Conducting Key Informant Interviews Nutr531 April 21, 2006 Kim Fahey, Laura Fanning, Karen Fischer, Laura Hooper and Shannon Kirkpatrick

What are key informant interviews? In depth interviews with people Interview is focused on a topic with which the interviewee has first hand knowledge Primary goal is to obtain qualitative description of perceptions or experiences, rather than measuring aspects of the experience.

Key Informant Interviews Can Provide Qualitative, descriptive data for decision- making Understanding of motivation, behavior and perspectives of participants Examples of successes or shortcomings of the study Preliminary info for designing a quantitative study

Advantages Disadvantages Provide information from knowledgeable people Opportunity to explore unanticipated ideas Easy and inexpensive Doesn’t work for quantitative data Vulnerable to informant or interviewer bias Difficult to prove validity of findings

Keys to Conducting Interviews Use interview template to standardize administration –Questions/prompts should be presented in the same way to all respondents –You want to maintain an engaging tone, remain neutral and avoid giving the impression of having a strong view on the topic to avoid bias –Tone of voice, body language, or interview style may cause respondents to answer questions in ways that reflect attitudes toward the interviewer rather than answers to the questions

Keys to Conducting Interviews Actively listen –Allow sufficient time for interviewee to respond to each question and elaborate on answers –Listen for perceptions, ideas and themes –Balance note-taking with focused listening –Show interest by nodding or saying “Yes” or “I see” –Be sensitive to the interviewee by respecting cultural differences and/or background

Keys to Conducting Interviews Clarify meanings of response and request detail –Repeat part of the question –Paraphrase answer back to respondent to confirm interpretation –Ask neutral questions: “Could you please tell me more about that?” “Anything else?” “Could you please give me an example?”

Keys to Conducting Interviews Prepare for questions from respondents –Prior to the interviews, take time to review info provided to the interviewees –FAQ Note-taking –Record notes in as much detail as possible and review right after interview to fill in any missing details –After the interview, ensure that all handwriting is legible or type notes in electronic template

Confidentiality and Human Subjects Community health assessment and program evaluation involve gathering data from people through surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc Whenever we are collecting or using data from individuals, we need to consider several issues related to human subjects

Three Ethical Principals Respect for Persons –The need to respect people’s ability to make independent decisions Beneficience –Maximize benefits and minimize risks to subjects Justice –Selecting participants through fair opportunity without exploiting the vulnerable

Questions to Ask When Using Human Participants Does the purpose of the study justify using human subjects? What methods will be used to gather the data? What population group are you going to study and why?

Questions to Ask When Using Human Participants What are the potential benefits to the participants? Do they outweigh the risks? How will you obtain informed consent? How will you handle confidentiality of personal data?

Human Subjects Consideration for This Project Ensuring that participants are fully informed –Info letters written by Mary and distributed by TT Minor Obtaining consent –Participation is completely voluntary Protecting confidentiality –Study code used in place of respondent’s name. Identifying list is locked-up and will be destroyed no later than

Interviews at TT Minor- Teachers/Staff Thirty teachers, staff and administrators at TT Minor will be interviewed in-person

Interviews at TT Minor- Teachers/Staff Interview procedure checklist: – Contact interviewee by telephone to schedule interview – Familiarize yourself with questionnaire template and conduct a practice interview with at least one individual – Review the Information for Teachers/Staff/Administrators and Frequently Asked Questions insert to prepare for any questions interviewees may have about the project

Interview Checklist – Pick-up vouchers for each interview you are conducting from the voucher administrator – Conduct interview on scheduled day – Thank interviewee and present with incentive: $25.00 Safeway grocery voucher – Read through notes immediately following interview to make sure they are legible. If they are not, type notes out to assist the data analysis process

Interviews at TT Minor- Parents/Guardians Telephone interviews with 28 parents/guardians of 5th graders at TT Minor Any suggestions for interviewing one Spanish speaking family???

Parent Interviews at TT Minor Interview procedure checklist: –Familiarize yourself with questionnaire template and conduct a practice interview with at least one individual –Review the Information for Parents and Guardians and Frequently Asked Questions insert to prepare for any questions interviewees may have about the project – Contact interviewee by telephone to schedule or conduct interview

Interview Checklist –Conduct interview at scheduled time if interviewee was unavailable during the first call –After the interview, thank interviewee and obtain mailing address for delivery of incentive: $25.00 Safeway grocery voucher –Read through notes immediately following interview to make sure they are legible. If they are not, type notes out to assist the data analysis process –Deliver mailing addresses to voucher administrator

Compiling, Analyzing, Reporting Results Qualitative survey data is necessary to collect and analyze as it provides the researchers with insight into the trends of thoughts, attitudes, and perceptions of a particular population The data collected will not be in the form of categorical numbers as it would be in quantitative analysis

How To Compile Data Read over notes for each question and highlight key issues Make note of insightful or remarkable comments Make a list of key issues/words for each question Number each interviewee in serial order and place that number next to each key issue/word that respondent raised

Example of Data Entry

Interview Questionnaires Designed to.…. –Be easy to read –Include precise scripts and questions –Include appropriate clarifying sentences –Flow easily from question to question –Have enough space to write responses Instructions and clarifying sentences in italics Electronic format available on class website

Interview Questionnaires Pilot interviews influenced question order and clarifying sentences Let’s take a look: –Scripts –Questions –Clarifying sentences –Directions

Outline of Class Exercise Visual overview of training notebook Introduction to frequently asked questions Interview practice session Discussion of implementation timeline

Proposed Roles and Responsibilities for Phase 2 If interview teams are small, there will be less variability in data collection Interview teams should conduct their own data analysis Teamwork Capitalize on individuals’ strengths and experience

Proposed Teams for Phase 2 Incentive Distributor Parent Interview Team –Coordinator –Analysis Coordinator –Interviewers Teacher Interview Team –Coordinator –Analysis Coordinator –Interviewers

Proposed Timeline Week of..... Incentive Distributor TasksPhone Interview Team Tasks Teacher Interview Team Tasks 4/24/06Obtain $25 vouchers from Donna Coordinate distribution of vouchers to Teacher Interview Team Phone interviewsSchedule interviews on 4/27/06 and 4/28/06 5/1/06Phone interviewsIn person interviews 5/8/06Obtain addresses from Parent Interview Team Mail vouchers to parents Data analysisIn person interviews Data analysis 5/15/06Data analysis 5/22/06Report results to the paper team

Sources Mountain States Group, Inc. Conducting Key Informant and Focus Group Interviews USAID Center for Development Information and Evaluation. Conducting Key Informant Interviews Oishi, S. How to Conduct In-Person Interviews for Surveys (Vol. 5) in The Survey Kit. 2 nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage, Access Project. Getting the Lay of the Land On Health: A Guide for Using Interviews to Gather Information (Key Informant Interviews), Fink, A. How to Manage, Analyze, and Interpret Survey Data. (Vol. 9) in The Survey Kit. 2 nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003.