Database Reference
In-Depth Information
I
NTERVIEWER:
“What kind of work do you do on a day-to-day basis?”
P
ARTICIPANT:
“I accept land-use
applications
that are submitted by various
people
,
log them in, and set a hearing date with the hearing examiner. I also
assist
applicants
if they have any questions regarding a specific ap-
plication.”
I
NTERVIEWER:
“Let's talk about the applications for a moment. What types of facts
are associated with an application?”
P
ARTICIPANT:
“There's quite a number, actually. There are facts concerning the type
and name of the application, its designation and address, and its loca-
tion.”
I
NTERVIEWER:
“Tell me about the facts concerning the application's type and name.”
P
ARTICIPANT:
“There are four things we record: the
type of application
, the
name of
the subdivision
, the
purpose
of the project, and a
description
of the
project.”
Note how the interviewer starts the discussion with an open-ended question. After the par-
ticipantresponds,theinterviewerusestheSubject-IdentificationTechniquetoidentifysub-
jects within the response. The interviewer then chooses a particular subject and uses an-
other open-ended question to focus the participant's attention on that subject. Because the
participant's next response is general in nature, the interviewer focuses on a particular
as-
pect
of the subject and uses a more specific follow-up question to elicit a detailed response
from the participant.
The interviewer can continue to narrow the focus of his questions as the discussion pro-
gresses. As the participant responds to each question, the interviewer continues to use the
Characteristic-Identification Technique to identify characteristics of the subject that appear
intheresponse.Afterhe'sidentifiedallofthesubject'scharacteristics,theinterviewerthen
moves on to the next subject and begins the entire process again. He'll continue in this
manner until he's covered his entire list of subjects. You'll go through the same exact pro-
cess when you act as interviewer.
