Flowchart
Start small: when to add more interviews
A simple way to size a qualitative interview study without guessing up front. Plan for eight interviews, analyse after the first five, run three more, then check whether new themes are still appearing. If they are, add two to four interviews. If not, you are probably at saturation. It guards against doing too few interviews and against wasting time on too many.
Where this appears
What's in this flowchart
Start: You are planning a qualitative study
- Plan for 8 interviews. Keep the option to add more if themes are still coming.
- Run 5 interviews.
- Do a first analysis. Note which patterns are starting to show.
- Run 3 more interviews.
- Are new themes still coming at a meaningful rate?
- No: go to 6.
- Yes: Run 2 to 4 more interviews.
- Finish: Stop: you are likely at saturation.
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/start-small-interview-sample-size-flowchart"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/start-small-interview-sample-size-flowchart/start-small-interview-sample-size-flowchart.png" alt="Flowchart for sizing an interview study: plan for 8, run 5, analyse, run 3 more, then add 2 to 4 if new themes are still coming." width="1200" height="1228" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/start-small-interview-sample-size-flowchart">Start small: when to add more interviews</a>, Koji</p>
