INF5220 5

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INF5220 - 5

• Lecture 2nd of January 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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Last weeks assignments

• Observation
• Interview
• What did you learn?

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Observation

• Values of direct observational approaches
• Understanding context
• Inductive approach less need to rely on prior
  conceptualizations of the setting
• See things that are routinely taken for granted
• See things participants may be unwilling to talk
  about in interviews

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Observation

• Observing what happens
• Activities planned, unplanned
• People characteristics, grouping
• What people say quotations
• How they interact patterns, frequency, direction
  of communication, changes formal and informal
• Nature of physical setting (photographs?)
• Observing what does not happen
• No conflicts?

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Observation

• More than casual looking around
• Dont think you are a natural observer
• Requires preparation
• Training
• How to write descriptively
• Practicing recording field notes
• Separations details/trivia
• What is unimportant?
• Not separation details/context!

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Interviews

• Using interviews in your research? Here are two
  questions that you need to think about
• What status do you allocate to the data? I.e.
  what do you think about the relation between the
  interviewees accounts and the world(s) they
  describe?
• What do you think about the relation between the
  interviewee and the interviewer? (respondent,
  informant, interviewee, subject, etc.)

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What status do you assign to your interview data?

• Are they facts (e.g. about attitudes and
  behaviour)?
• That is, if you have designed and conducted the
  interview properly, and avoided problems such as
  bias.
• Do the interview give you accounts of authentic
  experiences?
• That is, if you have managed to engage
  emotionally and achieved understanding and
  depth.
• Are the interviews jointly constructed
  encounters of focused interaction?
• Do you have your focus on how participants
  actively create meaning and perform during the
  interview?

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Corresponds to

• The three categories (Silverman) and their focus
• Positivism Quality (reliability) more or less
  equal to non-bias. Much use of prescheduled and
  standardised interviews
• Emotionalism Interviews of high quality have
  managed to acquire depth. Use of open-ended
  interviews
• Constructionism Quality linked to reflexivity.
  Open-ended interviews to be reported with
  adequate detail.
• Not one correct category, choice depends on your
  purpose.
• Your practical concerns should guide your
  analytic position
• Ask yourself whether interviews really help you
  address your research topic

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What status do the data have?

• Geertz, 1973 p.9 What we call our data are
  really our own constructions of other peoples
  constructions of what they and their compatriots
  are up to.
• Van Maanen, 1979
• Interviewees constructions first-order data
• Researchers constructions second-order
  concepts, which rely on good theory and
  insightful analysis

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On interviewing and questioning

• Types of interviews
• Structured more or less fixed sequence of
  pre-formulated questions. (Iterations (tests and
  feedback) during design of interview guide)
• Semi-structured you want to cover some areas,
  but the sequence is not important. Adjust the
  wording of the questions and ask follow-up
  questions as you go along
• Open (non-structured) Maybe a pre-formulated
  starting question, but thereafter the interviewee
  steers.
• Ways to question
• Closed versus open questions
• Would you say this project has been a success or
  a failure?
• How would you evaluate the project?
• Clear and short questions, one at a time
• Sequence from the general to the specific
• How and What-questions versus Why-questions
• Ask questions on experience and behaviour before
  questions on feelings and opinions

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Probes

• Eliciting response without manipulating probing.
  Probes can be used in order to get more details,
  or to get the interviewee to elaborate more and
  clarify the statements
• The basic probe repeat the initial question when
  the interviewee seems to be wandering off the
  point.
• Explanatory probes to illuminate vague or
  incomplete statements
• What did you mean by that?
• What makes you say that?
• Could you tell me more about this?
• Focused probes to obtain specific information
• What sort of?
• Then what happened?
• What seemed to lead up to that?
• Was this before or after..?
• What else happened?
• How would you compare this to..?
• Silent probe when the interviewee is reluctant
  or slow to answer, just wait silently.
• An example of a leading probe So you would say
  that you were really satisfied?

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Probes

• The technique of drawing out when the interviewee
  has halted or dried up
• Tell me more about that..
• What happened then?
• Mirorring or reflecting, expressing in your own
  words what is said, the interviewee may then
  correct or add on.
• What you seem to be saying is that
• Contradicting give an opposite opinion
• Is that really so I heard somebody say..
• Linking connect the statement with a question on
  relevant information
• Display puzzlement to have the interviewee
  elaborate.
• Why is that a problem?
• I am not sure I understand, could you explain
  why..
• Challenging demand more information to prove a
  claim
• Really?
• Encouraging give compliments
• Giving ideas or suggestions
• Have you thought about ?
• Have you tried..?
• Showing understanding and allowing time for
  elaboration

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Example of using probes

• R Why did you decide to further your studies in
  the UK?
• I The school I attended in Hong Kong was not
  very good. Also it is rather difficult to enter a
  good secondary school there
• R Which school did you go to when you were in
  Hong Kong?
• I T S Government Primary School
• R Isnt it a good school?
• I No. The English standard is low. Chinese is
  the best subject there.
• R How was English taught there?
• I It was very different form here (UK). Here I
  am asked to write essays. In TS Government
  Primary School, students were asked to buy their
  own course books and the teachers taught us
  chapter by chapter.
• R Is there anything wrong with that?
• I Teaching was slow and our teachers taught
  things repeatedly.

(Contradicting)
(Linking)
(Fake being puzzled)
(Rita S. Y. Berry Collecting data by in-depth
interviewing. Paper presented at the British
Educational Research Association annual
conference, September 1999)
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Example of interviewing technique

• The Reverse Laddering Technique (from cognitive
  psychology, and consumer/marketing research)
  helps to dig deeper into peoples reasoning, to
  reveal their causal maps.
• One asks Why (how, in what way) is that
  important to you?
• Concepts Example
• concrete attributes (low fat)
• abstract attributes (fewer calories)
• functional consequences (slimming)
• psychosocial consequences (social acceptance)
• instrumental values (self-confidence)
• terminal values (self-esteem)

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On interviewing and questioning

• Recording and transcribing
• Recording devices (tape recorder, mobile,
  laptop) try it out before you use it (sound
  quality, distance, background noise). Do also
  take notes in case something fails.
• Interference in the interview situation subject
  may get wary, but most tend to forget about the
  recording device rather soon.
• Transcription takes a lot of time! (1 hour
  interview makes for 6-8 hours writing) Dont be
  too ambitious when planning your research.
• Transcriptions are useful (to share with
  collaborators/supervisors, allows you to go back
  to material later with other aims, ideas).
• Your own body language and engagement
• Convey attention and genuine interest through
  tone of voice, expressions, gestures. Balance
  note-taking with attention.
• Dress and manners. Choice of location for
  interview
• How do you present yourself, as student or
  researcher? Are you asking for an interview
  or a discussion?
• Convey understanding and respect, and that you
  record the responses rather than judge them
• Allow them finish what they are saying, let them
  proceed in their own rate of thinking and
  speaking.