll end up studying.

Likely, students’ excitement was caused by their surprise that the mathematical concepts were used in areas where they had not expected them (psychology) and that the concepts were powerful tools, for instance, for making predictions. The artifacts opened new opportunities in worlds that the students did not know very well, but they could imagine themselves or others working in those worlds where the advanced mathematical concepts were applied.

One student, at first, expressed disappointment because he did not see daily life applications. In the following excerpt, we see how the interaction between him, his peer, and the interviewer played a role in his assertion of the relevance of learning logarithms.

Christian: I still don’t see any practical need, that would be used in a normal man’s daily activities. I wouldn't make a graph when I get to work. I do not see myself doing this.

Daniel: It feels a bit specific in a way, a bit like a niche in a certain direction. But then, for those concerned it is very informative.

Interviewer: How could it have been shown differently?

Daniel: Well… I don't think that much more can be shown with logarithms really… There isn’t a very wide area with logarithms, so I feel this really shows everything.

Interviewer: Perhaps the most important thing is that there is use at all?

Christian, Daniel: Yes!

In this excerpt, Christian first, somewhat grumpily, expressed disappointment in not imagining himself using logarithms in daily life or future workplaces. However, after the exchange, he confirms that it is important that “ there is use at all .” Here, he turned from looking at himself using logarithms (at the individual level) toward a more collective view.

Some students generalized from the examples, like André and Bernt:

André: The main thing was perhaps that… how you can… in those diagrams [log-plots], show much better how the differences really are.

Bernt: It was a lot about… if you as a citizen are interpreting information, it is very useful to look logarithmically at things, how we can show a much more realistic context.

Interviewer: Was this [scale transformation of an axis] new to you, or did you know any of this from before?

André: I knew this from before, but I never knew this was about logarithms… It’s very useful that you can compare different diseases with totally different probabilities, and still get a realistic display of how they change. Otherwise, the rare ones would only look like a straight line at the bottom.

Bernt: It shows interesting things. Not that infant mortality in the world is important to me now, I don’t have an infant weighing a kilo at birth. But… for example… in civics we learn a lot about demography, and knowing such a comparison of economy and lifespan is… it’s very practically applicable.

In this discussion between André, Bernt, and the interviewer, the students noticed a generalized use-value of graphs with logarithmic scales. In this, Bernt emphasized more a citizen’s need to interpret quantitative information, whereas André emphasized more the properties of logarithmic scales that enable comparisons between small and large quantities in various contexts. Both perspectives are related to mathematization processes in society, and both look at collective motives. It is also noteworthy that André indicated to have seen graphs with logarithmic scales before without knowing these were based on the logarithms he had just learned about in class. So, the scale transformations as a feature were familiar to him, but not the process of transforming the data through logarithms. This is an example of how mathematical concepts, here logarithms, can become hidden in the process of creating the graph. This de-mathematization had hindered André from asserting relevance of logarithms. Simultaneously, de-mathematization in the graph could easily be ‘unpacked’ by him, once he was aware that the scales were transformed with logarithms.

From the utterances, we see that the short interaction by the students with the artifacts, with each other, and with the interviewer, was a “game-changer” within the interview. The second part of the interview differed in many ways from the first part. When the interviewer presented the applications through the artifact, students became more active. The artifacts triggered emotions and surprise, which assisted the students to imagine themselves and others in research and industries, where the concepts were used. This gave them an “aha experience” that assisted them in understanding the collective motive that made them learn these concepts. Compared to their relevance perceptions before seeing the artifacts, they started asserting relevance in the learning of these concepts by imagining how these could be used in research and industries (collective motive).

4.3 School culture and students’ need for relevance of learning certain concepts

All students in our sample realized that the information about the use-value of the advanced mathematical concepts was not given in regular mathematics classes. They expressed that there was a gap in the teaching since this information could have been given to them. For example:

Daniel: It [the artifact] does something that the school system does not do, which is explaining why we need these things. That’s something I think of as a major problem.

The students were unanimous in their opinion that giving an insight into the use-value of advanced mathematical concepts should be an integral part of regular mathematics instruction. Two students explained how such information would affect their motivation:

Gertrud: I can relate to it since I’m about to choose [a tertiary study] now. It’s nice to know that maths matters. It doesn’t always feel that way.

Hilde: Especially the advanced maths course that we do (…) at least it seems like they have like “it works like this”. But I almost think teachers should say more often: “this can be used for that” (…) so that I know a little more what the topic is relevant for.

