Using Phone Interviews

This guide, written by Annie Irvine for the National Centre for Research Methods at the University of Manchester examines the use of telephone interviews for research purposes. The paper also outlines the key findings of a study which attempted to shed light on the interactional differences between phone and face-to-face interviews. 

Excerpt

"Telephone interviews offer a range of potential advantages for qualitative research projects. Most obviously, they remove the need for travel, so reduce both time and cost. They also allow participants to remain more anonymous if desired, they may feel less emotionally intense or intrusive, and there may be physical safety advantages for both researcher and participants. However, the methodological literature has traditionally advised against using the telephone for qualitative interviews. The two main concerns that are raised relate to (i) implications for the social encounter and scope for achieving ‘rapport’ and (ii) the loss of visual or non-verbal cues which are thought to aid communication and convey more subtle layers of meaning.

The empirical evidence base on what difference using the telephone makes to the qualitative interview process and the resulting data is currently fairly small and based mainly on impressionistic accounts rather than systematic mode comparisons. However, researchers who have published first-hand reflections (see Further Reading, below) conclude that, on the whole, concerns about rapport or loss of meaning are somewhat exaggerated or unfounded."

Contents

• Things to consider when using telephone interviews
  • Recruitment and consent
  • Focus, attention and stamina Focus, attention and stamina
  • Comfort, breaks and interruptions Comfort, breaks and interruptions
  • Technical issues
  • Visual materials and gesture Visual materials and gesture
• Interactional differences in telephone and face-to-face interviews
  • Effects on the spoken interaction Effects on the spoken interaction
  • Rapport and social interaction Rapport and social interaction
  • Quantity and quality of data Quantity and quality of data