Now my interviews are complete. I have all the relevant data and I actually really enjoyed the process. Going back to my last post prior to the interviews, I found this structure was suitable. However, during my 1st interview I felt the director was quite taken aback by my first question 'What do you believe a ballet show is for?' He really had to think about this and I found that such a big question to begin with put him out of his comfort zone. Having the feedback from Bernie on my last blog and the use of the article she posted I decided to start my second interview with a less complex question that focused more on the director's background. This better as it helped the interviewee seem more at ease to begin with.I really enjoyed the conversational approach as it made the whole process less formal and therefore I was able to gather more information.
The second interviewee was extremely busy and was not able to have a face to face interview with me in the end. He suggested I pre - record the interview questions and when he had time he would reply in the same manner. I was slightly dubious to that this would work well but after consulting with my SIG we agreed that it would be more effective than a rushed fact to face interview.
It was! And he really went into depth on the themes I had asked him to discuss which was very beneficial. He also sounded quite relaxed - again a lot more than in a rushed face to face interview was likely to be.
I am glad you sound a solution to not being able to do a face to face interview. Without being face to face you are unable to prompt for more details or reword any questions but it sounds like it worked out well for you having recorded questions. x
ReplyDeleteSo glad my tip about trying to get to know the interviewee helped with the atmosphere. I actually used it more for my own nerves in my first couple of interviews and realised it was probably a good icebreaker for them too. I never really considered pre-recording questions as I was very concerned about receiving truthful and in depth answers however it's interesting that it worked so well for you. How did you structure the questions for pre- recorded interview in comparison to the face-to-face? It will be good to know as that would enable me to conduct more interviews within a short space of time in future research! x
ReplyDeleteYes, my own nerves weren't something I factored into the interviews but actually when I conducted them I was quite nervous myself! Your ice breaker helped - thanks!
ReplyDeleteI kept the structure for the pre recorded interview as close to the face to face one as I could however I broke down the questions a little more. Although I had the chance to ask follow up questions I explained the pre recorded questions in much more depth to save the director as much time as possible in the hope less follow up questions would need to be asked.
I think it also depends on the interviewee as a person. The director I pre recorded questions for is very experienced and set in his ideas. He was very comfortable and generous, talking in depth on his ideas. I think if the interviewee was less experiences/tentative, it wouldn't have worked as well. x