The research method that was used in the data collection process was an interview, which is the most commonly used method in a qualitative research. The interview is suitable research method especially when a study focuses on people’s attitudes, feelings, perceptions and experiences of reality. The qualitative interview aims to produce new theoretical and conceptual knowledge that is based on life experiences of interviewees. In an interview, the informant gives a rich description of the studied phenomenon, and the interviewer conducts an analysis based on the description. The analysis focuses on meanings of observations and interactions occurring in the collected data. (DiCicco- Bloom & Crabtree 2006:314, Zhang & Wildemuth 2009.)
There are three different forms of an interview: structured, unstructured and semi- structured interview. The structured interview is commonly used in quantitative research, and it includes standardized questions that are asked in the same order in each interview. Free conversation is limited, and the interview is leaded by the researcher. In contrast, the unstructured interview involves a lightly controlled conversation, which does not involve
pre designed questions or theoretical framework regarding the research problem. (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree 2006:315, Zhang & Wildemuth, 2009.)
The unstructured interview has roots in the ethnographic tradition of anthropology, and it gathers data through observations and record field notes. The aim of the method is to recognize unexpected themes and factors regarding informant’s social reality. Therefore, it can provide in-depth understanding and detailed knowledge of the phenomenon. In the unstructured interview, the interviewer generates questions during the conversation, hence different patterns and themes arise from each interview. However, even though there are no pre planned questions involved, the unstructured interview requires detailed knowledge of the topic, as well as preparation before the interview. Despite the free conversation, the researcher has to keep in mind the research question and the scope, thus draw attention to the themes that are relevant for the research problem. This requires great interpersonal skills from the researcher, since finding a balance between controlling the interview and let it flow free is challenging. The method requires ability to listen carefully and formulate questions smoothly and quickly. The interviewer has to be able to guidance the conversation in a direction where the topics of interests are, yet not leave any valuable themes noticed. When new topics emerge, the decision whether to follow them or stay on the major themes can be difficult for the researcher with no previous interviewing experience. (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree 2006:315, Zhang & Wildemuth 2009.)
The semi-structured interview is an in-depth interview method, which is the most commonly used method in the qualitative research. The semi-structured interviews are flexible, and hence the method is suitable when studying people’s experiences, and how they feel and think about certain issues. The semi-structured interview can be conducted as an individual or a group interview that lasts normally from 30 minutes to over an hour. The method involves pre planned set of questions that are based on the themes around the research problem. These pre designed questions are complemented with spontaneous questions that arise during the interview. Though the themes and the questions are pre planned, the conversation is based on free discussion. Therefore, the level of how structured the interview is may vary tremendously. The structure is depending on the research problem, however usually more complex themes require less structured formats. (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree 2006:315, Miles & Gilbert 2005:65-69 .)
A structured interview often produces quantitative data (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree 2006:315), thus it would not have been ideal method for this research. Consequently, the interviews were conducted as a compilation of an unstructured interview and a semi- structured interview. Because of the nature of the research question, the unstructured interview would have been the most ideal method. However, collecting data for the unstructured interview requires a significant amount of time. The unstructured interview is highly individualized, and therefore each interview session requires more time than structured or semi-structured interviews. Further, gaining mutual trust between participants is requirement for successful unstructured interview, yet it takes a lot of time. (Zhang & Wildemuth 2009.) The research problem of the study focuses on top managers in Finland, and hence all interviewees were managers that worked on the top management level in busy environments. Therefore their schedules were extremely limited, and conducting pure unstructured interviews was impossible at this context. Further, all informants agreed to give an interview lasting from 45 minutes to a one hour, which significantly limited the possibility to form a close relationship with deep trust between the interviewer and the interviewee. Creating a close and personal relationship between participants in that period of time is unlikely. Therefore, conducting purely unstructured interviews would not have been ideal.
Because of the limitations of conducting the unstructured interview, the data was collected by applying features of the unstructured interview and the semi-structured interview. The semi-structured interview is suitable for complicated research problems. The method is ideal dealing with sensitive topics, since it provides appropriate tool to discuss about themes that the informant may consider private and personal. (Miles & Gilbert 2005:67.)The research problem of the study is extremely personal and sensitive. Moreover, the research topic can be considered complicated, because recognizing underlying factors that are not visible or unambiguous, is challenging. Consequently, applying features of the semi-structured interview was justified.