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198 CHAPTER 8 Interviews and focus groups

participants. Subjects were given disposable cameras and asked to take pic-
tures of daily activities, places where they needed help, and things that they use.
Subsequent interviews used the photos that the participants took to guide discus-
sions about their use of phones, Internet, transportation, and other technology.
The researchers found that their respondents made substantial use of voicemail
and mobile phones, while relatively few used computers or the Internet. These
observations formed the basis for a detailed discussion of the challenges of both
meeting the needs of, and continuing to work with, this challenging population
(Le Dantec and Edwards, 2008).

8.5 INTERVIEW STRATEGIES
8.5.1 HOW MUCH STRUCTURE?
Fully structured interviews use a rigid script to present questions in a well-
defined order. Although some questions may be skipped, based on answers to
previous questions, there is no room for asking questions out of order or for
adding questions not found in the predefined interview script. You might think
of a fully structured interview as a survey administered by a researcher, with
some important differences. It's easier to answer an interview question than it is
to write an answer to the same question in a survey. An interview question might
yield an extensive answer to a question that would generate only a few words in
a survey response.
Fully structured interviews also have the advantage of being relatively easy to
analyze. If each subject is asked the same questions in the same order, and related
topics are grouped together in the ordering, interviewees are likely to comment on
similar topics at similar points. Analyzing these responses may be as easy as collect-
ing all answers to each question in a single place.
The framework provided by a fully structured interview can be a curse as well
as a blessing. In a fully structured interview, you must follow the script. If the inter-
viewee makes some comments that you'd like to follow up or if you think of some
unanticipated question that you'd like to ask, you're out of luck. Requests for clari-
fication or additional questions are inappropriate, as they interfere with the primary
motivation for using a fully structured interview: ensuring that each interviewee is
asked the same questions.
If you want some room to ask for clarification, add questions, or follow inter-
viewee comments wherever they may take you, a semistructured interview may
be more appropriate. These discussions generally start with a set of questions,
which may be similar (if not identical) to questions that might be used in a fully
structured interview. However, in a semistructured interview, you can feel free
to let the conversation go where it may. If your interviewee mentions something
of interest, you can say “tell me more about that….” After she clarifies, you
might inquire “how does this relate to…” or perhaps ask a question from further