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Interviews and Questionnaires 

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158

Eva Codó

9 Interviews and Questionnaires

Eva Codó

9.1 Introduction

This chapter considers in detail the use of interviews and questionnaires as data-
collection techniques for studies on multilingualism and language contact. The
suitability of one or the other instrument will depend on the specific goals of our
research project.

Questionnaires are useful for collecting biographical information on speakers,
and quantifiable data on language abilities, practices, and attitudes. Survey research
can thus provide an overview of the language situation of a given population. In
community studies, for example, questionnaires are helpful to get an idea of who,
when and where the different languages are spoken and of attitudes towards them.
In migrant group contexts, they may be used to investigate the extent to which
family languages are maintained. If, by contrast, researchers want to acquire in-
depth knowledge of particular bilingual contexts or speakers and they seek to
answer complex questions, such as what it means to be bilingual in a given setting,
they will need to use interviews.

Interviews produce extended accounts from informants. Although interview data
can also be subject to quantification (one can count, for example, how many times
a speaker switches from one language to another), the interview is not as effici-
ent a technique as the questionnaire for collecting discrete pieces of information;
besides, it is much more costly and time-consuming. But the interview does not only
enable researchers to collect declarative data on language use. As a verbal event, the
interview is also an authentic communicative situation in which naturally occurring
talk is exchanged. Interviews may thus be studied as forms of social interaction and
as sources of real language data. This is a specific use of the interview in linguistics
which has no parallel in the social sciences.

This chapter is organized in two main parts. In section 9.2, I focus on the
interview as a research tool (see also Nortier, chapter 3 in this volume). This
section examines the two main ways in which interviews can be used, i.e. as
sources of information and as instances of real language use. A number of issues
connected with the conduct of interviews are discussed, more specifically, the plan-
ning stage, the phrasing and organization of questions, and the practicalities of

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The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism. Edited by Li Wei and Melissa G. Moyer
© 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-405-12607-6

Interviews and Questionnaires 159

interviewing. In the second part of the chapter I focus on survey research. Different
types of questionnaires and modes of administration are described. In addition, a
list of themes about which a questionnaire designed to gather information on a
multilingual situation can enquire is provided. By way of conclusion, a final
comparison of the two methods is presented. The chapter ends with a resource
section which contains further bibliographical references on the use of interviews
and questionnaires as data-gathering procedures.

9.2 Interviews as Sources of Data on Language Contact

The interview is a fairly versatile technique for gathering data on multilingualism.
It can be employed to obtain both linguistic productions from bi-/multilingual
speakers and content data. In this second case, researchers aim to gather biographical
and other relevant contextualizing information from language users together with
their views, values, and attitudes towards their own and others’ linguistic practices.
As will be discussed later, self-report data, that is, data in which speakers assess
and comment on their own language practices is a type of linguistic data, which
should, however, not be used as a substitute for naturally occurring speech. Self-
report data can yield interesting insights, especially into multilingual language use,
but researchers should be aware of the multiple conditionings shaping speakers’
expressed opinions and of their contextually situated nature. The analysis of speakers’
real verbal productions may show them to be rather different from what actors
reported them to be.

It must be highlighted that the two types of data that may be elicited from
interviews, i.e. content and language use data, are not mutually exclusive. Interviews
primarily designed for gathering speech samples are often also used to obtain
contextualizing biographical and language-related information from respondents.
The opposite case is less likely but also plausible. Pujolar (2001), for example, uses
the talk produced in group discussions to analyze the code-switching practices of
working-class youngsters living in Barcelona.

