The following distinctions and steps may help you in developing questions for interviewing (or for coding observations in the field). After reading these guidelines, check out some of the sample interview questions and schedules.

Remember to keep in mind these two key distinctions:

• Questions you want answered are not the same as questions about the indicators and concepts you want to study
• Questions you want to answer through your research are not the same as questions that are good to ask people in interviews

Steps (for developing interview questions):

1. Brainstorm a list of potential questions

2. Cluster the questions into groups

3. Identify a general topic for each group

4. Turn each topic into a master question

5. Review/edit master questions:
• To cover full range of topics
• To reduce duplication
• To simplify and focus

6. Edit questions within each cluster:
• To cover the topic
• To reduce duplication
• To simplify and focus
• And to shift from “what you want to answer” to “what it makes sense to ask someone”, to cover a topic, to reduce duplication, etc.

7. Order the questions within clusters.

8. Order the clusters.

9. Try out the completed interview schedule/script with people and see how well it works. Take a look at some samples of questions and interview schedules.

Sample Interview Question Sets

Sample A: Interview Questions For Students
[Studying student engagement in high school]

Sample B: Interview Questions for Adults
[Studying a teacher education program]

Sample C: Interview Questions for Teachers and Administrators
[A study of school restructuring in California]