lecture 2- qualitative data collection and ethics

Question 1

interview as co-construction

Answer 1

• Interviews are an interaction
• People have a choice (conscious, non-conscious) in how they talk about things.
• Who are they talking to, what do they want to achieve?
• People don’t lie – they choose a version that is true to how they experienced it,
  but describe it in such a way that is sensitive to the current context (e.g., mum or
  husband)

Question 2

what this means

Answer 2

• You need to think about how aspects of you (your manner, your social identity as perceived by the participant, your interest) could have played a role in creating the interview data.
• You need to tell the reader that you have thought about this.
• In the Materials section of your report, you need to describe the context of the interview
  (location, time of day).
• In the Procedure, you need to describe what you said to interviewees before the interview.
• When you’re transcribing, you need to include things the interviewer said (including the
  ‘mm..mm…’)
• When you’re providing quotes in the Analysis section, you need to include what the
  interviewer said.

Question 3

types of interview

Answer 3

• Structured
  Using the same question sequence for all participants – this isn’t really in the spirit of ‘interviews as co-constructed’
• Semi-structured
  You have a set of questions and prompts, but the order and the exact wording will vary per interview, depending on how the
  interaction goes.
• Open
  You only have a general topic area and some broad questions, but the interview is mostly led by what the interviewee brings up.

Question 4

preparing for the interview- types of questions

Answer 4

• descriptive
• structural
• contrast
• evaluative

Question 5

descriptive

Answer 5

“what happened that day?”
“can you describe what it was like growing up in LA”?
These questions encourage participants to give an account
of something

Question 6

structural

Answer 6

“what does it mean to be a foreign student in Aberdeen?”
“what matters to you when making new friends?
These questions ask people how they make sense of their
world, what concepts they use to interpret their world

Question 7

contrast

Answer 7

“Did you prefer living in Finland or Scotland?”
“Compared to Facebook, do you use Instagram
differently?”
These questions ask people to make comparisons (and are
best left for last as they are quite directive)

Question 8

evaluative

Answer 8

“How did you feel about this?”
“What was it like when you found out you were accepted
into Aberdeen university?”
These questions ask people about feelings towards
someone or something. Not everyone finds these easy.

Question 9

bad questions

Answer 9

• can be answered with yes or no
• suggest that there is one best way of answering them
• contain words that a non specialist audience may not understand
• ask ‘why’
• have the potential to be upsetting

Question 10

good questions

Answer 10

• are open ended
• are unbiased
• avoid jargon
• avoid asking ‘why’
• are respectful

Question 11

creating prompts

Answer 11

• Some participants talk more than others
• Some participants don’t quite know what a certain question wants
  them to say
• For this, we use ‘prompts’:
  These are gentle steers that
  give the interviewee easier steps
  to answer your question

Question 12

putting questions in a general personal order

Answer 12

• Start broad and general so the interviewee and you can get used to
  one another
• This also enables you to get a sense of which topics may be particularly important to the interviewee (it’s ok to take notes of this, so you can come back to it later)
• Keep the more personal, ‘prodding’ questions for later.
• But: some interviewees are quite keen to get personal early on, so you need to be flexible with your interview schedule.

Question 13

interview schedule example:

Answer 13

I’m interested in how mature students experience returning to studying, and in
particular studying Psychology here, in Aberdeen. To start us off, could you tell me
what it’s been like for you on the Masters course so far?
-Prompts: high points, low points?

Could you describe to me how you go about learning something?
-Prompts: e.g., for exams, how do you prepare?
-How do you know that you’ve learned it?

I know this is a bit of a big question, but if you were to describe yourself, what would you
say?
-Prompts: Who are you compared to before you started the Masters? (has
anything changed? Have things remained the same? What?)

Question 14

doing the actual interview

Answer 14

Show that you are listening, basics:
- Hmm.. Hmm..
- Nodding
- Facial expression
- Make eye contact

Show that you are listening, extended:

Use participants’ own words when asking a new question: “so you mean..
you said… nobody gets things easily… things don’t come easily…could
you say a bit more about this?”

-* Remain as ignorant as possible. Pretend you know nothing. Let the interviewee explain everything to you.

• Ask the interviewee to describe examples.
• Don’t be afraid to make jokes if you feel it’s appropriate

Question 15

doing the actual interview- what NOT to be

Answer 15

• Interrupt interviewee constantly (it’s ok if they go off track and/or appear
  unstoppable)
• Say you disagree with the interviewee
• Say you agree with the interviewee
  (in both cases, a better approach is to paraphrase in a neutral tone)
• Saying “I know exactly what you mean”
• Filling all the silences too quickly
• Give advice (see also Ethics)

Question 16

ethics

Answer 16

• Duty of care (the overarching ethical principle)
• Researcher safety (e.g., not going to a participant’s house)
• Confidentiality (how to deal with disclosure? Is a pseudonym enough?)
• Right to withdraw (more difficult in an interview, learn to spot the signs;
  but don’t end it yourself)
• Informed consent
• No deception