9.2.1 Interviews for linguistic and conversational analysis

The advantages offered by the interview as a method for gathering samples of spoken
data are two. First, it is generally easier to set up an interview with selected
informants than to get permission to record naturally occurring talk; secondly, the
interview offers a more controlled environment for researchers looking for specific
language forms (e.g. instances of past simple use by Spanish-English bilinguals)
than naturally occurring social interaction. However, the semi-spontaneous nature
of interviews may also limit the appearance of certain forms of bilingual speech,
especially in communities where they are highly stigmatized. A possible solution is
to conduct group interviews. In some contexts, peer group interaction may facilitate

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160 Eva Codó

the appearance of language alternation phenomena. However, it is also true that
in some other contexts, and depending on the social composition of the groups,
the production of bilingual speech forms may be inhibited. That means that it is
very important for researchers to get to know the social context they intend to
investigate and to be aware of the connections between power issues and socially
appropriate forms of language use.

The technique for using sociolinguistic interviews to collect natural speech data
was developed by Labov and his associates (for further details see e.g. Wolfram &
Fasold, 1974; Wolfson, 1976; and Labov, 1984). A basic requirement of this type
of interview is that the data obtained must be as similar as possible to spontaneous
talk. It is important to build a rapport with informants so that they feel comfortable
talking to the researcher and become less self-conscious about their speech. Other-
wise, respondents may not switch between languages, or they may not use socially
stigmatized linguistic varieties or forms. The code employed by the researcher, or
even just the kind of person the researcher is taken to be, can also constrain the
degree of linguistic alternation in informants’ speech. In that case, the choice of a
community member interviewer may solve the problem.

Language alternation can also be facilitated by choosing topics that connect with
the use of a specific language spoken by the interviewee, like memories of a pre-
vious life in a foreign country, the description of a past way of life, or stories
from one’s childhood (for further details on how to alleviate the tension created
by the interview situation see sections 9.2.2 and 9.2.3.1). If, after conducting an
interview, researchers feel that informants got more relaxed as time went by, one
possibility is to discard the data recorded during the initial stages and concentrate
on the most spontaneous parts. Alternatively, more conscious and less conscious
modes of talk may be used for comparison purposes. To encourage informants
to talk extensively, interviews must be designed in ways that facilitate the elicita-
tion of longish pieces of discourse, such as narratives, descriptions, or accounts
of some kind.

Researchers working on the lexical and syntactic aspects of language mixing (see
Treffers-Daller, 1994; Backus, 1996; Eppler, 2004; Gardner-Chloros, chapter 4 in
this volume) have traditionally employed the interview situation to collect samples
of bilingual speech for analysis. Likewise, interview data has been used by variationist
researchers studying the borrowing/code-switching distinction (cf. the papers in
the special issue of the International Journal of Bilingualism edited by Poplack &
Meechan, 1998).

Apart from formal linguistic traditions, interactivist schools have also been inter-
ested in the study of the interview as a speech event. Interviews of various kinds
where the interviewer acts as a gatekeeper, that is, controls access to important
socioeconomic resources, have been the favorite object of study of many interpre-
tive sociolinguistic works (Roberts & Sayers, 1987; Sarangi, 1996; Kerekes, 2006).
This research has focused both on global aspects of interview management, like
schemata and role relationships, and on specific details of talk, like conversational
inference, contextualization cues, register, and style. From strict conversational
perspectives, the interview has also been a fruitful interactional space to investigate
processes of identity construction and group affiliation (Widdicombe, 1998).

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Interviews and Questionnaires 161

Section summary: Interviews for linguistic and conversational analysis

• Group interviews may facilitate the production of bilingual speech forms
in contexts where they are stigmatized, but they may also inhibit certain
language alternation practices. It is essential for researchers to have a deep
understanding of the social context they want to investigate.

• Interviewers should avoid informants becoming too self-conscious about
their speech. It is essential that a rapport is built so that interviewees feel
comfortable talking to the person conducting the interview.

• A community member interviewer and the choice of certain topics may
facilitate the production of bilingual speech forms.

• The types of questions asked should facilitate the production of longish
pieces of discourse.

• Interviews as sources of real language data have been studied from struc-
tural, variationist, and interactivist perspectives.

