About Our Research: Using Semi-Structured Interviews as a Data Collection Method 

Given our community-based research approach at MA Appleseed, we collect data in several ways. Whether qualitative or quantitative, we center racial equity in our process to ensure that those impacted by the issues we study have their voices heard. 

We explained focus groups and qualitative surveys in past blog posts. In the next blog post, we outline our use of quantitative data requests from state agencies. This post will dig into semi-structured interviews. 

Interviews allow us to dive deeper into a particular topic with various individuals who are experts, whether from their lived experience or work in and around the issue. This data collection method can stand alone, or follow another kind, such as a survey.  

Via interviews, we can gather more detailed information and stories from those experiencing a specific social issue or inequity. This research method gives space for a more relational and personal approach with each participant, placing the sole focus on one person and their stories. 

Our project investigating language access for Limited English Proficient (LEP) clients of the MA Department of Children and Families (DCF) exemplifies how we utilize semi-structured interviews. A few years after we released our Families Torn Apart report, we sent a survey to lawyers who work with DCF-involved families that are LEP to gauge any potential improvements. Following the survey, we held short interviews with respondents who agreed to be contacted further. We were able to ask tailored questions based on their survey responses to get more detailed information and narratives. These interviews proved critical to the memo we drafted given that they greatly bolstered our qualitative findings. 

How do we prepare for interviews? We create an interview guide ahead of time, which is a list of questions ordered in a certain way. Interview guides are important for several reasons: 

• They provide the researcher with a list of questions to ask at each interview to standardize the data collected 

• The questions are in an order that help to “warm up” the interviewee and allow for relationship building between the interviewer and interviewee 

• There are “probes,” or follow-up questions that delve deeper into specific topics, that can be used depending on participants’ responses in the moment 

Interview guides are crucial to a successful semi-structured interview and the interviews are semi-structured for a reason. The idea behind a guide, rather than a script, is that interviews should ultimately feel like conversations where the interviewee is as comfortable as possible. Having the structured interview guide along with the flexibility to veer away from it to ask different questions makes for the ideal situation. Essentially, this is the definition of a semi-structured interview.  

This data collection method mainly centers on qualitative data. When we do interviews, we look for personal accounts, emotions, and outcomes. The stories and quotes that arise from interviews are incredibly valuable data that uplifts the people behind the social issue, rather than solely thinking about the problem from a numerical (quantitative) point of view. 

The next blog post in this series will explain our use of quantitative data requests from state agencies. Stay tuned!