Easy Interview Subjects*

As a beginning interviewer, you may want to find the easiest way to recruit potential subjects. Students often want to select people with whom they already have relationship, such as: family, friends, coworkers, students they know, or others they may know. While it is understandable to want to use people you know, it is problematic and complicates, and even contaminates, your interviews. 

Family and Friends

Sometimes it is tempting to use family or friends as participants in the study; however, this carries with it some serious issues. First, your prior relationship influences the comfort level that they have with you, as the interviewer. Thus, they may be more likely to reveal things to you that other people would not, providing a false picture of your sample. Similarly, they may be uncomfortable answering personal questions that others would answer (picture asking your grandmother about her sex life- not very comfortable for you or her!). 

The other issue with friends and family is that you may assume that you know what they are talking and not explore in the depth that needed in a research interview. It is good rule that you do not personally know your subjects. 

People you supervise

Conflicts of interest occur when you interview people that you supervise. An example might be a principal interviewing the teachers that she/he supervises. However, in the situation of interviewing supervisees, you are placing them in a difficult position. They cannot risk be totally honest with you, if you are also in a position to affect their job. It is advisable to seek similar individuals that you do not supervise. 

As you can see, there is no easy way to recruit participants. Do not fall for the trap of thinking you can "cheat the system," you will only waste your and your participants' time in conducting unethical research. Next time I will answer student questions that have come in.  Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

 

*Much of today's information comes from:

Seidman, I. (2013). Interviewing as qualitative research, 4^th Ed. NY: Teacher's College Press.