Interview questionsfor case studies

Notes for interviewers

Purposes of the interview

To generate data about use of our services in a common format to help the I-K-Mediary Group members:

  • Understand the nature of our contributions in different processes
  • Identify success factors to help us improve our work
  • Illustrate the contribution of our work
  • Learn from our experience and from each other

About the questions The following are some suggested interview questions which we hope will generate the kind of data needed to complete the case study format. They are not a script and will probably need to be adapted for your context and language. You will also need to use probing questions to get the kind of detail we are looking for. The most important section is part 3, however the preceding section is probably useful as a warm up even if you don’t require any other information. Section 4 might be useful for your own learning purposes.

Before the interviewFamiliarise yourself with the interview schedule and any data you already have about the person as you may want to refer back to it during the interview, for example in part 3to prompt further details on the example of use.

What do I tell them at the beginning?Be aware about what you say at the start of the interview. Try to avoid saying things which might bias their answers- for example don’t tell them that we have to do these interviews for our funders! It’s also important not to talk too much about the services we are from at the beginning if possible, so that we can start by asking them more broadly about their current information use. If you decide to record the interview, you must ask their permission first. Tell how the data will be used.

What should I say at the end?It’s really important that you thank people, explain what you will now do with the data, and ask permission to use their names and stories (see more detail about asking permission at the end of the interview schedule).

How do I type it up?Where possible try and type up what people said in the first person as this makes it more compelling when writing a case study. This is easier to remember if you do it as soon as you can after the interview. If what you write down is a direct quote put it in quotes marks. You can also put comments or explanatory notes from you in [square brackets] to help clarify anything that might not make sense to another reader.

Then try to type the answers up under the relevant question in the case study format This may require some analysis as the interviewee may give relevant information to a different question.

Finally, it would be helpful at the end of the transcript to note down your thoughts on how the interview process went. How could the interview schedule be improved- was it really difficult to use? Did it take too long? Were the questions that you actually asked the same as those that were written down? Which ones did you miss out?

You may also want to note down:

  • Your immediate reactions about what the person said and the implications for your service
  • Any follow up actions that you think should be taken (eg marketing actions)

Part 1: About the interviewee and his/her work and information use at work

I’m going to start by asking about your work and how you use information in your work.

  1. How would you describe your type of organisation?(NGO, government, research, university etc) How would you explain what your organisation is trying to achieve or change? How does it do this? Where does it work (areas, rural/urban etc)?
  1. What is your role? What are you trying to achieve through your work?
  1. What kinds of information do you use to help you with your work? How do you access it? Which source of information do you use most often?Where did you go the last time you needed information?

Optional questions about information use

  1. What sort of information do you find it hard to get hold of? (prompt for types of info, themes etc)
  1. What sorts of information from your work do you share with others? Where do you disseminate it?
  1. Can you describe what access you have to the internet? (eg your own PC at home/own PC at work/shared PC at work/internet cafe; connected at home/at work/both; free /paid access; all the time/every day/occasionally; etc). Is your connection good enough for browsing? Is it good enough for downloading?

Part 2: About interviewee’s use of the service

I’d now like to ask you a bit about your use of [service]

  1. How did you hear about [the service] and how long have you been using it?
  1. When do you go to [the service]? What sorts of things prompt you to go to the services- a specific piece of work? An email update etc?
  1. Which parts of the [service] do you use the most? Why? Which parts do you use the least?
  1. What difference do you think [the service] has made to your work?

Part 3: Example of use of information

  1. How do you use the information you have gained from [these service]? Can you give me an example?
  1. In the case of an example, probe as far as possible in the following areas:
  • Can you say more about the issue/policy/project you were working on? Who was it for? Who else was involved?
  • Why did you decide to use information in the process?
  • What did you do with the information? What actions did you take?
  • What happened as a result? How did your actions/the information change the situation?
  • Do you remember exactly what the piece of information was?
  • How did you know about the information? eg how did you find it?
  • What about [our service] helped you in this situation?
  • How could [our service] have helped you more in this situation?

Part 4: Feedback on the service

And finally, we’re really interested in finding out how we can improve and make our service more relevant to you.

  1. What do you value most about [the service]?
  1. Who do you think [this service] would be most useful for?
  1. What do you like least about [the service]?What do you find difficult about using [the service]?
  1. What would make our service more useful for you? What can we do differently?

Finishing the interview

Thank you very much for your time and thoughts- this will be really useful to us.

Can we use your name/job title/organisation with quotes or as a case study? This might be put in a report which would be on one of our websites, or it might go to our funders. We can email the quotes to you to check if you would like. If you prefer not to say your name, can we mention the organisation, or the job title? Or would you prefer your comments to be anonymous?

Catherine Fisher and Anna Downie, Strategic Learning Initiative, IDS: July 09