Semi-structured Interview

“A completely un-structured interview has the risk of not eliciting from the junior researchers the topics or themes more closely related to the research questions under consideration.”

Rabionet, S. E. (2011). How I Learned to Design and Conduct Semi-structured Interviews: An Ongoing and Continuous Journey. The Qualitative Report, 16(2), 563-566.

Definition

A semi-structured interview is both focused on a specific topic and driven by the interviewee’s personal experiences.

Context

Co-design

Procedure

1. Semi-structured interviews should have a narrow focus that motivates the purpose of the interview.

2. Create a guideline for the semi-structured interview. I break down my guideline into three parts:

• Start by introducing the topic and explaining the reasons for the research. Lay out some ethical considerations by asking consent to record information and being transparent about the interview’s confidentiality.

• During the interview, use prepared questions as a guide to keep the interview on track. It’s always good to keep the flow of the conversation open by maintaining an informal vibe.

• Be appreciative of the interviewee’s time. Conclude the interview by thanking the interviewee.

3. Afterward, summarize and analyze the results.

Use Case and Data Analysis

For a waste management project, me and two other designers held a semi-structured interview with a Resource and Recycling intern at Sustain IU. Our focus was to understand how students handle their e-waste.

He shared with us the projects he was working on along with a report evaluating the school’s sustainability progress. During the interview, I kept bringing the topic back to e-waste. Our interviewee was stumped. He admitted not much was being done to address e-waste collection for students, but he thought this was a very important issue. We realized after the interview there was an opportunity to provide a service for managing e-waste. This valuable insight resulted from our inquiry into e-waste.