A large proportion of social science investigations rely on interview data, yet few researchers received formal training in interviewing. The authors investigated how novice researchers developed their interview skills, reporting on postgraduate students' experiences and reflections during an intensive 15-day interview course. Data analyzed for the article include audiotapes and transcripts of in-depth interviews and students' written critiques and journal reflections. Challenges faced by novice interviewers conducting in-depth interviews included unexpected participant behaviors, dealing with the consequences of the interviewers' own actions and subjectivities, constructing and delivering questions, and handling sensitive research topics. The authors also discuss the transcription of audio-recorded talk and include their own and students' reflections concerning the learning and teaching of interviewing. Finally, the authors provide recommendations for teaching interview skills for the purpose of doing social science research. This study informs teachers of qualitative research and researchers who seek to develop their interview skills.
This exemplar highlights some of the key points for consideration when conducting thematic analysis on semi-structured interview data. The data exemplar is provided by Dr Ceryn Evans, from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD), Cardiff University, who was funded by the United Kingdom Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to explore civic participation amongst adults in Wales. Thematic analysis was carried out with the aim of exploring the social construction of civic engagement in the context of examining relationships between higher education participation and civic engagement. The extract provided in the dataset is from an interview with a single male participant, aged in his early 50s and living in Wales. The exemplar will be particularly useful to those considering using thematic analysis as an analytic method on semi-structured interview data within a broad range of disciplines in the social sciences, including sociology and the sociology of education more specifically. Semi-Structured Interviews Qualitative semi-structured interviews are one of the most dominant and widely used methods of data collection within the social sciences (Bradford & Cullen, 2012). They are valuable because they allow researchers to explore subjective viewpoints (Flick, 2009) and to gather in-depth accounts of people's experiences. Typically, an interview schedule is used, which enables the researcher to address a defined topic whilst allowing the respondent to answer in their own terms and to discuss issues and topics pertinent to them (Choak, 2012). The schedule should therefore guide the interview, but also allow other relevant themes to develop throughout the interview (Choak, 2012). In this sense, the interview should resemble a 'flowing conversation' (Rubin & Rubin, 2005; Choak, 2012). The popularity of semi-structured interviews within the social sciences partly reflects their independence from a single theoretical framework or epistemological position. Qualitative semi-structured interviews can be used as much to consider experience, meanings and the 'reality' of participants' experiences as they can be used to explore how these experiences, 'realities' and meanings might be informed by discourses, assumptions or ideas which exist in wider society (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Data Exemplar: Voluntary Civic Participation Among Adults This exemplar intends to highlight some key points for consideration when conducting thematic analysis on semistructured interview data. The data exemplar is provided by Dr Ceryn Evans from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adults to explore the extent to which the experience of higher education (HE) bears upon their engagement in civil society. This was part of a broader project, funded by the ESRC, which aimed to examine relationships between HE and civic engagement, meaning participation in clubs, associations and organisations outside of paid employment or th...
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