Gertrud: If there was one of these [points at the artifacts] for each chapter, and the teacher puts it up when we started, like “here is the reason why we are learning about this topic,” then you get some motivation, like, this is useful.

Gertrud and Hilde related their assertion of the use-value of the advanced mathematical concepts (collective motive) to their motivation for learning (personal goals). Two other students discussed how knowledge of applications could raise the motivation of other students than themselves to choose the advanced mathematics course:

Nora: It [the information] would boost interest, I believe. Or, I don’t know, I think I would be more open to it if I knew that it was actually useful. It’s horrible to sit on your bum on the school bench and feel that you’re never going to use any of it. It’s feels like a waste. It’s terribly boring.

Mathilde: Yes, because that’s one of the things I hear from those who do not choose the hard maths [but less advanced mathematics], they complain constantly because it’s not useful. It’s not used in everyday situations. Especially, I think if one encountered such posters earlier and see what you can use the maths for. That it’s useful for doctors or whatever you want to become. It could make more students interested.

Nora: Then I think more students would open up to more challenging maths. I mean, people can ask us what we’re going to use it for, and we have no idea, so why bother? It’s because we want to go to university. But it could actually show them that it is useful in everyday settings as well, so you encounter it all the time, then I think more people would be interested.

So, Mathilde and Nora critiqued the school culture that discouraged peers from pursuing mathematics by not informing them about the relevance of mathematics. Their peers became demotivated by lack of satisfactory answers to their question about the use-value of mathematics, and hence these peers were unable to assert relevance. In a similar vein, Emilie said that the artifacts provided her with a response to fellow students wondering why she was in the advanced mathematics course: “ I like knowing these kinds of things. People always ask what you need maths for really, and it’s very fun to actually know an explanation to it. Really, I think we should have more of this in class .”

Some of the students realized that the displayed mathematical applications differed from the school mathematics learned in class. The artifacts relied heavily on visuals and therefore showed primarily applications that could be captured graphically. So, the mathematics in the artifacts was neither displaying pure mathematics, nor did it entail the practice-and-drill activities. The difference was noted by Kasper, who saw that in their class they had mainly trigonometric equations, so that they could drill calculations, whereas in the artifact, there were mainly trigonometric functions displayed:

Kasper: I feel that trigonometric functions are more important than equations. You can use and apply it for more things. I am absolutely sure that later I will need trigonometric functions, and not solve equations.

Thus, the emphasis in the artifacts on graphs and graphically making phenomena accessible enabled Kasper to see beyond the equations in his textbook. This gave him a new perspective on trigonometry; rather than solving tasks, the concept-in-itself could be useful for him later.

In the interviews, all students expressed that the use-value of the advanced mathematical concepts should be shown in class. However, in both case studies, there were a few students who cautioned against spending much time on this. For example, Isaac said: “I do not think one should use a lot of time on it. But a little, little, little bit. That would be fun.” And Emilie said: “[it should be given] at least some light information before we start.” So, all students wanted to learn about usefulness, but some wanted this to be restricted in time so it would not interfere with regular teaching practice. These students kept the importance of examinations in mind, for which they knew they needed to work hard within the practice-and-drill culture. They would not receive questions about the relevance of mathematics on their examinations. So, if their time was not spent on doing many exercises, it could feel like wasted time. However, the artifacts that we had designed could be shown within a limited time and could be integrated into traditionally taught mathematics classes.

Regarding the school culture, we observed two students being critical:

Nora: (…) And the most frustrating thing is that you have to drill all the formulae. It won’t, it’s not realistic in a work situation that you need to recall everything.

Mathilde: And that you have to learn by heart the values of sine of 30 degrees and sine of 270 degrees and all of that. That you need to remember that string of numbers is perhaps also unnecessary.

Nora: And radians on top of it all.

These students expressed frustration over the practice-and-drill-culture. They imagined themselves in future work situations, in which neither the memorizing competence nor the memorized facts would be useful. So, they connected facts and skills they learned in school and imagined themselves in future workplaces, where these facts and skills were useless. Their knowledge of worlds in which they did not yet participate was sufficient for an awareness that they currently engaged in learning activities with little relevance to their future.

