Primary Purpose
Description
Key stakeholder interviews focus on individuals with expertise or strong opinions relevant to a project or issue. Interviews can provide in-depth knowledge, concerns, interests, history, and/or questions about a project or decision from the perspective of key stakeholders. Strategically sampling key interviewees that represent different groups or interests can help expose the range of different opinions on an issue.
Key stakeholder interviews may be conducted by service staff or a third party either by telephone or face-to-face. Interviews are often conducted with one person at a time, but may also be conducted with up to 3 people. If speaking with more than 3 people, consider using a Focus Group approach instead.
Best practices exist for developing interview questions that help elicit the most useful information and eliminate bias. Trained social scientists can help develop good interview questions and a systematic sampling process. Any agency staff interested in conducting key stakeholder interviews will also need to consult with an Information Collection Officer to ensure compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act which places restrictions on the number of individuals federal agencies can interview and the number of questions that can be asked.
Outcomes
Interviews can provide detailed information about the different opinions, concerns, and interests of key stakeholders. They can also help expose the range of different opinions on an issue and reveal tensions between different groups. Interviews can be very informative when conducting a situation assessment at the outset of a decision process.
Time considerations
Interviews with key stakeholders can be time consuming with the actual interview taking between one and two hours. Interview question development, contacting stakeholders and scheduling interviews, transcribing the interviews, as well as the subsequent analysis of data collected during the interview should also be given consideration as these can take from several weeks to several months.
Staffing
Generally, trained social scientists should help develop the interview questions, design the sampling methodology, conduct the interviews, and analyze the results. Often one trained individual can carry out all of these steps, but more staff may be required to assist with developing questions and conducting the analysis.
Materials
- Interview script
- Recording device
- Transcription software
- Analysis software
- Note taking materials
- Participant agreement forms