Qualitative Interview Essay

A thematic analysis of an interview was used to help students develop an understanding of the role of an RC. This role is dynamic and challenging; it offers great opportunities to grow and work in an academic team based environment that fosters constant learning. Often RCs play a significant role in the process of bringing a project from conception to completion which requires a variety of qualifications and leadership qualities. An inductive approach to this process, beginning with data collection and analysis, allowed me to consider specific aspects of the topic and progress on to more general concepts. Eventually, I was able to discover connections between existing knowledge and the data I analyzed. The finalized themes included Qualifications; Role of Team Leader; Rewards and Challenges.

Power point slide Qualitative research is a difficult term to define…. Nevertheless, it is important to be familiar with some definitions in the field. The definition provided by Creswell 2009 is enlightening because it incorporates ……….. most important part of definition for me were reports detailed views of informants and natural setting.

‘Employing a qualitative methodology, underpinned by a constructivist world view, has provided the means to generate rich, deep and contextualised understandings of the research issue, and an appreciation of the socially constructed and experienced realities of the participants.’ (Highfield 2012)

Phenomenological interview limitations may appear due to the researcher’s lack of experience in conducting interviews (Downey, 2015); which may interfere with the researcher’s focus and intentionality (Ashworth, 2017). Limitations may occur with the relationship between the researcher and the interviewee, including power struggles which might affect trust and honest participant reflections (Boucher, 2017). Further, time limitations could impede upon a participants deliberation process during the interview process (Downey, 2015). If a researcher is to understand the essence of a phenomenon; a suspension of judgment is required during participant interviews (Ashworth, 2017). Additionally, the researcher will need to be extremely attentive to experience the study through the participants’ eyes (Kelley, 2016). Individuals may choose not to answer every question, which is acceptable; yet, missing data can also become a limitation to the study. However, if enough participants do not answer the same question, the question might need to be reframed or removed; additionally, secondary data, such as technical reports, white papers or additional publications might be necessary to validate the research question (Johnston, 2014).

In this qualitative phenomenological research, the researcher went to the building that the participants’ schools were located for participants’ convenience. The researcher followed a protocol of first conducting individual interviews with each of the ten participants. A semi-structured, conversational style of individual interviewing was adopted in order to explore the respondents’ stories which made interviewing multiple subjects more methodical (See Appendix A for Interview Protocol). According to Meehan, 20014),

A qualitative methodological approach was the obvious choice in that it allows for the collection and interpretation of stories, narratives, interviews and other forms of non-quantifiable data. A qualitative approach also does not demand or strive for detached objectivity of the researcher but instead encourages the disclosure of researcher bias and the engagement of the researcher with the research and subjects, often in the role of participant-observer (Dade, Tartakov, Hargrave, & Leigh,

Maxwell (2005) also notes that qualitative research can be used to address various issues and is not restricted to one ontological stance. The method also involves developing a relationship with the people one is studying, an aspect that is important in defining the authenticity of the data and determining the course of action.

The method of qualitative research become key method in the human and social science and also in the education and health science. The definition of qualitative research is a research using methods such as participant observation or case studies which result in a narrative, descriptive account of a setting or practice. Sociologists using these methods typically reject positivism and adopt a form of interpretive sociology (Parkinson & Drislane,2011). It involves the research using data that do not indicate ordinal values. Furthermore, qualitative research includes the different kinds of data collection, techniques of analysis and diversity of theoretical frameworks (Guest; Namey & Mitchell, 2013). According to Creswell(2013) ‘’the final written report or presentation includes the voices of participants, the reflexivity of the researcher, a complex description and interpretation of the problem, and its contribution to the literature or a call for change.

Epistemological criticism argues that all approaches are unlikely to produce consistent evidence because of the inherent property. It will generate a new viewpoint. However, through abundant reading, triangulation will enlarge width and depth in qualitative research and provide an analysis with security- a overall perspective. Participants can improve the validity of research. Bloor (1978) argues that sociologists can establish a correspondence with participants, in which participants can identify, give assent and judgement to sociologists.

Researchers who uses qualitative study for addressing a problem they are interested in are most often confronted with enormous background knowledge they could use to make their research more successful. (Flick, 2007)

Interviews are a formal conversation with a purpose to either convince someone you are correct for their role, or a conversation about an event, whether it be past, present or future. General Interviews have four different structures; they are structured, unstructured, semi- structured and focus groups.

Qualitative research is conducted in a natural setting and attempts to understand a human problem by developing a holistic narrative and reporting detailed views of informants about the culture of a problem. It forms a report with pictures and words. One of the most important distinctions that sets qualitative research apart from more traditional types of research is that qualitative research is holistic in that researchers study phenomena in their entirety rather than narrowing the focus to specific defined variables” (p. 93). Similarly, Cresswell (1984) indicated that qualitative research “is defined as an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem, based on building a holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants, and conducted in a natural setting” (p. 2). Cresswell’s definition clearly delineates the major characteristics of qualitative research. Pg. 50 (Smith & Davis, 2010).

Telephone interviews, which have the same basis as previously mentioned, require the use of a telephone in order to conduct a series of questions and responses. The researcher would work with the participant in order to set up a time to call, and from there, they would discuss the questions that researcher poses over the phone, and the participant would provide their answers in a way that requires no meet up or face-to-face interaction. Telephone interviews are significant to ethnographic research because anthropologists, along with sociologists and psychologists are turning to alternative ways to conduct interviews in order to be more convenient for both the researcher and the participant. Similarly to face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews offer positive and negative characteristics, which make it a personal and professional choice when choosing an interview style, as it needs to be the most appropriate for the anthropologist/researcher and the

Conducting interviews is fundamental as a case manager. In order to understand more about good interviewing, I decided to watch an interview about an addict mother conducted by Dr. Phil. While watching this interview, I made some notes on attitudes and characteristics that I considered important for good interviewing. The characteristics will be presented in the following paragraphs.

Qualitative research is a technique of promoting research that stresses the quality according to the user’s point of view and approaches. In depth interviews and focus groups are best examples of qualitative research. [Laura Lake, 2009]