Learning Arabic? Is it important?

Learning Arabic? Is it important?

Allah says in the holy Qur’an to the nearest meaning that “ And Allah has made Alqur’an easy for us to learn”. Look, what does it mean to us as the believers? Do you think Allah was just joking to us by saying this? The answer is NO. Allah SWT is indeed seriously wanting us to learn Qur’an properly. To learn Qur’an means to understand how to recite and to get insight of it. In what way? It is absolutely required to understand Arabic as a medium to reach that END. Getting to know Qur’an literally and comprehensively is demanding.
Just to refresh our mind as true believers, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be always be upon him) once said in ahadits to the nearest meaning: ‘the best amongst you is those who learns Qur’an and teaches it’. The implication is that responsibility of each of Muslim is to learn in order to be able to teach Qur’an. In a broad sense, it is the right of Qur’an towards the believers to learn and to propagate It in any circumstance and to anyone. But it is the first priority to believers since this call was first addressed to the believers at the time of companions.
Today, majority of the people who indentify themselves as MOSLEM value English excessively higher than any language especially comparable to Arabic. This is the fact as a renowned preacher in England and Europe, Sheik Muhammad Al Jaihany once in the noble gathering said that nowadays many people were dying of English. He appointed that most Saudian or Middle East youngsters were exceptionally proud of being able to speak English rather than being Arabic speakers. He made an example how an eminent Islamic scholar in Saudi Arabia was very proud of sending his son to England to study. This is just one case. A lot more cases here and there in the Muslim world prove this awfully sadly news. May Allah safeguard us from such an irritable thought. What about us as azzam or non-Arab speaker? It is more or less similar. We feel inferior and therefore we put ourselves as second-grade when we learn Arabic rather than English. This is absolutely naïf. How can Islam as a solely TRUE civilization develop if such inferiority remains in the heart of the MOSLEM? How can we win over western civilization if we value our civilization lesser than theirs? A lot more such questions need to answer in actions.
This lesson demands us as Muslim to ponder the importance of Arabic over the other languages in the world. The value will come to us if we try our best to get rid of our worldly perspectives about Qur’an and Arabic. Our motivation should start with full conviction of the promise of Allah, the Most merciful and the Most benevolence. Allah never denies His promise. Our conviction should be built on the fullest sincerity for The Almighty Allah’s sake, and then the door of understanding will gradually be opened. Why not open at once? One might ask this silly question. Again, Almighty Allah knows best that his creation called human being is extremely weak. Therefore, the door of understanding especially for Holy Qur’an is opened step by step according to level of sacrifice of a person. To which level of understanding can he or she reach depends wholly and solely to Allah. But Allah SWT is not blind.
I do believe that the only way to reach a comprehensive understanding of Qur’an is to learn Arabic in the first place. Then learn other requisite components of Arabic for Quranic texts. Never say too old to start to learn Arabic.

Ruslin Tendri
SMK Galang Tolitoli

Should I use native language to teach language?

After having observed many, many, many ESL and EFL classes, I can tell you that a lot of the best classes I've seen have been done where the teacher uses their native language.

The key, for me, is "Can the students understand?" We say this a lot in our presentations: "Children don't tune out because they are bored, they tune out because they don't understand." (Apapted from the book "The tipping point"). This is one of the reasons we believe in starting super simple, and building up. When children don't understand, they will lose interest, lose confidence, and tune out.

One of our other main beliefs, though, is that to learn the language students need LOTS of input. They need to hear a LOT of English.

So...

My feeling is that you need to make sure to spend time preparing your lesson and thinking about how you are going to introduce the activities, the English for that day, the songs, etc. Figure out the simplest way to communicate your directions in English (with the help of gestures, drawings, etc.). Make the effort to use English as much as possible and really plan what you are going to say and how you are going to say it. (You may want to videotape some of your lessons and watch them to see if the English you are using is appropriate for each class's level).

However, don't feel as if everything HAS to be in English. If you've tried in English but you see students aren't understanding and you can't get think of another way to express the idea, don't hesitate to use your native language. It's really important that students not get lost, not get frustrated by their lack of comprehension.

If you have a great language learning game or activity that would take 5-10 minutes to explain in English, but 1 minute to explain in Russian, explain it in Russian. It is better for the students to have that time practicing English than it is for them to struggle to understand the directions in English.

All in all, make the effort, with planning and analysis of your lessons, to use English as much as possible. But don't feel bad about using your native language to make sure children understand, especially when it comes to things that are really crucial such as rules.

That's my view...anyone else?

