Post on 22-Nov-2014
description
Phenomenographic
interviews as a
learning process
Eva Hornung, Shahd Salha, Sheila Webber
Oxford, September 2014
Structure
• Introduction
• Three perspectives
– Sheila
– Shahd
– Eva
• Drawing together the three experiences
• Conclusions
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
Three key elements • We are writing a paper: emerging thoughts in this
presentation
• Learning experiences of the researcher (may consider:
cultural context, attitude to research, personal feelings
about phenomenography; relationship to
interviewees/research)
• Learning experiences of the interviewees
• The context/environment of the interview (e.g. context of
interview (where/who/when etc.), changing roles, setting,
environment of the research process, what happens after
the interview and after the research has “finished”) Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
SHEILA: FIRST PHENOMENOGRAPHIC
RESEARCH
UK academics‟ conceptions of information literacy and
of teaching information literacy (Webber et al. (2005);
Boon et al (2007) etc.)
80 academics; 20 each from 4 disciplines
Sample varied in terms of university, age, gender,
research rating of department etc.
Research Assistant interviewer, mostly interviewed them
in their offices
Fellow researcher, but mostly not in their discipline
Not investigating their own discipline
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
MY EXPERIENCE OF INTERVIEWS
Stuart Boon
Bill Johnston
Anticipation
Individual discovery
Joint exploration
Laughter
Argument
Excitement
Richness
Learning about information literacy
Their understanding
My understanding
Learning about the disciplines &
academic life
Learning about being a researcher
“I think that the way that you have asked me the
questions and the way that the discussion has
been structured has actually pushed me to reflect
in a pretty significant way, actually, about both the
theoretical and the practical model [of information
literacy] So I would thank you for that because I
suspect I am … going to go off and do something
with this as well, which was perhaps not your
intention” (English (discipline) academic 6)
Those with most complex conceptions of teaching/ information
literacy most vocal in describing impact/ learning (I think: haven‟t
explored systematically) Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF
PHENOMENOGRAPHIC INTERVIEWEES
With my PhD students
As external examiner
Through “rediscovering” the interview
transcripts (they still live!)
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
THE SCENE FROM SYRIAN CONTEXT
The variations and
the changes in the
school librarians„
perspectives of
information
literacy..
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
BACKGROUND ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
The study provides a new way, which is less
common, to conduct two phenomenographic
researches in the same study
The study used a longitudinal and discursive
phenomenographic approaches conducted in
two parts in 16 months durations counting the
time spent for piloting
The same professionals were interviewed
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
MY LEARNING EXPERIENCE WITH
PHENOMENOGRAPHIC ( SALHA,2011)
This first research in the Arabic context which
used the phenomenographic approach
No earlier research studies in the similar
contexts to learn from
I was not sure which phenomenographic
approach I should adopt
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
MY LEARNING EXPERIENCE WITH
PHENOMENOGRAPHY ( SALHA,2011): FIRST
PRESPECTIVE
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
AFTER MORE READING AND LEARNING THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE AWARENESS
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH
PHENOMENOGRAPHY
Professionals had no awareness of the phenomenon of IL
Some of them knew me but our relationship was limited to tutor-student relationship
They were not sure about the meaning of the studied phenomenon so the main feeling was uncertainty and confusion
The culture of silence and the fear from others were a serious obstacle
Piloting was a successful strategy to reduce the risk and learn more about the setting
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
AFTER THE PROGRAMME
They become more confident
They became familiar with the studied concept
We became more familiar with each other
Established better connection allowed us communicate and share more
They became more expert interviewees and I became more expert interviewer
I become more aware of the difficulty and of their learning style
They became more aware of my interviewing style
I realised that I can play many roles
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
THIRD STORY: CPD AND SOLO LIBRARIANS
On the perceptions of one-person librarians in
Ireland of “continuing professional
development”
30 interviewees who ranged from recent
graduates to very experienced professionals
Researcher was peer of participants – played
different roles (see Caven, 2012)
No experience of interviewing and recording
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
THE NOVICE RESEARCHER
Field notes and reflective research diary
Reflections on learning uttered during the interview
process influenced the interview schedule
Interviewees were free to choose the setting, which
was putting them at ease (but: audibility of recorded
interview and interruptions)
“After the interview” experience – cultural informal
context… Irish people love to talk
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
CATEGORIES OF DESCRIPTION
Category 1: Upskilling for the sake of the organisation/library
service (service orientation)
Category 2: Developing as a professional librarian (LIS
profession orientation)
Category 3: Helping you to do all the jobs an OPL does (OPL
orientation)
Category 4: When you have learned something and you want to
do things in a better way when you come back (personal
orientation)
Category 5: Your development as a human being (lifelong
learning orientation)
Hornung (2013)
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
LEARNING THROUGH INTERVIEWING PROCESS
Interviewees mentioned how interviews changed their
thinking (category 5 in particular)
Evidence of previous learning experiences (both surface
and deep)
Relationship between interviewer and interviewee
changed
Interview as a learning experience for both
The setting influenced the quality of the relationship and
of the interview
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
Common threads in all Three studies
• Interviewees mentioned how interviews changed
their thinking
• Relationship between interviewer and interviewee
changed
• Interview as a learning experience for both
• More aware of variation!
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
Our position now
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014
Sheila Webber Information School
University of Sheffield
s.webber@shef.ac.uk
Twitter & SL: Sheila Yoshikawa
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/
Orcid ID 0000-0002-2280-9519
Dr Eva Hornung CDETB Curriculum Development
Unit/Trinity College Dublin
hornunge@tcd.ie
LinkedIn: Eva Hornung
Dr Shahd Salha A researcher
Sheffield University Information
School
drshahdsalha@gmail.com
LinkedIn: Shahd Salha
References • Cavan, V. (2012) “Agony aunt, hostage, intruder or friend? The multiple personas of
the interviewer during fieldwork.” Intangible capital, 8 (3), 548-563.
• Boon, S., Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (2007) "A phenomenographic study of
English faculty's conceptions of information literacy." Journal of documentation, 63
(2), 204-228.
• Hornung, E. (2013) On your own but not alone: one-person librarians in Ireland and
their perceptions of Continuing Professional Development. Library trends, 61 (3),
675-702.
• Salha, S. (2011) The variations and the changes in the school librarians'
perspectives of information literacy. PhD Thesis, Information School, University of
Sheffield. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1538/2/Salha,_Shahd.pdf
• Webber, S., Boon, S. and Johnston, B. (2005) “A comparison of UK academics’
conceptions of information literacy in two disciplines: English and Marketing.” Library
and information research, 29 (93), 4-15
Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014