9.2.2 Interviews for content analysis

This is the most common purpose of interviews in bilingualism studies. Interviews
are employed either to obtain information which may otherwise be very difficult to
gather (like certain biographical details, which may not become available even after
long and intensive involvement in the field) or to explore issues that can only be
accessed indirectly if interactional data is considered (such as language attitudes
and ideologies). For examples of how content analysis can be used, see Blackledge,
chapter 17 and Pavlenko, chapter 18, in this volume. In fact, the interview is a very
efficient research tool in that it allows investigators to gather fairly large bodies of
data in relatively little time.

There are two types of content information researchers may obtain from inter-
views. One is factual details, like age, years of schooling, and employment situation;
the other is what Hammersley and Atkinson (1983) refer to as “perspective”
information, that is, subjects’ understandings of the value and meanings of their
bilingual speech practices. In both cases, the type of data gathered is declarative.
The interview format can, additionally, be employed to discuss extracts of inter-
actional data with informants.

It must be pointed out that, although useful in its own terms, declarative data
can never be employed as a substitute for data on speakers’ actual linguistic behavior.
Self- or other-reports of bilingual language practice may not match observed conduct,
since many phenomena related to performance, like code-switching, operate on a
subconscious level. Mismatches can also have a language-ideological component.
Speakers of varieties with low social prestige may want to claim that they do not
use them, though in fact they do. In any case, these are very interesting sites of
analysis (Pujolar, 2001) because they point towards the many conflicts and con-
tradictions that inform linguistic practices in contexts of multilingualism.

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162 Eva Codó

In qualitative studies, the data obtained in interviews are often employed for
triangulation purposes (see Heller, 2006). The opinions expressed by speakers are
put side by side with other types of data, such as participant observation and
electronically recorded interactions, to throw new light on the bilingual phenom-
ena observed. The beliefs and attitudes expressed by interviewees are essential to
researchers’ interpretive processes, whether to change their understanding of the
meaning and value of speakers’ bilingual productions, or to validate their inter-
pretations. Finally, interview data may also be conceptualized as a means to open
up research to the researched and give them a voice. Influenced by critical ethno-
graphy, the current tendency is towards devising ways of allowing interviewees to
have more control over the interpretation process and to retain authorship over the
final text (see Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004a).

One of the difficulties often mentioned in connection with the use of interview
data for content analysis is the issue of “truth.” Researchers often fear that inform-
ants’ responses may differ from their “actual” opinions on certain themes, because
they either want to please the researcher, feel constrained by the interview situation
from expressing their views, or aim to project a given image for themselves and
their community. Subjects’ “untrue” responses, it is claimed, may lead researchers to
draw inaccurate conclusions about the bilingual context or speakers investigated.
Although, as we shall see later, there are ways in which interviewers can try
to make interviewees feel comfortable so that they voice their opinions freely,
researchers should be aware that there is no external “truth” to be sought, and that
people’s knowledge and opinions are always constructed in the course of situated
communicative events.

One important weakness of interviews is that there may be limits to the amount
and kinds of details the researcher is able to gather. This can be due to a number
of reasons. To start with, using direct questioning to find out information is
standard practice in Western societies but may not be so in other cultures (see
Eades, 1982; Briggs, 1986). Thus, researchers should not take the usefulness of
direct interviewing for granted, as information gathering may be more efficiently
carried out through other means (e.g. through engaging in pedagogical discourse
with community elders, as exemplified by Briggs, 1986). Familiarizing oneself with
alternative practices for collecting information, however, requires intensive fieldwork
in order to acquire a basic understanding of the communicative norms and patterns
of the society investigated; this is very time-consuming. Secondly, asking questions
can be considered inappropriate in certain contexts, or perceived as threatening
by some informants. In the fieldwork I undertook at an immigration office, a very
sensitive institutional context, I realized state officials were reluctant to provide
“insider” institutional information if asked directly. Especially at the beginning,
they were unsure about my presence in the office, and so direct questioning was felt
to threaten my position as a fieldworker (for further details see Codó, 2003).
Thirdly, the types of aspects researchers on bilingualism seek details on, like values,
attitudes, beliefs, and motivations, tend to be difficult to verbalize. Besides, rarely
do speakers reflect on these issues in an explicit manner unless awareness of lan-
guage is heightened (Heller, 1988). As regards the nature of what is said, the
format of the interview may limit the amount and types of details provided (Briggs,

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Interviews and Questionnaires 163

1986). The question–answer turn structure imposes important relevance constraints
on informants’ talk.