Devon

Tips for teaching toddlers

1. Using Music in the Classroom (by Devon)

Music is an amazing tool for teaching languages, especially to children. Good songs will bounce around in a learner's head long after their lesson is over. Young learners pick up vocabulary, grammatical structures, and the rhythm of the language simply by doing what they already love to do...sing. In addition, music can serve a variety of functions in your classroom, at home, or even in the car. Music can set a mood. Music can signal a transition from one activity to another (for both the teacher and the student). Music can be a bonding experience. Here are some of the ways I use music in our classrooms here at Knock Knock English. Play music as background music right from the start of the lesson. Just as you take care to make your learning environment visually appealing and stimulating, you should also note the effect that music has on the atmosphere in the classroom. Entering a classroom can be intimidating for people of any age. For children learning a foreign language, it can be particularly daunting. Music can really help to make your classroom warm and inviting. A typical lesson for me starts with Knock Knock Hello playing in the background. It's a very welcoming song that signals to young children that it's English time. I greet students at the door and as they come into the classroom and sit down, they'll usually start singing or humming along. With super energetic classes, I use soothing music in the background at the beginning of class, such as any of the lullaby medleys from the Super Simple Songs CDs, some classical music, or some of my favorite Hawaiian music. With quieter, shier groups, I'll often have upbeat, even silly music playing to start class. Use music to set a tone right from the start of class. Play music to signal transitions to the students. Children react to music in a way that they don't react to anything else. When a song comes on they recognize and like, they'll notice right away. In our classes, we use songs to welcome students to class, to say hello, to lead into circle-time activities, to signal when it's time to clean up or practice ABCs or read a story, etc. etc. etc. The students know exactly what to do when they hear the music and begin singing along right away. And even when we don't play music as a cue, the students are so familiar with the language from the songs ("Clean up", "Make a circle", "Please sit down", etc.) that they respond quickly to the teacher's directions and often begin singing on their own. Play music to signal transitions to the teacher. When I plan my classes, I loosely plan music to accompany the whole class. I use my iPod so I don't need to change CDs during class. Before a 50-minute class, I'll make a digital playlist of about 70 minutes worth of music (50 minutes worth of class-time music plus 4-5 songs to use as back-ups if I need a change of pace). If you don't have a digital music player, all of the Super Simple Songs CDs are arranged to work great in a class playing from start to finish. Each CD starts with a welcoming song, a hello song, an active song, etc., and then finishes with a goodbye song and a lullaby. You can just put the CD on and let it play. When you get to times when you need to concentrate on an activity, you can just turn the volume down and leave the music playing in the background. When I'm lesson planning, I include a gentle welcoming song, a hello song, a get-up-and-move song, a circle-time song, an abc song, a song introducing some vocabulary target for the lesson, a clean-up song, a storytime song, and a goodbye song. Between many of the songs I'll include some gentle background music such as the Super Simple Songs lullaby medleys or some classical music. Plus I'll also include several other favorites I can play if one of the activities I had planned doesn't go over well. When the Hello! song starts, we all start singing. When Hello! finishes and the get-up-and-move song (such as Walking Walking or Seven Steps) starts, we all start singing and dancing with that song. When that is finished and the Make A Circle song starts, we all come together and make a circle. When that song finishes and we are all seated in a circle, some relaxing classical music will come on signaling to me, the teacher, that it's time to start my planned activity, and signaling to the students that it's time for them to settle down and listen to the teacher. When the activity is finished, I'll forward to the next song on my playlist (maybe the Clean Up song or another active song) and that will signal to everyone what the next activity is. Planning your classes with musical cues not only helps the students recognize what is happening next, but it helps you as a teacher move smoothly between activities. Play music to manage the energy level of the class. You never know for sure what kind of energy level young children are going to come to class with. One day, you have a class full of children bouncing off the walls with energy (often on rainy days when they can't go outside to play), the next day the same kids seem like they are moving in slow motion. Music really helps to calm down a rowdy class, or give a class a needed boost of energy. I use the lullaby medleys on all the Super Simple Songs CDs when we want to create a calming environment in class, as well as several of the slower-paced Learn It versions of the songs on each CD. Sometimes, when a class is full of energy, they need to let it all out before settling down, so I'll play super active songs such as Walking Walking, Seven Steps, Count and Move, Hokey Pokey Shake, We All Fall Down, or The Pinocchio. When those songs are finished, most kids are a little tired and ready to settle down and concentrate. Play music to introduce new language. Songs are a great way to teach new language to youngsters. Even when children don't fully understand all the lyrics, they'll be excited to sing. But when you have songs with simple lyrics that kids can dance and do gestures to, the children sing and learn SO quickly. In my classes, we use songs as part of the learning experience for all of the language themes we are introducing in class. If we are learning colors, we'll sing I See Something Blue and/or I See Something Pink. If we are practicing counting, we'll try Five Little Monkeys or Count and Move. If we are practicing likes and dislikes, we'll sing Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream? Whatever the theme, we use songs to help teach the vocabulary in a way you just can't do with other activities. When you are singing and dancing, you interact with the language in so many ways. You are practicing listening comprehension, you are vocalizing, you are interpreting the language with movement... and all in a way that is fun and non-threatening to young learners. When you use songs that can be taught through gestures, very little pre-teaching is necessary. Teachers can seat the students in a circle, teach some very simple gestures, and then play the music while everyone gestures along. Most kids will sing along right away, but even the kids who aren't ready to sing will be able to participate with gestures. Play music to review language. Singing songs is a fantastic way to quickly and easily review language you've previously practiced in class. One of the great things about using music to learn is that people just don't forget songs they have learned. I could sing a few lyrics from a song you haven't heard in 20 years and you would likely be able to sing the next line with no problems. In all of my classes I include a couple of songs to review language we learned in earlier classes. The children love to sing some of their old favorites and it's great to see the amount of language they've amassed. Occasionally, we'll have an all-singing, all-dancing class and sing ALL of our favorites. Music is such a powerful learning tool. If you don't use much music in your classroom, give it a try...it will make an immediate impact. If you do use music, think of ALL the ways you can be using it to make your classroom a warmer, more effective learning environment.

2. Teaching 2- and 3-year olds (By Devon)

We've received quite a few emails from teachers and parents looking for advice on teaching 2- and 3-year olds, so I'd like to share some ideas on planning a class for these very young learners.

Before getting into a standard lesson plan, it's very important to understand that children from 2-3 years old have very limited vocabularies in their first languages, and from the age of 2 are generally just beginning to string together utterances of more than one word. As such, your main focus with such young learners is not language production, but language comprehension. You'll want to engage the children in interesting, comprehensible activities while providing them with lots and lots of English input. Don't pressure the children to speak...they will when they are ready.

Knock Knock!
We have the students knock on the classroom door before coming in to join the lesson. This is a small signal to the children that they are transitioning to a new setting with new activities. Signaling transitions really helps young children stay calm while preparing them for something fun and new.

If they are speaking, we'll ask a simple question like, "What's your name?" To make sure they understand the question, I'll point to myself first and say "My name is Devon. Devon." Next I'll point to the student and ask, "What's your name?" Use gestures whenever possible to help make the language understandable.

If the student is not speaking much yet, is relatively new to the school, or is just not in a great mood (may have just woken up from a nap), a friendly "hello" and "come in" works just fine. I recommend having music playing in the background to create a warm atmosphere in the classroom. Knock Knock Hello works well here.

Getting Settled
We like to have an activity set up in the classroom so that when the students enter, there is something that immediately interests them and takes their minds off of any worries they may have. Ideally, this is a tactile activity not requiring speaking, but can be adapted so the children need to listen to the teacher.

For example:

Fishing: Cut out a bunch of fish from different colored paper. If possible, laminate them so they'll last. Put paper clips where the mouths are. Make "fishing poles" a nice round piece of wood (avoid anything too pointy), some string or yarn, and a magnet. When the children come into class, first sit down with them and notice the fish together. Point out all the different colors. ("Look! A blue fish! There's a yellow fish!" Etc.).

Show the children how to fish, saying, "I'm going to catch a yellow fish!" Give each child a fishing pole (make sure to monitor them carefully). Say, "Let's catch a yellow/green/blue fish!" If you are reviewing colors, that should be enough. If you are introducing colors point out the colors for them. Continue until all the fish are caught. Count the fish. Collect the fish. Ask for each color one by one, "Can I have all the yellow fish, please?" "Can I have all the blue fish please?" Don't worry if children don't understand you at first. When they bring their fish to you, note the colors, ("Oooh, a blue fish!") and thank the student.

