A Structure for In-Depth, Phenomenonological Inte

rviewing

9310007A Yvonne9310037A Jenny

Open-ended questions ex. Do you think that group discussion can enhance your

reading comprehension? ()

How do you feel that the use of group discussion in your reading comprehension? ()

Task: build and explore the participants’ responses

participants’ concrete experience & the meaning their experience had

Goal: let the participants reconstruct their experience

Three-Interview

Series

Focused Life History

The Details of Experience

Reflection on the Meaning

Focused Life History

Interviewer asks the participants to tell their past experience in any situations

focus on the participants’ past experiences Let the participants reconstruct their early experiences Avoid asking “why” ask “How” ex. What's your first experience about using

group discussion on your reading?

The Details of Experience

Purpose: focus on the concrete details of the participants’ present experience

Know some details

ex. What did your teacher teach? or How did your teacher teach in class?

Don’t ask the participants’ opinions but the details of their experience

→whatever they do now

Reflection on the Meaning

Purpose: to reflect on the meaning of the participants’ experience

participants’ attitudes & opinions

ex. How do you feel about group discussion on your reading?

Focus on the participants’ understanding of their experience

Meaning: the intellectual & emotional connections between the participants’ work & life

Respect the StructureRespect the Structure

The importance of the series of the three- interviews (Each interview serves a purpose).

Advantage: easy to follow Disadvantage: time-consuming Try to maintain the balance between

providing enough openness for the participants to tell their stories and enough focus to allow the interview structure to work.

Length of InterviewsLength of Interviews

The 90-minute format (Dolbeare and Schuman)

The length of time be decided upon before the interview process begins. (No standard time limitation)

To be chronological: beginning, middle, end.

For the vast number of participants, interviewers need to schedule/arrange the interviews so that they can finish one and go on to the next.

The participants must know how much time is being asked of them.

The shortcomings of after-the-face conversation:

- not be recorded

- unravel the interviewer’s purpose

- difficult to use

Spacing of InterviewsSpacing of Interviews

Space each interview from 3 days to a week apart

- allow times for the participants to

consider the preceding interview

- avoid to lose the connection

2 to 3 week period

- reduce the impact of possibly idiosyncratic

interviews

ex: participant has the terrible day;

sick; be distracted in such a way as to

affect the quality of interview

Develop the relationship between the participants and the interviews positively.

- telephone call

- letters

To confirm the schedules and appointments.

Alternatives to the Structure and ProcessAlternatives to the Structure and Process

Miss an interview because of

► unexpected things

→conduct interviews one and two on the same day

► leave during the long vacation

→conduct interviews one, two, and three on the same day

Whose meaning is it? Validity and Whose meaning is it? Validity and ReliabilityReliability

Reliability—whether the participants’ answers are reliable & consistent

Internal consistency:

test in different times by using the same

questions

use similar questions in different words to test your participants

External consistency:

record all the words they said (their tone)

Validity—the effectiveness of participants’ responses

ex. (p. 18) the syntax, the pauses, the self-effacing laugh

Is it Anybody’s Meaning?Is it Anybody’s Meaning?

The advantages of three-interview structure: - incorporate features to enhance the accomplishment of validity

- encourage interviewing participants over the course of 1 to 3 weeks to account for idiosyncratic days and to check for the internal consistency of what they said

The advantages of three-interview structure:

- place participant’s comments in context

- interviewer can connect the participant’s

experiences and check the comments

of one participant against those of

others

The goal of the process:

- to understand how our participants

understand and make meaning of their

experiences

Avoiding a Mechanistic Avoiding a Mechanistic ResponseResponse

Cause by:Cause by:

- some advocates of divergent approaches - some advocates of divergent approaches

polarize the issuepolarize the issue

- advocates qualitative approaches as - advocates qualitative approaches as

doctrinairedoctrinaire

The solutions:The solutions:

- grapple with the validity- grapple with the validity

- increase our ways of knowing- increase our ways of knowing

- avoid ignorance- avoid ignorance

Experience the Process Experience the Process YourselfYourself

The practice project:

Team up with a peer

Use the three-interview structure

Arrange the appointments for each

interviews

Taped-record

The point of the practice project: - experience interviewing and being interviewing - see whether you connect the possibilities of the process - alert you to how the way you are as a person affects your interviewing - become aware of issues of control and focus