9.2.2.1 Overcoming difficulties

There are different ways to overcome some of the drawbacks discussed above.
Undertaking fieldwork in the setting investigated and spending time with the re-
searched will work to overcome their initial reluctance to open up and will probably
make them stop worrying about the image of themselves and their communities
they are trying to project. Researchers’ practical knowledge of the context investig-
ated will also help them to search for alternative, less intrusive means of information
gathering, which may be more efficient than the interview.

If it is not possible to meet informants beforehand, interviewers should make
every effort to create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere at the outset of the interview
and build a rapport with informants. As is well known, there is a range of factors
that contribute to enhancing solidarity among speakers, such as speech variety and
tone, and conversational and interviewing style, but also age, ethnicity, dressing
style, and general demeanor. Some of these factors can be modified, like interviewing
style, while others cannot, like gender and ethnicity. If the latter are perceived to
have an obvious negative influence, it is better to ask somebody else to do the
interview for us.

Another technique mentioned earlier which may help alleviate the tension gener-
ated by the one-to-one interview is group interviews. Interviewees may feel freer and
be more forthcoming among peers. Group interaction may facilitate the appearance
of bilingual forms, indigenous speech activities, or key themes of which the researcher
was not aware. Additionally, speakers’ divergent opinions on certain issues (like
speakers’ motivations for language choice) may encourage participation and force
interactants to refine arguments. By contrast, the problems associated with group
discussions are poor quality of recordings, difficulty in identifying speakers and/or
languages, the dominance of certain interactants, and the lack of participation of
others. Group discussions and face-to-face interviews need not be mutually exclusive.
It is possible to integrate both in a single piece of research (see Pujolar, 2001).

Although the above recommendations may help facilitate the exchange of ideas,
researchers should not be deluded into thinking, as we mentioned above, that they
can get to respondents’ “real” thoughts. This claim, typical of positivist approaches,
rests on two erroneous assumptions. First, it is often assumed that knowledge
exists independently of its expression. This may be true of factual information but
certainly not of other kinds of knowledge, typically investigated in bilingualism
research, like ideologies, beliefs, and attitudes. These are often constructed in the
course of their verbalization and are shaped by the associations of ideas and
thoughts generated as the interview unfolds. The second false assumption concerns
the issue of reactivity, that is, the idea that it is possible to elicit talk that does not
in some way or other react to the presence of the researcher. This is not feasible.
The interview is a co-constructed event between interviewer and interviewee.
Silverman (1993) refers to interview data as “situated narratives”; Briggs (1986)

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164 Eva Codó

claims that interview discourse is highly “indexical” of the social and sequential
context in which it is produced. Interview talk is always produced for a particular
audience and shaped in ways that are considered appropriate by speakers accord-
ing to their definition of the situation. What researchers can do is try to modify
interviewees’ perception of the event as more or less formal and of the relation-
ship with their interlocutor, but they cannot elicit talk which is acontextual. The
most honest position to take is to acknowledge the ways in which the conditions
of production of the interview may have shaped the data and interpret them
accordingly.

Evident influences on the talk need not be conceptualized as a disturbance.
They may prove a very interesting locus of research. For example, the use in the
interview of a particular language or speech variety by the researcher may lead
the interviewee to understand the event as related to a specific social domain (for
example, the school), where this language is dominant or preferred. Switches from
and into this language in the construction of the interview will index the social
functions and values associated with each of the languages of the bilingual com-
munity researched (see Cots & Nussbaum, 2003).

