Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
repeat or clarify an answer when the tone or manner of the answer triggers
some doubt about the completeness of the response. This approach is effective
in stimulating discussion with an interviewee who responds to inquiries with
only terse, efficient replies.
Of the hundreds of useful interviewing strategies, the most successful place
the interviewee at ease, acknowledge the value of the information, and reinforce
continued communication. Many topics about interviewing also emphasize
control. In formal structured and semistructured interviews, maintaining con-
trol of the direction of the interview is useful to ensure that the interview pro-
duces the target information in the short time allotted. The ethnographer wants
the interviewee to be in control much of the time, however. The “how” of com-
munication is as instructive as the “what.” A person's manner, emphasis, and
presentation can teach much about that person's perception of time, organiza-
tion of thoughts, and feelings about interpersonal relationships. Taking charge
of most interviews and maintaining control of them can sacrifice too many
data. The skillful ethnographer learns when to let the interviewee ramble and
when to shape or direct the information flow—a decision generally shaped by
the stage of research or inquiry. In exploratory work, letting the participant con-
trol the communication flow is most useful. Focused periods of formal hypoth-
esis testing require that the ethnographer maintain greater control.
Silence is also a valuable interview strategy. Learning how to tolerate the
empty space between question and reply is difficult for many Americans. The
fieldworker, however, learns not to routinely jump in and clarify a question
whenever silence falls. The best approach is to let the participant think about
the question and digest if for a while before responding. After the participant
has apparently finished discussing a topic, a brief pause can bring out more
information or an important qualification to the information. The burden of
silence falls on both parties. An experienced ethnographer learns how to use
silence in a skillful fashion—to encourage interviewees to speak but not to
make them feel uncomfortable or threatened. Such strategies, and those
described in the following sections, will ensure a more natural and useful flow
of communication, minimizing role-playing, various other contaminating fac-
tors, and nonproductive time.
Key Actor or Informant Interviewing
Some people are more articulate and culturally sensitive than others. These
individuals make excellent key actors or informants.
Informant
is the tradi-
tional anthropological term; however, I use the term
key actor
to describe this
individual, to avoid both the stigma of the term
informant
and its historical
roots.
2
In the social group under study, this individual is one of many actors
