Introduction on the Principles and Process of Construction and Validation of the Interview Protocol

There was no theoretical knowledge on the main constituents of interview protocol as well as its development as a guide to conduct proper interviews. Accordingly, researchers attempted to clarify features of a high-quality protocol through reviewing and categorizing relevant documents and evidence and compiling the required article. The present paper was developed in three stages: a) documentary analysis of related resources; b) introduction on the components of the interview protocol; c) the quality of formulation of protocol. Initially, the related documents were searched at such scientific databases as SAGE, ERIC, EBSCO, Taylor & Francis, Springer, Emerald, PubMed and Elsevier from 2000 to 2017. Accordingly, 38 documents were retrieved and, after the initial review, 15 documents were reviewed and analyzed based on the criteria of usefulness and up-to-datedness. After analyzing and extracting the findings, the relatively common items were combined and they were divided into four main sections, including the starting point, questions, prompts, and the ending text of the interview. Finally, the four-stage refinement framework of the protocol was outlined to enhance the validity of the interview protocol. Besides, the relationship between the latter framework and process of formulating the protocol was presented in the form of a conceptual map.