Qualitative- Interviewing practice

Question 1

Qualitative Interviewing

Answer 1

• assumes humans are active agents
• humans make meaning of their actions
• participants NOT research subjects
• Humans are reflective, conscious and social beings whose actions and interactions are mediated by particular meanings which they derive through their participation in particular societies, groups and communities

Question 2

Ways to find participants

Answer 2

Snowball
Purposive
Internet
Newspapers

Question 3

Data Collection Tool: Interviews

Answer 3

• Interviews not just instruments for extracting information:
• -Interviews are social encounters
• -Events where social relations are formed

Question 4

If interviews are social interactions then what constitutes as data?

Answer 4

It is more than just what participants tell us during interview:

• How participants present themselves
• Emotions they convey
• Their identifications
• The relations they establish in the research encounter
  (i. e. male researcher interviewed by female interviewer, talks over me)
• The Importance of reflexivity

Question 5

How to make a good qualitative Interview

Answer 5

• Be friendly
• Treat participants with respect and gratitude
• Treating participants as experts on the topic
• Participants as co-inquirers
• Listening intently, encouraging them to elaborate

Question 6

Interview Types

Answer 6

1. highly structured: predetermined questions, fixed sequence and structure.
2. semi-structured:most common form of quali interview, flexible and focused
3. unstructured: open-ended, participants in control of the process, meaning emerges

Question 7

A good semi-structured interview

Answer 7

Set out certain themes and some questions

Pace and direction will depend on individual interview

Don’t refer to your interview guide too much

Steer the conversation if it goes off topic

Question 8

Language

Answer 8

Use language that is appropriate:
Your research question is not the same as the questions you ask you participants

use follow ups and ask for examples

avoid leading questions

Question 9

Feminist Research

Answer 9

• should empower participants
• democratize research relationship
• research about women by women
• challenges the notion of being neutral and detached