5 Conclusion, discussion, and recommendations

Our first research question was: how do students within traditional mathematics education perceive the relevance of learning logarithms and trigonometric functions at the moment of learning these? To answer this question, we analyzed the first part of the students’ interviews, which came before showing them the artifacts. Our results confirm earlier research ( Gainsburg, 2008 ; Prieto-Rodriguez, 2016 ; Cabassut and Ferrando, 2017 ), namely that students hardly get informed about any use-value of the concepts they learn. This can be caused (1) by a school culture, in which the use-value of mathematical concepts was neither shown nor discussed, but also (2) by a societal development, known as de-mathematization, in which mathematics in daily life is obscured in sensors, pocket calculators and other technological instruments ( Jablonka and Gellert, 2007 ; Williams and Wake, 2007 ; Wake, 2015 ). When asked, the students in our sample could only name concrete examples in other school subjects (physics, chemistry), but not in professional environments beyond school (industries, research, etc.). We see a tension here with the collective motive expressed in curricula and the school culture, of a society that is mathematizing (mathematics being increasingly used in administration, research, industries, etc.) and in need of future generations that can use mathematics in professional environments. The students participating in the study can be considered as members of those future generations. They seemed to tacitly accept their lack of knowledge, thinking there could be redundancy in what they learned (a lack of use-value) or that they may learn about it later (a use-value to be revealed later). Notably, some did not express an explicit wish to know about the relevance of mathematics. The students thus negotiated a contradiction of self and collective by tacitly accepting a school culture that disconnects them from societal needs and their future professions and that gears teaching toward exams and a traditional focus on pure mathematics disconnected from use-value. In this way, students reproduce the existing culture.

Our second research question was: to what extent can students develop perceptions of relevance of learning mathematical concepts within traditional mathematics education? To answer this question, the interview had a short intervention, in which the students were shown artifacts of graphs, designed to be accessible, to clearly connect to logarithms or trigonometric functions respectively, to have an authentic provenance, to cover a broad spectrum of interests (engineering, medicine, environmental issues, sociology, psychology, meteorology, etc.), and to be visually attractive ( Mayer and Moreno, 2003 ; Guo et al., 2014 ; Vos, 2015 , 2018 ). Our results confirm that the artifacts were effective in informing the students about the use-value of the mathematical concepts in many areas. The students showed emotions and surprise to learn about such contexts, in particular those that traditionally are not associated with advanced mathematics like medicine, environmental and social studies. The students could imagine themselves using the concepts, while others thought the examples were not relevant to themselves, but certainly to others and should be included in regular teaching practice. Students’ imagination was triggered through visualizations of modeled phenomena: trigonometric functions were connected to graphs of periodic phenomena; logarithms were connected to graphs with logarithmic scales of phenomena being measured in both small and large quantities. The visualizations gave students a glimpse, and it was nothing more than that—a glimpse. Yet, this was sufficient for them to connect their knowledge of the concepts to settings, potentially some in which they themselves would participate. Through the artifacts, they could imagine worlds beyond school and beyond daily life. Although they had little experience with these worlds, they could nevertheless imagine how people could use the advanced mathematical concepts of trigonometry or logarithms there. Thus, the artifacts worked as eye-openers, that is: as “tools of imagination” to the students. These visualizations are the outcome of a process of mathematizing real-life phenomena, and simultaneously hiding much of the mathematics used to produce the graphs. Yet, they still revealed sufficient characteristics of the mathematical concepts for those who know a little about these concepts; in periodic graphs, one can recognize the trigonometric functions and in logarithmic scales the name of the scale reveals the underlying concept. The students had learned these concepts represented in symbols, and smoothly shifted from symbols to graphs, that is: from abstract calculations to visual models of real-life phenomena. In this way, this de-mathematization of mathematized phenomena in the visualizations assisted students to develop an understanding of relevance of these concepts almost instantly.

The third research question was: how does imagination play a role in the process of conveying relevance of learning mathematical concepts? In the first part of the interview, the students showed to have little knowledge of future studies or workplaces, but they certainly had ambitions to enter these. When the interviewer showed them the artifacts, they tried to fit these into these ambitions. Some pictured themselves using logarithms or trigonometric functions, or they pictured others doing so, like Isaac imagining astronomers working with trigonometric functions or Bernt imagined citizens interpreting information with logarithmic scales. It was through their imagination that the students forged new realities and were able to assert the use-value of the mathematical concepts in future workplaces. This motive (at the collective level) instantly made the learning of these concepts relevant to them and their peers, even to the extent that they were angry not to have been informed about this relevance earlier. Two things are crucial here: (1) the importance of imagination in creating new objects of activity in one’s mind, or in other words, imagination allows a subject to connect him/herself to new motives of engagement, in particular at the collective level; and, (2) the positive emotions that most students expressed, which carry the potential to change the motives of engagement of an individual in a certain activity ( Thomson et al., 2002 ; Drake, 2006 ). Vygotsky used the Russian word perezhivanie to describe those cathartic experiences that “stick in our minds” and shape our development ( Blunden, 2016 ; Roth and Jornet, 2016 ). In our study, the “seeing in one’s mind” of new possibilities for use of what they learn in school was supported by “tools of imagination,” but also by the short social interaction with peers and the interviewer.