Section summary: Interviews for content analysis

• Interviews can be employed to obtain factual and/or perspective informa-
tion, and to discuss data extracts with informants.

• Interview data are best employed in combination with other types of data
(triangulation).

• Researchers should aim to get as close as possible to informants’ “true”
responses, though they should be aware of the constructed and situated
nature of knowledge.

• The interview situation imposes constraints on the information provided.
• Face-to-face interviews may be combined with group discussions to

facilitate the exchange of ideas.
• Contextual influences on informants’ responses may constitute an engaging

locus of research.

9.2.3 Planning the interview

The first thing researchers need to do in the planning stage is reflect on the need,
usefulness, and feasibility of collecting interview data. For technical details see
Clemente (chapter 10 in this volume). Logically, it is necessary to have first-hand
knowledge of the multilingual speakers or community investigated to get an
accurate picture of how suitable and/or feasible collecting interview data might be.
Researchers may even want to conduct a few preliminary interviews before making
a final decision (Redmond, 2000). When doing research on societies other than
one’s own, it is necessary to take into account that asking questions may not be

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considered appropriate in certain social situations, that it may be better not to
enquire about certain topics, that there might be restrictions as to who can have access
to information, and that only “knowledgeable speakers” may be able to provide
certain types of information (Eades, 1982; Briggs, 1986). These are all things
researchers need to consider in the planning stages.

Another aspect that merits some thought is the type of interview researchers plan
to administer and the format they want to give to their questions. This will of course
depend on the goals of the research, the intended target group, and the analytic
treatment they want to give to their data.

Interview formats may range from unstructured, non-directive questioning to fairly
directive modes. Any one interview can contain both format types. It may start by
being fairly directive (by asking, for example, specific questions about language
use) and progressively become transformed into a less structured event, or vice versa.

Researchers need to bear in mind that the more interviewees participate in
defining the content and pace of the interview, the more varied and numerous will
be the details provided. In fact, unstructured interview formats are preferred in
ethnographically oriented language research. The problem is that the data obtained
from different interviews may not be easily comparable. For this reason, even if
questions are not formulated in a standard manner, it is always advisable to have
a list of topics to cover so that at least some points of comparison can be established.
If responses are to be quantified, then standardization is absolutely necessary.
In that case, the multiple-choice format might be the most appropriate one (see
subsection 9.3.2 for details).

Closely connected with unstructured interview formats are life histories and stories.
They are special kinds of interviews centered on the self (see Pavlenko, chapter 18
in this volume). Their advantage over interviews is that tellers are allowed more
freedom to organize the “stories that shape their lives” (Linde, 1993) thematically
and chronologically, to identify significant life stages, and to pin down crucial
events (the turning points, or “epiphanies” as Denzin (1989b) calls them). Life
narratives are used to investigate who informants are, how they have come to
be the people they are, and what events and experiences have shaped their lives.
As language plays a fundamental role in self and other-construction, biographical
narratives are a good technique for exploring the experiences of bilinguals in contexts
of migration and displacement (see, for example, Hoffman, 1989; Dorfman, 1998;
Pavlenko, 2004).

When deciding on a format, researchers must also take into account their relation-
ship with interviewees. With strangers, for example, it is easier to conduct directive
than non-directive interviews, as open formats may cause bewilderment. The socio-
cultural expectations associated with the interview as a speech event are that
interviewers ask questions about the topic(s) they are interested in and that inter-
viewees respond. The role of the interviewers is thus expected to be fairly directive.
As Wolfson (1976) notes, if they relinquish this cultural prerogative without a
previous explanation, informants may feel puzzled or annoyed, produce hesitant
talk, or, in the worst-case scenario, start wondering about the researcher’s hidden
intentions. This is why it is essential to discuss the format and goals of the interview
with informants before starting.

