Although there are various strategies for administering interviews,
the most pervasive one in qualitative studies is personal or face-toface
interviews, which was the approach adopted due to its appropriateness
for addressing the research questions. This approach also
allows for observations to be made and also for the researcher
to interact with the natural settings (Creswell 2003). The format
of the questions asked in interviews can be classified into four
groups (Patton 1990; Bogdan and Biklen 1992; Gill and Johnson
2002): totally structured; structured questions with open responses
(semistructured); open questions with structured answers; and
totally unstructured. The nature and scope of the issues investigated
in the study suggested semistructured as the most appropriate
option for designing the interview questionnaire. This format has
the advantages of both opened and closed-ended interviews (Patton
1990; Creswell 2003). Using this format, an interview guide
was carefully formulated following recommended guides in the
literature (Patton 1990; Creswell 2003). The guide listed the relevant
questions on construction programming under two main sections:
preconstruction stage programming and construction stage
programming.