Sorting activities: Go to your local discount store and buy a bunch of different colored "pom-poms", those small little puffy balls used for crafts. Buy some multi-colored containers or small baskets, one for each color of pom-pom. Have the pom-poms spread all over the classroom. Let the children come in and play with them and then ask them to help you clean them up. Sort them into colors. Count them. Put the purple pom-poms in the purple basket, yellow in yellow, etc. 2-3 year-olds really love sorting and cleaning up, so as long as you mix up the sortables (buttons, straws, beanbags, etc.), you can do this kind of activity all the time. It's great for getting children into class with the simple language of colors and counting.

Matching or puzzle activities: Cut pictures into two pieces and scatter them around the room. Have the students help you put them together. As you do so, introduce the vocabulary. For example, cut pictures of different fruits in half. Place halves all around the classroom. Keep the other halves to yourself. When the children enter, show them you are trying to find the matching piece to one of the halves by just going around the classroom trying to make a match. Once the kids catch on, give them each a half to find a match for.

Passports
Each of the students at our school has a "passport", and at the beginning of class, the teacher asks for "Passports please!" As the children bring you their passports, encourage them to say "Here you are!" Count the passports together. With young students, we are always counting (How many?) and naming colors (What color?). The children are reassured by language they can easily understand. Call each child one by one and let them choose a sticker for their passport. "What color do you want?"

If you'd like to print your own passports, here is a link to the cover and inside for a Super Simple Passport. Print the cover PDF first, then turn it over and print the inside on the back. Or, you can just print the cover and leave the inside of the passport white.

Hello Song
Begin every class with a Hello Song. Any of the Hello songs from Super Simple Songs 1, 2, and 3 work great, but our favorite for the youngest students is Hello Hello! from Super Simple Songs 3. It's very simple and fun, and stresses building confidence.

Active Song
Now is a good time to let the students get up and burn some of their nervous energy, so we like to sing an active song that allows the children to have fun and move around the classroom , like Walking Walking, Seven Steps, Count and Move, and We All Fall Down. You don't need to choose a new song for each lesson. Very young chlidren are reassured by familiar routines, and will be just as excited to sing and dance to Walking Walking the tenth time they hear it as they were the first or second time. You don't need to "teach" these songs...just put them on and go!

Circle Time
Make a circle with all of the students holding hands. Make a BIG circle. Make a small circle. Walk round and round, fast and slow! Bend down low, reach up high. Say "Hello!". Follow by singing Make A Circle. Two-year olds like to play around other children, but are still becoming comfortable playing with other children. Circle time is great for helping children learn to play together and cooperate with each other.

Thematic Language Introduction/Review
At the end of Make A Circle, the students are seated and ready to listen/focus. Now is a good time to introduce or review a language theme. For example, the theme might be emotions (happy, sad, angry, etc.).

We often use picture cards to introduce or review new vocabulary. When possible, real objects are the best way to go in class. When introducing toys, for example, it's much more exciting and interesting for young children to see and feel the actual toys. However, it's not always practical for teachers to bring realia to class. Picture cards can work well as a subsitute, but always look for interesting ways to introduce the cards. Have them hidden around the classroom. Pull them slowly one by one from a colorfully decorated envelope or a mystery box. Think of ways to build curiosity before introducing the items. Never just thumb through the picture cards and start drilling.

Thematic Language Activity
After introducing the language theme for the class, try an activity that allows the children to use, or at least indicate comprehenion of, the new language. Simple crafts and activity sheets are great for keeping the students focused and interested while allowing the teacher to use the target language in a meaningful way. For example, when practicing emotions, we might begin by drawing different faces ("Can you draw a happy/sad face?") Very young children won't be able to draw faces very well, but they enjoy trying and it's a great opportunity for them to begin to learn crayon/pencil skills.

Thematic Song
Sing a song related to the language theme of the class. For emotions, we would sing If You're Happy. It's a good idea to let the song play in the background during the Language Activity so that the students become familiar with it and will be comfortable singing and/or dancing with the song. Remember that language production is not your main goal with very young learners. It's okay if they don't all sing. All the students will enjoy listening and responding through dance and gestures, and you'll soon find them singing without any prompting.

Storytime
Next, story time. We sing our Please Sit Down and Storytime Music which indicates it's time to sit down and be quiet. Ideally, the book is related to the thematic language of that class, but it need not be. Very young learners show a lot of interest in books with flaps or things they can touch, like "Where's Spot?", "Where's Maisy?", or "Good Night, Sweet Butterflies."

Passports
We like to finish class by giving each student a stamp in their passport. Call each student by name, let them choose their stamps ("Which one do you want?" "This one?" "This one?") The returning of the passport is a nice way to signal the end of class. Children can be very sad to see classtime come to an end, but when you give the students stickers or stamps in their passports it eases any disappointment they may feel.

Goodbye song
Any of the Goodbye songs from Super Simple Songs 1, 2, or 3 will work great, but our favorite for they youngest learners is Bye Bye Goodbye from Super Simple Songs 3.

Some things stay the same almost every week...Passports, Hello song, Circle Time, Story Time, Passports, Goodbye song. A certain degree of routine is comforting, and it allows you have some natural interaction with the children. Some of the most useful language we learn in class comes during passport time when I get to interact with each kid one to one. Some things change a little but are still familiar...different songs, different sorting activities, different language themes, etc.

Every once in a while you'll want to totally mix things up. Get online and find some age appropriate crafts that may take a little longer than activities you typically do in class. Forget about the flashcards and all the other activities and have a fun craft day!
Be flexible! If an activity is not working, be prepared to move on to another activity. If an activity is working, don't hurry along to the next activity. You don't have to do everything on your lesson plan!

When teaching 2- and 3-year olds, remember that you are not only their first English teacher, you may be their first teacher of any kind! You have such a great opportunity to help your students form positive attitudes about not only language, but learning in general.

Have fun and Keep It Super Simple!

Copy Rights

Knock Knock English 2007

Behind Tayammum

Assalaamu'alaikum, wr, wb.

Teman saya bertanya kepada saya, "Kamu sering kesetrum listrik statis waktu memegang handle pintu kantor kita?"

Saya jawab, "Iya, betul sekali. Tetapi hanya waktu winter saja."

Setiap musim winter tiba, saya memang sering merasa kesetrum ketika memegang handle pintu yang terbuat dari bahan logam seperti almunium.

Ia bertanya, "Tahukah kamu mengapa hal ini tidak terjadi di musim yang lain?"

Saya jawab, "Tidak tahu."

Kata teman saya, "Karena udara sangat kering di musim winter."

Saya tanya, "Kok bisa begitu?"

