Clients sometimes ask me to move quickly through the upfront conversation of an interview to get to “the important questions.” They see those initial conversations as wasting time, and I get it: 30, 45, or 60 minutes with a person is not necessarily a lot of time, and clients want to be sure their questions are answered. Also, I understand impatience generally; outside the interview space, I may be one of the least patient people you know. I get it. But a qualitative interview is not a place to rush, and there are myriad benefits to starting an interview with 5 (or even 10!) minutes of listening.
Here are just a few:
Starting with listening helps respondents get comfortable with the process. Every moderator worth their salt knows how important rapport is, and we work to build trust with a respondent no matter what the category. Giving the respondent a few minutes to talk uninterrupted can prove to them that we are there to listen.
Increased comfort can mean increased candor. Respondents who feel we are listening are more likely to sidestep socially acceptable responses and tell us how they really feel. Respondents who feel rushed, manipulated, or dismissed are much less likely to give us more than just the surface answer.
In a few minutes, respondents can give us their story in broad strokes, setting up the rest of the interview. When respondents can tell us their story - the story of their illness, the story of the DIY project that led them to purchase insulation, the story of their feelings about family vacations - they plant the seeds that experienced moderators know how to nurture and draw from throughout the interview. This can lead to more efficient and more effective moderating.
You learn more from what is volunteered than from how respondents answer direct questions. Listening to what they choose to highlight in their initial few minutes is the best indication of what is truly important to them. And sometimes, what is important is not even listed in the discussion guide.
A few years ago, I conducted interviews for a hospital system interested in understanding how patients perceived its oncology care. One respondent began her interview by saying, “I have been waiting for someone to ask me about my experience.” She came with something to say, and after quickly conferring with my client in the chat, I let her roll for more than 20 minutes. She had a lot to say about her experience, and she needed to say it. And you know what? The client needed to hear it. And we didn’t sacrifice anything with that interview. We still got to the questions she didn’t cover on her own.
It’s a truism that qualitative research is about listening. What clients need to understand is that it is also about patience.