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166 Eva Codó

In assessing the suitability of a given format it is important to consider the
familiarity of the interviewee with the interview as a speech event. For instance,
migrant school children are regularly asked to engage in semi-formal interviews, as
assessments of linguistic and academic competence are often made on the basis of
their performance in interviews (Cots & Nussbaum, 2003). It is surely easier for
them to participate in these events than for other population groups. This is some-
thing researchers need to bear in mind during the planning process.

The third issue to be thought about is at which stage in the research project
researchers will want to administer the interview. As with format, this depends on
the type of research that they are carrying out. If they intend to answer a quantit-
ative research question using interview data, and plan to interrogate a fairly large
population sample, a few introductory sentences explaining the nature and goals of
their research may be enough. Interviews can be carried out straight away bearing
in mind the recommendations outlined in subsection 9.2.4. If, by way of contrast,
researchers intend to integrate the use of interviews with the analysis of real-life
interactional data and ethnographic observations, the administration of interviews
should be delayed until later stages. In those cases, interviews are often used to
explore themes that emerge from the analysis of the talk and to check preliminary
interpretations of sociolinguistic behavior with informants. It is thus best for re-
searchers to first analyze small samples of interactional data so that they have a
clearer idea of what it might be relevant to focus on. In addition, if formal inter-
viewing is postponed until the researcher has conducted ethnographic observations
and is fairly familiar with the setting and the social actors investigated, she or he
can make more informed decisions as to which participants must be interviewed
and what sorts of questions need to be asked.

This leads to the fourth aspect researchers need to consider, namely the type and
number of informants they will need. Informant selection is a fundamental issue. If
interviewees are not carefully selected, the data may be misleading. For a detailed
discussion of informant selection see Lanza, chapter 5 in this volume. A final aspect
concerns decisions on the organization and formulation of questions. These will be
considered in detail in the following section.

9.2.3.1 Phrasing and organizing questions

The first obvious thing researchers on multilingualism need to think about is the
language(s) in which the questions will be formulated. Language is a key factor,
because it sends messages about the interviewer’s ethnolinguistic affiliation and
educational background, and the formality of the speech event, among other things.
These aspects will define the interviewee’s understanding of the context of the
interview and shape responses in multiple ways. If researchers want interviewees
to speak unconstrained, it is often best to let them choose the language of the
interaction. In migrant contexts, this may entail enlisting the help of a community
member, both to carry out the interview, and to transcribe and translate the
responses provided. This complicates the process of data collection and analysis but
certainly enhances the value and depth of the responses provided.

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As was mentioned earlier, direct interviewing may not be effective or even
advisable in certain social contexts. Likewise, standard question formats may
elicit little information. In the Aboriginal societies studied by Eades (1982) in
Australia, for example, explanations or stories are best elicited through “triggering,”
which consists in the information-seeker stating something known about the desired
topic and then pausing for the knowledgeable speaker to start talking about the
topic. A similar function is accomplished by interjections and repetitions of pre-
ceding talk. Briggs (1986) attested comparable behavior in his study of Mexicano
society, where information on traditional knowledge may be elicited by taking up
parts of elders’ talk and using final rising intonation. These two examples show
how important it is for researchers to acquire knowledge of native ways of inform-
ation seeking first and not just take the Western-based question–answer format for
granted.

Another relevant aspect for researchers to consider is that the way questions are
worded directs respondents’ thoughts. This is something that they will presumably
want to avoid. In Erill, Marcos, and Farràs (1992) informants are asked to answer
a question on the status of Catalan which is phrased in the following terms (my
translation): “Just as Spanish is the only official language of Spanish-speaking
territories, do you believe that it would similarly be natural for Catalan to be the
only official language of Catalan-speaking territories?” By framing the question
against the backdrop of the situation of Spanish, respondents are more inclined to
answer “yes” than if the question were phrased in more neutral terms, like “Do
you think that Catalan should be the only official language of Catalonia?”