Jawab dia, "Karena molekul air yang mengembun di tubuh kita akan menetralkan listrik statis yang terakumulasi di tubuh kita. Di musim winter, udara sangat kering, sehingga tidak ada molekul air di permukaan kulit kita. Elektron yang terkumpul di tubuh kita, yang kebanyakan berasal dari gesekan jaket yang kita kenakan, akan terus terakumulasi. Dan begitu tangan kita menyentuh logam yang merupakan konduktor yang baik, elektron yang terakumulasi tadi langsung "meloncat" dari tubuh kita ke logam tsb. Itu adalah fenomena "petir mini", dan ujung jarimu yang merasa seperti tersambar petir. Hal ini mirip dengan fenomena penangkal petir. Di atas ada gumpalan uap air yang kaya akan elektron. Elektron elektron itu akan "meloncat" ke bumi melalui titik titik terdekat dengan awan yang terbuat bahan konduktor yang bagus."

Saya terkesima, dan berujar, "Oooo, begitu ya, ceritanya."

Ia pun dengan semangat meneruskan kuliahnya, "Jadi, kalau kamu tidak ingin tersambar pertir mini alias kesetrum listrik statis, sebelum kau memegang handle pintu, basahilah dulu tanganmu dengan air. Atau, kalau tidak ada air, salurkanlah elektron di tubuhmu ke bumi dengan menebakkan tanganmu ke tanah atau tembok."

Saya terperangah dengan kalimat terakhir itu. Saya terperanjat. Saya terkagum kagum. Saya bertakbir: Allahu Akbar!

Berpuluh puluh tahun saya bertanya tanya tentang tayamum sebagai pengganti wudhu, berpuluh puluh tahun naluri keingintahuan saya pendam. Hari ini, temanku yang notabene seorang atheis yang menjelaskannya dengan gamblang dengan teori listrik statis; sebuah ilmu sederhana yang sudah aku pelajari sejak bangku SD dan selalu kudapatkan pelajaran itu di jenjang sekolah berikutnya.

Dulu, saya mengira bahwa (satu satunya) hikmah berwudhu adalah membersihkan badan dari kotoran yang menempel di tubuh kita. Tetapi saya tidak habis fikir, bagaimana bisa wudhu diganti dengan tayammum yang dilakukan dengan membasuhkan debu ke wajah dan telapak tangan? Ternyata "kotoran" yang ada di dalam tubuh kita ternyata bukan hanya debu yang menempel ke tubuh kita. Ada jenis "kotoran" yang tidak terlihat oleh mata, jauh lebih berbahaya bila tidak segera di"buang". "Kotoran" itu bernama elektron, yang apabila terlalu banyak terakumulasi di tubuh kita bisa merusak kesetimbangan sistem elektrolit cairan di dalam tubuh kita.

Molekul molekul air H2O yang bersifat polar sangat mudah menyerap elektron elektron yang terakumulasi di tubuh kita. Hanya dengan mengusapkan air ke permukaan kulit saja, maka "kotoran" elektron itu dengan mudah "terbuang" dari tubuh kita. Sekarang saya faham, mengapa Rasulullah SAW pernah "mandi besar" hanya dengan menggunakan air satu ciduk saja, kurang lebih satu liter saja. Rupa rupanya yang dibutuhkan hanyalah membasahi seluruh permukaan tubuh dengan air, tanpa harus mengguyurnya; dan itu pulalah sebenarnya definisi syar'i wudhu dan mandi besar, hanya perlu membasuh saja, dan bukan mengguyur. Ternyata, hanya dengan membasuh kulit tubuh dengan air itulah kelebihan elektron di permukaan tubuh kita akan dinetralkan.

Dengan teori "kotoran" elektron listrik statis inilah akhirnya rahasia di balik tayamum sebagai pengganti wudhu menjadi terang benderang di mata saya; bahwa air yang dibasuhkan ke kulit tubuh akan menetralkan listrik statis di tubuh kita, dan penetralan itu bisa diganti dengan menebakkan tangan ke tanah dan mengusapkan debu wajah dan telapak tangan. Pernah ada kisah seorang sahabat bergulung gulung di tanah karena ia harus mandi besar dan tidak ada air. Ia mengira, bahwa ia harus melumuri tubuhnya dengan debu, sebab ia beranalogi dengan wudhu dan tayamum. Kalau wudhu yang mengusap hanya wajah, kepala, tangan dan kaki difanti dengan tayamum yang mengusap wajah dan telapak tangan, maka mandi janabat yang harus membasuh seluruh tubuh diganti dengan tayamum seluruh tubuh. Rasulullah pun menjelaskan bahwa tayamum untuk mandi janabah dilakukan sama persis dengan tayamum sebagai pengganti wudhu, yaitu cukup wajah dan telapak tangan saja.

Subhaanallaah.... Satu lagi Allah tunjukkan kepada saya bukti kebenaran Alqur'an sebagai wahyu Allah dan bukan karangan manusia:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُوا ۚ وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَىٰ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ مِّنكُم مِّنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لَامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا يُرِيدُ اللَّـهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍ وَلَـٰكِن يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿٦﴾

Hai orang-orang yang beriman, apabila kamu hendak mengerjakan shalat, maka basuhlah mukamu dan tanganmu sampai dengan siku, dan sapulah kepalamu dan (basuh) kakimu sampai dengan kedua mata kaki, dan jika kamu junub maka mandilah, dan jika kamu sakit atau dalam perjalanan atau kembali dari tempat buang air (kakus) atau menyentuh perempuan, lalu kamu tidak memperoleh air, maka bertayammumlah dengan tanah yang baik (bersih); sapulah mukamu dan tanganmu dengan tanah itu. Allah tidak hendak menyulitkan kamu, tetapi Dia hendak membersihkan kamu dan menyempurnakan nikmat-Nya bagimu, supaya kamu bersyukur. (6) QS AlMaidah.

O ye who believe! when ye prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows; Rub your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles. If ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity, bathe your whole body. But if ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands, Allah doth not wish to place you in a difficulty, but to make you clean, and to complete his favour to you, that ye may be grateful. (6)

Merasa mendapatkan "ilmu baru", saya pun mengklarifikasi hal ini ke mbah Google. Rupa rupanya saya ketinggalan jaman. Ternyata literatur mengenai wudhu, tayamum dan listrik statis ini sudah berjibun jumlahnya. Inilah salah satunya:

http://fountainmagazine.net/article.php?ARTICLEID=435

Untungnya saya melakukan literatur search kecil kecilan sebelum membagi pengalaman saya di atas. Jika tidak, bisa bisa saya mendapat gelar baru: Plagiator!

