Semi-structured_interviews/Questions_to_be_avoided/handout
Questions to avoid in interviews
Long questions
The interviewee may remember only part of the question and respond to that part: it is better to ask a short question and wait to see what the interviewee says, than to start to explain what you mean.
Double barrelled (or even multiple barrelled questions)
e.g., "What do you feel about the current medical facilities in your village compared with that of five years ago?" The solution here is to break it down into smaller questions, such as: "What do you think about the current medical facilities in your village?" "Can you recall the kind of medical facilities that were available in your village five years ago?" "How do you feel they compare?"
Questions involving jargon
Generally avoid questions containing words that are unlikely to be unfamiliar to the target audience. Keep things simple to avoid the need for the interviewee to ask you what you mean by your question.
Leading questions
Try to avoid questions that suggest a particular kind of answer, positive or negative; but if you do need to ask this kind of question, try to do so in three parts. EG don't just ask "What do you like about your school?" Instead, start with the general question "Can you tell me how you feel about your school in general?" Then prompt if necessary with two follow-ups, such as: "What is it that you most like about your school?" What is it that you most dislike about your school?" It is usually straightforward to modify leading questions, once you have checked to see if they are leading in one particular direction.
Biased questions
Providing you recognise areas of potential bias in your interview, you can easily try to avoid biased questions. What is more difficult, however, is to ensure you do not lead the interview in a particular direction by the manner in which you ask questions and receive responses. Interviewers may even do this unwittingly, and must be conscious of how to avoid this.
Singal, N., and Jeffery, R. (2008). Qualitative Research Skills Workshop: A Facilitator's Reference Manual, http://oer.educ.cam.ac.uk/wiki/RECOUP, Cambridge: RECOUP (Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes and Poverty, http://recoup.educ.cam.ac.uk/). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. (original page)
