Gordon, Real Research, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Semi-structured Interview Examples
Directions
Notes:
• In your interview, you won’t read the research question to their interviewee--it is
there to help you know what kinds of information are relevant and what kinds of
follow-up questions you might ask.
• The goal is to have your interview last at least 30-40 minutes. In order to do this, you
will need to probe and ask for examples as well as ask follow-up questions as they
occur to you.
• You do not have to ask the questions in the order they appear--in fact, you should try
to make the questions flow naturally with the answers your respondent gives.
SemiStructured Interview Guide #1
Research question:
How do sociology majors at a predominantly White university understand the race and ethnic
relations in their schools and neighborhoods when they were growing up?
• Why don’t you start out by telling me a little bit about the different races and
ethnicities that went to your high school.
• How about the different races and ethnicities that lived in your neighborhood?
• Can you describe for me, in terms of race and ethnicity, your own friendship group?
• If you had friends outside your own ethnic group, how did others at your school react
to this? How did your family react to it?
• If you had friends outside your own ethnic group, how did you talk about race with
your friends of different races or ethnicities?
• What is the strongest memory you have from that time period of witnessing prejudice
or discrimination against someone else because of their race or ethnicity? What did
you do when you witnessed this event? After? How did it make you feel?
• What was the biggest issue in your school or neighborhood that arose around race or
ethnic tensions?
• What experiences did you or your friends have with dating people of another race or
ethnic group?
• What specific messages do you remember your parents giving you about dating
outside of your own race or ethnic group?
• If you could go back and change one thing about the way that race and ethnicity
affected interaction in your high school or neighborhood, what would it be? Why?
Gordon, Real Research, 2e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Semistructured Interview Guide #2
Research question:
How do college students interpret their experiences with the popularity hierarchy in high
school?
• Why don’t you start out by telling me a little bit about the popular kids in your high
school.
• How do you think they were different than the less popular kids?
• Where do you think your place was in the population hierarchy?
• How did you feel about this?
• How did you maintain or try to change your place in the popularity hierarchy?
• Can you tell me about one particular time you remember interacting with someone
more popular than you? How did that make you feel?
• Tell me about one particular time you remember interacting with someone who was
less popular than you. How did that make you feel?
• Who were you not allowed to associate with or were embarrassed to be seen with?
Why? How did you feel about that?
• If you could go back and change one thing about the popularity hierarchy or your
place in it, what would it be? Why?
