A paper published in Qualitative Sociology that shows how generally minor tweaks to typical interview prompts result in richer interview data.
In this paper, we offer effective ways to write interview protocol “prompts” that are generative of the most critical types of information researchers wish to learn from interview respondents: salience ofevents, attributes, and experiences; the structure ofwhat is normal; perceptions ofcause and effect; and views about sensitive topics. We offer tips for writing and putting into practice protocol prompts that we have found to be effective at obtaining each of these kinds ofinformation. In doing so, we encourage researchers to think of an interview protocol as a series of prompts, rather than a list of questions, for respondents to talk about certain topics related to the main research question(s). We provide illustrative examples from our own research and that of our students and professional colleagues to show how generally minor tweaks to typical interview prompts result in richer interview data.
View the article HERE