Alaa kulli haal, above all, mudah mudahan sharing pengalaman saya ini bisa menambah keyakinan bagi rekan rekan semua akan kebenaran Alqur'an. Sukur sukur ada yang bersedia menjelaskan lebih detail. Amin.

Wassalam,

Rois Fatoni

Dosen Teknik Kimia Univ. Muhammadiyah Surakarta
Graduate Student
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1
519 888 4567 ext 35675
519 954 6079 (Home)

Qualitative Interview (Semi-structured Interview): a Methodological Reflection on Developing and Using a Research Instrument

By

Ruslin

School of Education

University of Sussex

England

Introduction

In this project, I intend to describe how semi-structured interview as one of the research instruments is mostly used in qualitative researches. The main concern of this essay is to reveal a methodological reflection at how this type of interview is applicable to any qualitative research.

Interviews and Researcher’s Positional Perspectives

According to Kvale (1996), interviewing as a research can be characterized into two different perspectives. The first perspective deals with the miner metaphor where knowledge is understood as a buried metal and the interviewer is a miner who unearths the valuable metal. Some miners in this position seek objective facts to be quantified, other seek nuggets of essential meaning. In both conceptions to Kvale (1996), the knowledge is waiting in the subjects’ interior to be uncovered, and therefore uncontaminated by the miner.

The second perspective is dealing with the traveler metaphor in which the interviewer roles as a traveler on a journey that leads to a tale to be told upon returning home (Kvale, 1996: p. 4). The interviewer – traveler wanders through the landscape and enters into conversations with the people encountered in the sense that he is on the road that leads to the goal. The conversations between the interviewer and local inhabitants deal with their own stories of their live world (conversation as wandering together with). The difference between the first perspective and the latter is the way they perceive knowledge or information gathered from the interviewee. If the first stresses on the objective facts of the subjects, the latter emphasizes not only to new knowledge but also likely to change the knowledge as well. Kvale (1996) illustrates that the journey of the interviewer might instigate a process of reflection that leads the interviewers to new ways of self-understanding as well as uncovering previously taken-for granted values and customs in the traveler’s home country.

In a broad sense, the concluding remark of the two different perspectives eventually provides a clear picture of what position the interviewer should take. The miner metaphor pictures a common understanding in modern social sciences of knowledge as ‘GIVEN’. The traveler metaphor, on the other hand, refers to a post-modern constructive understanding that involves a conversational approach to a social research.

Dunne, et al. (2005) describe that the interview is very adaptable and powerful method in a broad range of research projects. Because of this, it is extremely important for the researcher to have a clear understanding about the reasons he has in mind why and how interview is applicable to his research. In other words, he has to understand his position and be more conscious of himself as a researcher in initial stage of the research. This means that the researcher’s position is considered to refer to (why, how, and who) whether it is articulated or not that the interview as a method of creating texts (Dunne, et al. ,2005).

Definition

Interview is roughly understood as an interaction between two people in a particular occasion where one roles as an interviewer and another as an interviewee. Or an interview is, in general, a conversation between two or more people (the interviewer and the interviewee) where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee. Literally, interview is defined as an inter-view, an inter change of views between two persons conversing about a theme or a topic of mutual interest (Kvale, 1996).

As one type of conversation, interview is basically a mode of human interaction (Kvale, 1996). He describes that through conversations, we get to know other people, get to learn about their experiences, feelings and hopes and the worlds where they live in. As we know, there are two types of conversations. The first is everyday conversation which entails chatting, small talks, exchange of news, disputes, formal negotiation to deep personal interchanges. In this type of conversation, it is usually informal where a person or a group of people involve in do not need necessarily to initiate a conversation with a prescribe topic to talk. Generally, the aim of the everyday conversation is to maintain social relationship rather than to gain specific information for publications.

The second is professional conversations. These types of conversations range from journalistic interviews, legal interrogations, academic oral examinations, religious confessions, therapeutic dialogs to qualitative interview. The latter is in many occasions used to dig up particular information of a particular group of people or events in a certain time. In this sort of conversation, the topic is mostly negotiated so that the people engage in mutually fit in the topic(s) to talk about. The purpose of the conversation is to build up knowledge and therefore it must be well prepared.

Kvale (1996) (cited in Sewell, 2009) figures out a qualitative research interview as an attempt to understand the world from the subject’s point of view, to unfold the meaning of his experiences, to uncover his lived world prior to scientific explanations. Unlike to the daily conversations which are usually reciprocal exchanges, professional interviews involve an interviewer who is in charge in structuring and directing the questioning (Sewell ,2009). Kvale (1996) also stresses that a qualitative interview is based in conversation in which the researcher is asking questions and listening; while respondent is answering questions. In this perspective, Kvale implicitly put the researcher and the interviewee on an equal rather than unequal position. In relation to positioning in interviews, Sewell (2009) points out that in some professional interviews such as job interviews or legal interrogation, the power of the questioner is much greater than the power of the one being questioned.

Unlike Kvale, Rubin and Rubin (2005) stresses qualitative interviews as conversations where a researcher gently guides a conversational partner in an extended discussion. In this sense, the researcher’s position is quite clear where he drives the conversation. In other words, the direction of the conversation is apparently in the hand of researcher.

Semi-structured Interview and its Methodological Perspectives

A semi-structured interview is a method of research used in the social sciences. Hyman, et al.(1954) state that interviewing is a method of inquiry which is universal in the social sciences. For example, the literature of the anthropology is one of the products of the interviewing of informants. It is also mostly used in a life story of a person or a group of people such as the life story of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) codified in a form of Arabic poetry, the life story of Abraham Lincoln, American prominent politician, and many more.

Semi-structured interviews have been widely used because it is linked to the expectation that the interviewed subjects’ view points are more likely to be expressed in a relatively openly designed interview situation than in a standardized interview as in questionnaires (Flick, 2002; example, see Kohli, 1978). While a structured interview has formalized, limited set questions, a semi-structured interview is flexible, allowing new questions to be brought up during the interview as a result of what the interviewee says.

The interviewer in a semi-structured interview generally has a framework of themes to be explored. As Rubin and Rubin (2005: p.171) suggest that good interviews usually consist of a balance between main questions, follow ups, and probes. However, the specific topic or topics that the interviewer wants to explore during the interview should usually be thought about well in advance. It is generally beneficial for interviewers to have an interview guide prepared, which is an informal "grouping of topics and questions that the interviewer can ask in different ways for different participants" (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002). These guides allow researchers to focus an interview on the topics at hand without constraining them to a particular format. This freedom can help interviewers to tailor their questions to the interview context/situation, and to the people they are interviewing (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002).

