Key issues to consider include the following:

• planning to minimise the occurrence of forms of bias where these are within your control, related to interviewer bias, interviewee bias and sampling bias;

• considering your aim in requesting the research interview and how you can seek to prepare yourself in order to gain access to the data that you hope your participants will be able to share with you;

• devising interview themes that you wish to explore or seek explanations for during the interview;

• sending a list of your interview themes to your interviewee prior to the interview, where this is considered appropriate;

• requesting permission and providing a reason where you would like to use an audio recorder during the interview;

• making sure that your level of preparation and knowledge (in relation to the research context and your research question and objectives) is satisfactory in order to establish your credibility when you meet your interviewee;

• considering how your intended appearance during the interview will affect the willingness of the interviewee to share data.