The use of composite narratives to present interview findings

Abstract

This research note describes the use of composite narratives to present interview data. A composite narrative uses data from several individual interviews to tell a single story. In the research discussed here, investigating how politicians consider climate change, four composites were created from fourteen interviews with Members of the UK Parliament. A method for creating composite narratives is described. Three, linked, benefits of the technique are discussed. First, they allow researchers to present complex, situated accounts from individuals, rather than breaking data down into categories. Second, they confer anonymity, vital when reporting on private deliberations, particularly if interviewees are public figures. Third, they can contribute to ‘future-forming’ research, by presenting findings in ways that are useful and accessible to those outside academia. The main limitation of composite narratives is the burden of responsibility upon the researcher, to convey accurate, yet anonymized, portrayals of the accounts of a group of individuals.

Development of a New Patient-reported Outcome Instrument to Evaluate Treatments for Scars: The SCAR-Q

“…Ethics approval for the cognitive interview phase was obtained from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Institutional Review Board and the Research Ethics Board at the Hospital for Sick Children. Cognitive interviews, which involved the think-aloud technique, 26 , 27 were used to refine the scales and to establish content validity. 8 , 9 Potential participants were invited to participate in an interview by a member of the health care team at each site.…”

Translation and cultural adaptation of the CLEFT-Q for use in Colombia, Chile, and Spain

“…To maintain consistency in the data collection across all Spanish varieties and Catalan, individuals who performed the cognitive debriefing interviewers were trained by the project manager. Using the ‘think aloud’ approach [ 35 , 36 ] participants completed the CLEFT-Q while verbalizing each item and what they thought it was asking, which made it possible for the interviewer to identified words and/or phrases that were difficult to understand. For any difficulties identified, the interviewer explained the meaning to the participant, who was then asked to suggest alternative words/phrases to enhance comprehension.…”

What factors explain the association between socioeconomic deprivation and reduced likelihood of live-donor kidney transplantation? A questionnaire-based pilot case-control study

“…The cognitive interview is a method that can be used ‘to evaluate, and to improve, self-report survey questions, measurement instruments, research consent forms and other written materials’. 46 The cognitive interview involves ‘the administration of draft survey questions while collecting additional verbal information about the survey responses, which is used to evaluate the quality of the response or to help determine whether the question is generating the information that its author intends’. 47 Cognitive interviewing was thus undertaken to test each question for clarity, comprehension, face validity, sensitivity, acceptability, as well as the respondent's motivation to answer the question, the ease of retrieval of the required information and the suitability of response categories.…”

“…A reparative approach was taken, which focused on improving the quality of survey questions and minimising the risk of response error. 46 A summary of the cognitive interview findings is available as online supplementary material .…”