Qualitative or semi structured interviewing has its own character despite some quite large variations in style and traditions, Mason (2002) suggests that all such interviews has the following key features in common. First is the internal exchange of dialogue. This means that qualitative interviews must involve one-to-one interactions, or large group interviews or what is called focus groups. It may also take place face to face, or over the telephone or via internet. Second, a relatively informal style, for example, with the appearance in face to face in conversational way or a kind of discussion rather than formal questions prescribed. This kind of conversation is called’ conversation with a purpose’ (Burges, 1984).

Third, a thematic or topic - centered, biographical or narrative approach where the researcher has a number of theme or topics, or issues he wishes to cover or a set of starting points for discussions. Having this approach, the researcher is unlikely to have a complete or a sequence script of questions. As it has been well known, qualitative interviews are mostly designed to have fluid and flexible structure. This is to allow the researchers and interviewees to be able to develop unexpected themes.

Fourth, as most of the qualitative research operates from the perspective that knowledge is situated and therefore contextual, the job of the interview is to ensure that the relevant contexts are brought into focus so the situated knowledge can be produced. In this perspective, knowledge at the very least is something reconstructed rather than facts which are simply reported in interview setting. Therefore, Mason (2002), (see also Kvale, 1996) perceives that qualitative interviewing tends to be as involving construction or reconstruction of knowledge more than the excavation of it.

Interviews are one of the most common ways and recognized forms of qualitative research method. For this reason, perhaps, it is not uncommon for the researcher to assume that their study will involve qualitative interviews without spending time working out why it should, what they expect to get out of this method or whether any other methods might be more appropriate or provide a useful complement (Mason, 2002).

In that case, Mason (2002) suggests that the researcher should ask himself why he might use any of the method rather than assuming too soon in the process that he has made the right choice. According to him, the following are possible reasons which the researchers might have why they choose qualitative interviewing as a method of collecting data.

First, the choice of the method of collecting data might be related to one’s ontological position. This means that when a researcher’s position dealing with people’s knowledge is based on the belief that knowledge, views, understandings, experiences, and interactions are meaningful properties of the social reality in which his research questions are designed to explore. For example, a humanistic approach (Plummer, 2001) or it may be in the constitution of language or in discursive construction of the social or the self (Whetherell, et al., 2001)

Second, an epistemological position is another stand point where researchers might choose their method of data collection. This position allows the researchers to have a legitimate or a meaningful way to generate data on these ontological properties. In this circumstance, the researchers according to Mason (2002) should be quite self-critical in judging how well interviews can provide all of the information in relation to asking those questions, gaining access to their accounts and articulations and making analysis of their language and their constructions of the discourse.

Third, as most qualitative researchers view knowledge as situated or situational and the interview is just as much a social situation as is any other interaction. If the researcher’s view of knowledge and evidence is contextual and situational and interactional then he should ensure that the interview itself is contextual in the sense that it draws upon or conjures up as fully as possible, the social experiences or processes which he is interested in exploring. For example, instead of asking abstract questions as Mason (2002) terms as ’one-size-fits-all structured approach, it is better for the researchers to give maximum opportunity for the construction of contextual knowledge by focusing on relevant specific experiences in each interview.

In terms of bias which might be produced during the interaction between the researcher and the interviewee, the researcher is likely better to make certain kinds of epistemological assumption about the interaction which allows him as a researcher to determine that semi-structured interview is appropriate compared to structured interview. This assumption implies that bias in this sort of interview can be controlled or eradicated. This interaction is interlink to social interaction where the researcher cannot separate ’facts’ from ‘context’ however the researcher tries to make social interaction structured or unstructured (Mason, 2002).

It might also a reason to choose qualitative interview according to the researcher’s view of the ways in which social explanations and arguments can be constructed lays on depth, nuance, complexity and roundedness in data rather than kind of broad surveys of surface patterns. For example, if I am interested to study a particular social organization, instead of studying the surface of comparability or superficial analysis like accounts of a large number of people, it is better for me to go in depth analysis in relation to what the organization is piloted to achieve, how people works in it run the programs, or how this organization links to other organizations. This requires the researcher to have distinctive approach to comparison, to analyzing data, and to the construction of the arguments (Mason, 2002).

The choice of qualitative interview may also be based on the activity and reflexivity of the researcher in the process of data generation. Usually, the researcher seeks to examine rather than to be neutral collector of data. So, it is important for the researcher to be neutral in order to be able to understand his role in the interview.

It might also a reason to choose the qualitative interview when the feasibility of data for the researcher in any form to collect is somewhat blurry. In this situation, asking people’s accounts, talking and listen to them, and so on is the only way to generate the data he wants. It is also possible that qualitative interview is chosen to add additional dimension of the research. Having applied this method may help the researcher to approach his research questions from a different angle. For example, the researcher may be attempting some form of methodological triangulation where he is using interview in tandem with another method to see how well they corroborate each other. Finally, research ethics and politics may be another reason in which the researcher believes that the interviewees should be given more freedom in and control the interview situation than is permitted in ’structured’ approaches.

Though there are some common characteristics of qualitative - usually identically known as semi-structured - interviews since it has been mostly used in qualitative research, semi-structured and ethnographic interviews are different in nature. Drever (2003) illustrates that in a semi-structured interview, a researcher creates a structure mapping the topics to be covered, control the interview to ensure coverage and probe for reasons. In contrast, in ethnographic interview, it is important to let the person being interviewed map out the topic and therefore the main question is very open. He further describes that in ethnography, instead of probing for reasons of the interviewee, the ethnographer does probing for ensuring his understanding and very often repeating his respondent’s own language. For example, instead of saying “what do you mean by ‘fair’ in grading system?” as in semi-structured interview, researcher might ask “ is that an example of what you call ‘fair’ in grading system?”

The key different of semi-structured and ethnographic interviews is that in the former it is usually assumed that the interviewer and the interviewee can share a common frame of reference. In other words, the prescribed scheme prior to the interview should make sense to the interviewee, and therefore the interview can be a single businesslike dialogue. In ethnography, however, the job of the interviewer is to find out the respondent’s frame of reference. This can take times and the researcher may have to work towards this point slowly over a series of meetings.

The Purpose of the Interview in the Qualitative Research

When we talk about the purpose of a thing, we deal with who does what to whom; why and how. Similarly, in interviews in any research either in a qualitative or a quantitative research, we deal with who involves in such interviews like who conducts the interviews and to whom they are conducted; why they are conducted; and how they are typically conducted.