In Figure 4 , we have summarized the finding, that high school students can be the asserters of relevance themselves, even if they cannot easily make a connection between the activities, in which they engage (learning advanced mathematical concepts), and the goal- and motive-direction. How can this connection between object and goal/motive be made? Our study provides evidence that imagination is helpful to achieve this connection. In our intervention, we gave the students examples of how advanced mathematical concepts were used in research and industries. So, even though the students remained outsiders, this motive at the collective level surprised, excited and motivated the students. By watching applications in a wide variety of contexts, they developed a consciousness of the world around them, beyond school and daily life, and what it means to participate in it ( Wertsch, 1985 ). As such, they could imagine themselves or their peers being future users of these concepts. Through the use of their imagination, they became both subjects and asserters. In this short process, their motives shifted from the individual toward the collective level. Now, they could assert the use-value of these concepts, and the learning of these became relevant with a personal goal-direction toward future usage (at the personal level) and a motive-direction toward usefulness for others (at the collective level). Judging from their emotional reactions and their expressions testifying of new insights on potential usage of these concepts, this created the possibility for these students to shape their future (leading) identities as mathematics users ( Black et al., 2010 ).

Figure 4 . Relevance of logarithms perceived by a student (being both subject and asserter) with his/her imagination mediating a connection between the activity (learning logarithms) and its personal goal (useful for oneself in future workplaces) and collective motive (useful for others).

One of the students exclaimed “school does not explain why we need these things!” Our study identified certain constraints that hinder why students do not learn about the relevance of learning advanced mathematical concepts. One of these is the school culture of practice-and-drill and a ritualized emphasis on pure mathematics. The small intervention during our interview would not breach with this culture, since any mathematics teacher could show the artifacts to his/her students and initiate a discussion of these. However, we noted the lack of available artifacts, both from commercial textbook publishers and from governmental curriculum developers, and hence had to search for artifacts ourselves. This shortage of resources reproduces the current practice of not informing students of the relevance of the mathematics they are made to learn.

This paper contributes new knowledge in various ways. First, it established once again that many students are not informed about the relevance of content they are learning, in particular of mathematical concepts such as trigonometric functions or logarithms, despite these being important tools in research and industries. Second, we analyzed how students’ imagination can work to bridge gaps between school and future life and can make them see not just themselves (individual level), but also others (collective) benefiting from learning and using mathematics. Third, we showed how visualizations (diagrams and graphs) of medical, environmental and social applications of mathematical concepts, together with social interaction about these, can mediate the use-value of these concepts, so students can imagine how mathematics is useful in a wide variety of workplaces and disciplines. Finally, we contribute to educational policy by offering curriculum design guidelines that do not break with traditional instructional conventions yet convey relevance of mathematical concepts at the time of learning these.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The studies involving humans were approved by University of Agder Ethics Board. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardians/next of kin. Written informed consent was not required from the minor(s)’ legal guardian/next of kin, for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article because participants were over 15 years of age, and then the Norwegian Laws do not require consent from parents/guardians.

Author contributions

PV: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AW: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. PH-M: Formal Analysis, Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing.

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The costs to publish in Frontiers were paid by University of Agder, Norway.

Acknowledgments

We thank Michelle Kovacevic Brekne and students for assisting in the study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: data visualizations, imagination, mathematics education, relevance, school culture, sociocultural theory

Citation: Vos P, Wiik A and Hernandez-Martinez P (2024) “Imagine, maths is used anywhere, and we don’t get to know this”—upper secondary students and the relevance of advanced mathematics. Front. Educ . 9:1338205. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1338205

Received: 15 November 2023; Accepted: 27 March 2024; Published: 10 May 2024.

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*Correspondence: Pauline Vos, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

(Ir)Relevance in Education: Individuals as Navigators of Dynamic Information Landscapes