Practice with these exercises to prepare for your seminars and wider research.

1. The aim of this exercise is to produce interview data on students’ experiences of studying and thus to experience some of the problems of asking questions and understanding answers in an unstructured interview.
(a) The workshop should be divided into groups of three or four.
(b) Each group should draw up a short topic guide for unstructured interviews with other students. Focus on a specific aspect of experience (e.g. reasons for coming to university, financial problems, reactions to lectures and classes) and work out some questions.
(c) Each group should choose an interviewer, an interviewee and one or two observers.
(d) The interviewer should interview the interviewee using the topic guide. The observer should write down as much as they can of what the interviewee says. Then change roles and do another interview.
(e) Compare the two interviews and discuss what you have found out. Consider the language of the questions. What do these take for granted? How far is the interviewer sharing understandings with the interviewee? How could the interview be improved?

2. Read the transcript of an interview with Joanna, an Australian woman interviewed for a research project concerning mothers’ experiences of child day care centres.
(a) How would you characterise the relationship between interviewer and respondent?
(b) What does this interview tell us about what has happened to Joanna and her child? Construct a list of key themes relating to this and say which segments of talk illustrate each theme.
(c) What does this interview tell us about the person Joanna wants to be, and about the child that she wants Jared to be? Construct a list of key themes relating to this and say which segments of talk illustrate each theme.

3. Workshop on interviewing.
(a) Choose one of these topics:

(1) Should possession and use of cannabis be legalised?
(2) What were the first few weeks of university been like?
(3) Should (choose extreme politics / terrorist group) be given air time on national TV?

(b) Draw up a short topic guide for a qualitative interview about this (no more than 5 or 6 main questions/topics)
(c) Each group should choose an interviewer, an interviewee and one or two observers.
(d) The interviewer should interview the interviewee using the topic guide. The observer(s) should take notes on what happens.
(e) Each person should say what went well and what went badly. Consider how the topic guide and the interviewing style might be improved.
(f) If time permits, repeat the exercise with people adopting different roles.