In general, an interview is conducted to gather information or data of a particular person or event. The interview must be able to provide useful information about the candidates which might not available from other sources (Powis, 1998 and Abbasi 1998). For example, if someone wants to know what people understand about the unemployment in Brighton and Hove, he might likely to meet and ask questions to a number of different people on that issue. The people who might be involved in this kind of interviews are likely from different backgrounds and positions. They might be city council officers, who work in manpower or jobseekers division, they may also be the jobseekers themselves and or the people in particular agencies who are specialized in handling unemployed. This is, however, a simple way of finding a rough definition of unemployment. Conversely, in gathering data about the unemployment in the Brighton and Hove as a research finding is certainly different from the way we just simply want to understand and write it as news in the newspaper. Rather, it requires a number of deliberate stages.

Mishler (1986) (cited in Holstein and Gubrium, 2001) claims that the purpose of most qualitative interviews is expected to derive interpretations, neither facts nor laws, from respondent talk. He further notices that some frame it as a speech event. In contrast to Mishler (1986), Kvale (1996) emphasizes that interviews for research or evaluation purposes may promote understanding and change as Sewell (2009) highlights in therapeutic or clinical interviews to gain understanding and change despite the stressing is on the personal change. The expected understanding and change in qualitative interviews stresses more on intellectual understanding than on producing personal change.

A decision about whether to use interviews or questionnaires as data collection techniques affects the kinds of understanding one expects to achieve from his research (Drever, 2003). This means that data collection technique should be based on sort of information one wants to cover in his study. For example, if someone sees his research mainly as an ethnographic study or a case study, he will likely prefer to use interviews (semi-structured interview) to a questionnaire. In a case study, for example, the researcher does not aim to cover a whole population and extract common factors, but to provide an in-depth picture of a particular area of the educational world, or also chosen for it is relatively self-contained (Drever, 2003). In this sense, what is required to cover in case study strongly determines the choice of data collection technique.

Conversely, when a researcher aims to provide a general picture of people’s circumstances or opinions, across population which he has defined, for example, what kind of views do the parents have on the introduction of English in primary schools in Indonesia, then, questionnaires are more accountable approach for him to conduct to achieve that purpose.

Although it has been illustrated that the decision of using a particular data collection technique is based on the information required to cover in the study, it does not necessarily mean that both interview (semi-structured interview) and questionnaires are not possibly applied at one study. According to Drever (2003), since the nature of interviews is a depth explanation within a particular context while questionnaires paint a broad though possibly superficial picture, it is often a good idea to use both consecutively. For example, an exploratory survey or a case study using interviews may possibly be used to identify the main issues which can be built into questionnaires. Or it is also possible to extract from questionnaire survey to select interesting issues or may be cases to be followed up in depth using interviews.

Conducting Qualitative Interviews

How the interviewer documents the contents of the interaction with the respondent is a critically important issue. There are many ways or approaches that are possibly used to document the result of the interviews. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of an approach should be considered in order to result a reasonable quality of interview and less-time consuming. Hence, we can list the various options, beginning with the approach that is most complete and most time intensive. Each of the following approaches in collecting interview data has advantages and disadvantages.

Good qualitative interviewing is hard, creative, active work (cited from Holstein and Gubrium, 1995 in Mason, 2002). According to Mason (2002) it is much more complex and exhausting task to plan and carry out a qualitative than to develop and use a structured questionnaire for asking of a set of predetermined questions. To begin with, it requires a great deal of planning (Mason, 2002).

Doing a qualitative interview needs a set of skills. With good skills, the interviewer is likely trouble-free to organize what to ask, how to ask to the interviewee and at the same time how to encounter the information delivered by the interviewee by understanding verbal an non-verbal information, remembering and absorbing what have been covered while keep watching points to probe and follow up and taking notes in the interviewee’s whenever possible. Though, such skills are required but it is not necessarily to have all the skills when doing an interview (Drever, 2003; Mason, 2002; see also Hermanns, 2004). What Drever suggests is the preparation rather than improvisation. This means that when someone wants to do interview he needs to develop a simple schedule and try to stick to it, word questions naturally and use a tape recorder and therefore, he needs not depend heavily on interviewing skills. Drever (2003) describes that when beginners get into difficulties, it is most often because they feel obliged to get involved in the interview. Consequently, he tends to talk too much and in turn starts to get drawn off the prescribed schedule or starts leading his respondent.

In contrast, some other interviewees get excellent interview results for they are doing as ’minimalist’ (Drever, 2003). It means that what they do is loosely using the scheduled main questions in hands instead of tightly following each of such questions during the interviews. Therefore, the interviewers are suggested to better think about how to keep the interview manageable rather than becoming concerned about general interviewing skills. Therefore, Hermanns (2004) suggests that the interviewer must create space for the subjects to reveal different aspects of personality. Encouraging the interviewer is an important part of the interview. The encouragement can be verbal and non verbal such as nod, smile, or whatever the reply to reduce tension of the interviewee.

The following are some non-cognitive skills which are recommended to the qualitative interviewers to have in mind though it is not necessarily to cover them all at the same time during interviews. These non-cognitive skills include:

1. Verbal communication skills
2. Time management and flexibility
3. Knowledge of the profession
4. Problem solving and Decision making skills
5. Values and Integrity
6. Attitudes
7. Physical appearance including health, speech and poise
8. Perseverance
9. Self confidence without arrogance

(Arksey and Knight, 1999; Heremanns, 2004)

Analysis of Result of the Interview

According to Drever (2003), to represent the raw data from which you aim to extract the answer to your research questions, there are three stages are required to engage in. First step is data preparation. In this stage, the interviewer is required to work with the data in which he needs to tidy up his raw data and put it into a form that is easy to work with. Usually, time will be spent on a careful preparation. However, a good preparation allows researcher to work over his data easily in the later stage and this is the payoff of repeatedly working over each section of the data collected. For example, when transcribing data you will find it difficult especially if some expressions are not quite clear so that you will spend more times on them. It is also quite possible that some of information might be lost such as laugh, gestures, body language, facial expressions, tone of voice. What you can do in such situation is to be patiently working over and over again to keep your data sensible. Drever (2006) suggests that to retain some nuances of the talk which might be lost, the researcher may use comments or symbols.

Managing data according to their properties is imperative to make sure the data manageable while at the same time retaining as much of the original information as possible and avoiding any distortion (Drever, 2006). If this principle is applied properly, it will make the researcher straightforwardly become familiar with the full range of what he has collected. Thus, this will make him quickly locate specific material.

