On The Road: Pacing Interviews for Precision

In the early ’90s Chris Farley created “The Chris Farley Show” sketch for SNL, where he spent 5 or 10 minutes interviewing a celebrity, breathing heavily, and asking them if they remembered certain scenes from their films or moments in their careers. The result was an awkward (AND HILARIOUS) clip in which celebrities sat wondering what would happen next. Zack Galifianakis does a brilliant take on it with “Between Two Ferns” as well.

One of the major problems with these interviews (to be fair there are bigger problems than this), and one of the biggest differences between doing an interview in person and doing one online, is pacing. This means making sure you’re asking questions at a good rate and not bombarding a respondent or leaving them in moments of dead air or silence, while also keeping that respondent on track and checking in with them if their responses are taking longer than usual.

Generally qualitative research online yields about 3-4 exchanges every 5 minutes. This means the moderator can expect to see responses within 1-2 minutes. For this reason, it’s imperative that researchers create a chat guide with time factored in, and that they prioritize talking points accordingly. You can download our sample discussion guides, which have marked off time for pacing, if you’d like a quick reference.

The CDC offers an online guide to pacing interviews that can also help. Though their advice applies mainly to conducting phone surveys, similar guidelines can be used online:

• “One effective interviewer technique involves reading the introduction section a little quicker. Because this is a common place for respondents to quit or hang up, don’t pause for very long at the end of the introduction—read the first question right away.” — This is true for online interviews, too. Having preloaded questions means being able to quickly let the respondent know not only that you’re there and you’re engaged, but also what they’ll be discussing with you for 30 minutes. Hooking a respondent right away is important, and it also gives you the opportunity to reject a respondent and start over (with GutCheck, if you do this within 5 minutes you won’t be charged).
• “A mistake made by some interviewers is to speed up at the end of an interview because they are getting tired and no longer have the patience they had in the beginning. Respondents can feel this and often interpret it as a lack of caring. They can feel your restlessness and will often just quit.” By the end of the chat, you might feel like you’re ready to get out and leave. But showing a respondent the same kind of dedication you showed at the beginning — probing, asking follow up, mirroring their language — will keep the quality of your results from waning.
• “There are other times where you may ask the respondent a question that needs some thought to give an answer. In this case you may need to slow it down to get a good response. Sometimes you simply need to wait for a response from the respondent.” A lot of times, I am asked how long to wait before checking in with a respondent. If the moderator asks an involved question that needs more thought and time, give the respondent sufficient time. Keeping in mind about a minute or two for response requires patience. Practice!

The bottom line is that keeping your time limits in mind, and shaping a guide around those limits, will keep a respondent engaged and motivated, and will ensure that you’re hitting all of your objectives in the priority you see fit.

On The Road is an on-going series on how to conduct one-on-one qualitative interviews. Previously: Using Objectives. Next up: Probing, follow up, and getting more.