In the online materials for Chapter 3, you will find two applications for ethical review. Download the application for review of the study entitled ‘Motivations for and experiences of skin lightening among young men and women in emerging adulthood.’ Turn to the interview schedule in Appendix D.

Read the section on ‘The interview schedule’ in Chapter 4 in the book. Mindful of the advice that is offered there about how to construct a good interview schedule, evaluate the interview schedule in the application.

• What are the strengths of that interview schedule?
• What are its weaknesses?
• How might you revise the interview schedule to address any weaknesses that you have identified?

The best way of evaluating how successful an interview schedule will be in generating rich data is to try it out – to ‘pilot’ it. And, of course, the success of an interview schedule will also depend on the skill of the interviewer who is using it. Nonetheless, there are some basic features that need to be present, such as a clear, logical structure and good question wording.