Second step is analysis in which the interviewer is required to try various ways of categorizing and reorganizing the prepared data, seek patterns in it that have a bearing in his research questions (Drever, 2006). In this stage, categorizing, coding, and counting data is done on the basis of questions addressed in the research. For example, the data concerning with grading derived from students’ interviews should be located, coded, and counted separately from grading responses collected from say teachers or principle. Reorganizing according to the properties of the data such as what research questions match to the text being coded or categorized. This will make the researcher easy to track of where materials come from, which respondent, which interview question.

Final step is summarizing results. In this stage, the interviewer or the researcher uses the patterns to develop conclusions. Here a variety of approaches is possible to use. This reflects flexibility of semi-structured interview compared to other ways of collecting data. According to Drever (2006), it could be based on the original structure of the interview in relation to the research questions addressed for the first time but later, the original structure may be recreated in order to gain different sight. The summary pattern might involve the whole sample, or it might also involve groups or individual. In summarizing, it is possible for the researcher to quantify (using numbers) but he must be certain that what he does is simply to make a clear-cut category of the data. For example, regarding with pros and cons of particular statement dealing with grading and mixed responses, the researcher needs to make a judgment about each case.

Similarly, Ritchie and Spencer (1994) see that a qualitative data analysis is essentially about detection. The task of defining, categorizing, theorizing, explaining, exploring and mapping, are fundamental to the analyst’s role. The methods functions will vary according the research question being addressed, in applied policy research the following are frequently included:

1. Defining concepts: understanding internal structures;
2. Mapping the range, nature, dynamic and phenomena;
3. Creating typologies, categorizing different type of attitudes behaviors and motivations;
4. Finding associations: between experiences and attitudes, between attitudes and behaviors; between circumstances and motivations, etc.
5. Seeking explanations: explicit or implicit;
6. Developing new ideas, theories or strategies.

Here is an example of summary of the research studies

The study	Type	Aims or objectives	Sample	Type of data	Time-scale
Talking about sex	Contextual	To explore sexual attitudes and behaviors; to study perceived links between sexual practices and health; To develop issues and clarify language for survey	40 individuals	Depth interviews	10 months

Ritchie and Spencer (1994:177)

Ethical and Methodological Issues in Qualitative Interview

In qualitative research, little is ever usually written about the process of analysis at all; little is said about who the analysts are; which particular perspectives they adopt; how are disagreements resolved; whether full transcripts are used; how much is reported; what level of uncodable or unsortable data is tolerable; and what basis is used for filtering data.

(Powney and Watts, 1987).

The quotation depicts how hard the way the social scientists learn from in the data analysis. There are always competing issues dealing with how data are analyzed no matter how experienced the researchers are and how well analysis has been planned. In fact, according to Arskey and Knight (1999), this phase can take novice as well as experienced researchers longer than expected before the report is finalized and presented.

There are some possible issues may emerge during the data analysis. First, it is the issue about the interviewee’s judgments hidden from the researcher (subjectivity: interviewer bias). According to Arskey and Knight (1999), in a closed question(s), responses are the results of informants who possibly make judgments about the best fit between their experience and the response categories. This is of course are hidden to the researcher. It is very common experience when someone is trying to answer closed questions that categories from which he has to choose often do not quite match the subtlety of his experience, beliefs and feelings, so he ends up trying to compress that complexity into one simple, ill fitting category. For example, a closed question like - In the last 12 months, have you visited your doctor? If you have answered ‘yes’, how many times you have visited? - simply allows for the interviewee to say yes or no and then choose one of the options has been provided that might be matched with what he or she really did. In contrast, in open-ended question as in most qualitative interviews, respondent’s responses should be in a clear thought and at the same time a good interviewer will have explored it.

Another important issue is the researcher’s preconception (subjectivity: interviewer bias). In general, most of the time, the researcher comes to the research setting with his particular preconception. In semi-structured interview, for instance, some guided questions have been prescribed before hand. This indicates that the researcher has set up in his mind what he is going to ask to the interviewee though he still leaves rooms for the interviewee to openly respond to the questions in a free-minded. In relation to this issue, Arskey and Knight (1999) sees that in open questions, there are many more scopes for collecting data that go beyond the researcher’s preconceived notion of how things are likely to be, while in closed questions, the respondent in general will simply respond the researcher’s agenda. They further describe that the design of the study, which has determined the data which the researcher has collected and which shapes the way in which he will interpret them, reflects his understanding, preconceptions, beliefs, prejudices, and feelings.

Researcher’s judgment is one of the important ethical issues which might influence the quality of interviews. It is essential to note that the result of the interview should be crosschecked to make sure that the interviewer’s judgment does not affect the interpretation of the data. For example, when I ask about how the grading system applied in my subject’s primary school affects him in terms of his achievement, his feeling, and his self-esteem among their peers, I have to make sure myself that I do not make prejudgment on this matter. How to ensure my personal judgment will not affect the meaning of the data, the inter-observer is required to keep the reliability of the judgment.

In terms of cause and effect, Arskey and Knight (1999) suggest that connections may be discerned, but without the formal support of statistical analysis again it is an error to do more than speculate on possible causal relationships.

Of all ethical issues, Wilson (1996) states that an important set of issues from the social scientist’s point of view is concerned with the reaction of human subjects to knowledge (validity: extent to which interview measures what it claims to measure and reliability: consistency of interview) that they are being investigated. This is where the natural science investigation different from social science views the subject of the research (in Natural science as inanimate objects of investigation). To social scientists, the research subject can change for example beliefs and attitudes.

Here are some factors which might affect the contextual of the interviews (critical one);

1. The terms on which the interview has been agreed to is important for example, respondent’s beliefs, opinions or status in other words what is the legitimacy of the interviewer? Though frequently some offers (sums of money or gifts) to the interviewees as rewards for cooperation, very little direct use to the respondents.

2. The context of interviewing affects response rate greatly. Market research interviews often achieve a response rate of less than 50 percent mainly through refusal instead of failure to contact the respondent.

3. The perception of the interviewer’s characteristics by the respondent for example the way of interviewee in ascribing beliefs and opinions to the interviewer on the basis of visible characteristics such as accent and dress (social class), ethnic, or gender.

Conclusion

Based on the overall presentations, it can be concluded that there are two fundamental reasons why qualitative researchers tend to use semi-structured instead of structured and unstructured interviews. Firstly, semi-structured interview is more powerful in a sense that it allows for the researcher(s) especially in qualitative researches to dig up information in depth from informants compared to structured interviews. Secondly, it is flexible and adaptable and at the same time it holds its directive sense compared to unstructured where it absolutely looses its direction. Hence, semi-structured interview might provide rooms for the researchers to adjust it with their research questions if there is a possible change yet still maintains its directive sense since main topics to discuss have been prescribed before hand.

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