Varying the type and format of questions makes the interview less monotonous
and serves to maintain the interest of informants. As a general rule, yes–no questions
should be avoided, as we want interviewees to provide extended accounts. Another
aspect to consider is that questions should be short and easy to understand (taking
into account the target population is essential here too). Special attention must be
paid to avoiding double meanings, vagueness, and ambiguity. This is particularly
important if researchers and/or respondents are second or foreign language speakers
of the linguistic code employed. The goal is to establish a “common referential frame”
(Briggs, 1986) in which interviewer and interviewee agree on the type of information
being sought.

A method of easing comprehension is to try to bring questions close to inter-
viewees’ real-life worlds. This can be done in two ways. First, the researcher can
use a linguistic style, variety, or code to which respondents can quickly relate, and
avoid jargon. This makes comprehension easier and enhances rapport. Secondly,
the researcher can show interviewees pictures and/or texts, and ask them to discuss
specific events, actions, or speakers rather than hypothetical ones. So, instead of
the question “What language would you speak to a stranger?” it is preferable
to ask “What language do you speak to strangers?” Another interesting example
is provided in Treffers-Daller (1994). She asked her Brussels informants to think of
six individuals to whom they talked regularly and specify their names. Obviously,
the names were of no interest to the researcher but the question helped inter-
viewees to focus on real-life individuals rather than groups of people like friends
or neighbors.

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168 Eva Codó

A relevant aspect linked to the wording of questions is how to formulate
sensitive questions. The basic rule is that they should never be asked right away.
It is fundamental that an atmosphere of trust is created before sensitive issues are
introduced. It is also better not to leave these questions to the final stages of the
interview. The best place is towards the middle of the interaction. This way, if the
interviewer perceives that sensitive questions have strained his or her relationship
with the interviewee, he or she can repair the damage as they move along. One
technique for phrasing sensitive questions is to allow the interviewee to distance
him- or herself from the themes discussed. Using formulae like “There are people
who say/think that . . . ,” “Do you know of anyone who . . . ?” may be useful.
Finally, the researcher must not forget to make explicit at the outset of the inter-
view that the interviewee may opt out of any of the questions if she or he does not
feel comfortable with them.

There are different ways of organizing questions in interviews depending on the
type of interview, the research goals, and the relationship between participants.
As a general rule, questions should be grouped by themes. The first ones within
each theme should be relatively easy to answer. They are meant to pave the way
for subsequent queries which the researcher might actually be more interested in.

The second aspect to be taken into consideration is the breadth of questions, that
is, whether they ask for specific information or are relatively open. There are two
types of organization. In the first type, the interviewer moves from the general to
the specific, whereas in the second type it is the opposite. When researchers use the
first mode, they seek specific information but want to avoid influencing respondents’
opinions. If they use the second type, they are more interested in subjects’ reflec-
tions, accounts, and understandings of the world. The way questions are ordered may
vary at different stages in the interview depending on the theme tackled.

Section summary: Planning the interview

• Before starting, researchers need to assess the feasibility and suitability of
conducting interviews in a particular multilingual context.

• They should be aware of culture-specific restrictions on who, what, and
when to ask.

• The less directive an interview, the more prone respondents will be to
provide details.

• The language(s) of the interview frames the event in significant ways. It is
best to allow interviewees to choose what language(s) to speak.

• Interviewers should avoid asking yes–no questions or channeling inform-
ants’ responses.

• Varying the format and type of questions makes the interview less
monotonous.

• Questions should be short, easy to understand, and unambiguous.
• Sensitive questions should be not formulated right away and researchers

should allow interviewees to distance themselves from the themes discussed.

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9.2.4 Conducting the interview

Before conducting the interview, it is essential to pilot it. The more feedback
researchers get the better. It may be the case that the interview is too long, that
questions are ambiguously worded, or that they do not focus interviewees’ responses
on the desired themes.

A time and location for the interview must be chosen. Usually, it is left up
to informants to decide. They may prefer the safe environment of their homes, or
they may choose a less private location, such as a public park, a cafeteria, or a
room in a library. If a public place is chosen, it might be a good idea to visit it
beforehand, especially if researchers are planning to record the interview (it may
be too tiny or too noisy, or have no sockets to plug their recording equipment
into).

