W2 - January 20 - Interviews Overview.doc

January 20, 2014 [W2] BYWEDNESDAYAT 9 - EMAILCONNIE OUR TOPIC OFTHE INTERVIEW RESEARCH PROJECT - Want to interview people who have experience - Need to have access to a tape recorder of some sort: can download "Express Scribe," allows you to pause interviews (makes life a lot easier) - Interview will be about 20 - 30 mins long Observational assignment: - Context is important because it helps us understand what is possible e.g. is it a small or large cage - Smell, look, feel - Have a lot of adjectives at your fingertips - Don't be afraid to use metaphors Interviewing:An Overview Esterberg: line 5 pg. 93 says, "random sample of the population" - SHOULD SAY: "representative samples of the population" o You cannot select randomly, you have to select systematically in order to get a representative sample  To generalize from sample to the population, you have to use "probability sampling" Qualitative Interviews are “Guided Conversations” Similar to a normal conversation: - Reciprocated dialogue, turn taking when speaking - Same “social etiquette” – do not interrupt one another - Talk to facilitate understanding and indicate that you also understand o Also, ask for points of clarification if necessary - Focusing at one topic at a time, or a particular subject - Unscripted and spontaneous o Unless it is semi-structured – there are topics that we want to address but we are also open to discussing phenomenon that we were not planning on discussing.  Follow the participant’s lead and order of conversation - Smooth transitions from one topic to the next - Conversational repairs – when things are not going the way we want (e.g. the person is misconstruing what we are saying), we correct things as necessary so that everyone is on the same page - When we leave, and the conversation is over, leave the door open for future contact – “We will be in touch soon” o You may want to ask some follow up questions later on Differ from a normal conversation: - Adistinction in roles: interviewer and interviewee (participant) – power difference o The interviewer has more power and determines the content of the interview o One-sided – interviewer has control (guides the conversation) and asks vs. participants’less control and answers questions - Time constraints - Less familiarity even though the topic may be sensitive - You want detail, clarification, and in-depth responses, making you less likely to interrupt the participant (unless they go off track) - Keep a record of the conversation – either by tape recorder or written notes 3 Characteristics of Interview Design 1. Flexible: Unlike quantitative research, the questions that we ask change as we go along and interview more people - The PP are the ones that have had the experience, and you may not have thought some things were important, when they are o Can add topics the PP raised in the interview - Sometimes your questions need to be re-worded so that other PP can understand your questions easier - Tailoring: e.g. the daughter herself was not a survivor of sexual childhood abuse, but her mother was and she had some knowledge on it - If you repeat the same interview over and over again, you are going to start sounding like a boring machine, when you want to keep it energetic Keep changing the questions around so that we get the most informative data that we can 2. Iterative: After each successive iteration, you start seeing the phenomenon of interest from a slightly different perspective - Broad information: want to gather as much information on the topic as quick as possible - Analyze: e.g. after a few broad interviews (4-5) you start comparing interviews and focusing on the key issues of the topic o Revise interview questions to learn what you need to know but keeping things open to new topics as well o If someone talks about something you believe you know a lot about, compare it to make sure you are on the right track - Sample: you are not interested in the individual, you are interested in the phenomenon o Who you interview may change over time Theoretical Saturation: refers to the point where you are not learning anything new by doing more interviews, you can stop interviewing at this point - Because of the flexibility of the interview, you reach theoretical saturation more quickly 7 Stages of an Interview 1. Make sure you ‘chit chat’and comment on something in the region that the person is familiar with – create natural conversation about anything - Want to convey your interest in the PP and let them know that you are sincerely interested in what they have to say o Make sure that the conversation is not about YOU, it is about THEM  Do not have to completely avoid talking about yourself - Ensure them of the confidentiality and anonymity, and ask them permission to tape record the conversation, etc. 2. Want to start asking them questions that are easy to answer, building confidence in their interview abilities - E.g. how they learned about the study and why they wanted to participate - Stimulate more detailed answers this way 3. You want to let the PP know that you ‘get it’– making them feel confident - Reiterate what they said to show that you understand and were listening - Let them know that they are the experts of their own experiences and you are there to learn from them - Show you understand them emotionally verbally (“I can see why that would have been upsetting”) and through body language (move forward a bit) o Show empathy, talk quietly o Do not lead or make assumptions (e.g. “that must have been terrible,” if the person did not say that it was a terrible experience) o Can relate and share one of your own similar experiences – BE CAREFUL because you do not want to spend time on YOUR experi