Once the day comes, researchers should think about how they are going to dress.
They need to remember that interviewees should feel comfortable in their presence.
So, they should choose a way of dressing which harmonizes with their informants’
but does not conflict with the image they want to project. For instance, wearing
very informal clothes can, in some contexts, raise doubts as to their seriousness as
researchers and the extent to which they are to be trusted. This may shape responses
in undesired ways.

One key issue to consider before conducting the interview is ethics. This refers
not only to the need to gain informed consent from informants, but also to questions
that have to do with the researcher’s moral conduct during the interview. That is,
apart from ensuring that participants’ anonymity is guaranteed, we need to ensure
that we deploy ethical interviewing practices. That means avoiding damaging
informants in any conscious way, but also being aware of the potential for distress
that some of our questions may have.

The initial words exchanged in an interview are important in terms of the defini-
tion of the communicative event and its general tone. Researchers should take
advantage of the opening turns to start building rapport. But most importantly,
they must make all efforts to explain how the event will unfold and what kinds of
answers they expect. Logically, they should avoid determining respondents’ behavior,
though some influence is unavoidable, due to, as we said, the contextually situated
nature of spoken data.

Researchers’ demeanor is also important throughout. They must show that they
are attentive to the talk exchanged, as significant themes may arise that were not
expected. Researchers need to pick up on informants’ cues if they want to pursue
them. Researchers’ responsiveness is also important for interviewees. The latter
may want to know whether they are being understood and whether what they are
saying seems to be relevant for the researcher.

One way of displaying interest is by taking notes. Yet note-taking may work to
direct respondents’ talk towards certain themes if they infer that these are what
researchers are after. If the interview is being recorded, note-taking can take place
afterwards. Making notes on the interview is always recommended, especially if
the interview is not video-recorded. But even if it is, researchers can use notes to

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170 Eva Codó

write down interesting topics they may want to pursue later on in the interview, or
any ideas that come to mind during the interaction and that may become relevant
during the process of analysis. It is also advisable for researchers to note down
impressions about the interviewee and the way the interaction unfolded. Listening
to – and if possible transcribing – the interview right afterwards helps the recall
process. If content recordings are not possible, note-taking is facilitated by having
a form with preallocated spaces for the pieces of information researchers want
to gather.

9.2.5 Analyzing the data

The interpretation of data elicited in interviews must take into account its deeply
contextual nature, that is, the fact that it is produced in the framework of a par-
ticular speech event and that it stands in a sequential relationship with preceding
talk (see Heller, chapter 14 in this volume). Interview talk is also situated temporally,
spatially, experientially, and socioculturally, that is, it is produced at a particular
time and place by specific speakers, who have specific background experiences,
and who operate within particular sociocultural systems. This is especially significant
in terms of the researcher’s assessment and understanding of the information
provided (Briggs, 1986).

With regard to the presentation of data, researchers may opt to gloss over
respondents’ talk, or they may decide to furnish longish quotes. The first option
makes it difficult for readers to assess the accuracy of researchers’ interpretations.
The second option enables readers to “hear” speakers’ voices (for an example see
Mills, 2004), which is particularly interesting when, for example, code alternation
is employed. Yet this entails a risk, namely, that researchers shy away from inter-
pretation, the assumption being that the data speaks for itself. This is erroneous,
as interview data – like any data – is not transparent to the observer, but requires
careful and informed interpretation.

Section summary: Conducting the interview and analyzing the data

• Piloting is essential to detect possible flaws in the design of the interview.
• Researchers must think about their dress style and the image they want to

project.
• Researchers must be attentive to the talk exchanged and engage with

interviewees.
• The data must be interpreted in its context of production.
• Providing extracts from interviewees’ responses enables readers to check

on the accuracy of interpretations and gives the researched a voice.

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