Activities

Activity 1: Seek out available web material

If you conduct an internet search on the use of interviews in research, you will find lots of websites. We suggest that you look to see what is ‘out there’. The following site is particularly interesting as it looks at ways interviews can be conducted by email, text messaging and telephone, in addition to face-to-face interviewing. The pros and cons are discussed:

Opdenakke, R. (2006) ‘Advantages and disadvantages of four interview techniques in qualitative research’, Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(4): 11.

http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/175/391 (accessed 16 March 2017)

Activity 2

Which type of interview is best suited for the following situations? Choose one option for each scenario:

1. 150 parents are interviewed as part of a large longitudinal study where the data is designed to be converted into numerical data.

  • Photo elicitation
  • Structured interview
  • Semi-structured interview
  • Focus group

Answer: Structured interview

2. A small group of parents are interviewed to find out their opinions about the settling in process for new children in a private nursery.

  • Photo elicitation
  • Structured interview
  • Semi-structured interview
  • Focus group

Answer: Focus group

3. A group of four five-year-olds being interviewed to find out which foods they consider to be healthy or unhealthy.

  • Photo elicitation
  • Structured interview
  • Semi-structured interview
  • Focus group

Answer: Photo elicitation

4. A practitioner is interviewed about her feelings around professional identity and the value placed upon the profession by others.

  • Photo elicitation
  • Structured interview
  • Semi-structured interview
  • Focus group

Answer: Semi-structured interview

Activity 3: Case study

Janine is a student working two days a week in an early years setting. She works with the babies. The nursery is considering altering the way that they babies are cared for, from a task based approach where staff are assigned jobs on a rota system, to a key person approach. In the key person approach each member of staff undertakes the complete care for two or three babies.

Details about the key person approach can be found here:

http://www.earlyyearsmatters.co.uk/eyfs/positive-relationships/key-person-attachment/ (accessed 16 March 2016)

Janine plans to interview the practitioners in the baby room to find out what they perceive to be the benefits and barriers to the proposed change.

  • What is likely to be the underlying methodology for this study?

check your answer

Answer: Qualitative

  • What would be the most suitable interview method to adopt? Explain your reasoning. 

check your answer

Answer: Semi structured. Janine has a good idea of the questions she wants to ask, but will used an open format so that participants are free to respond as they want to and the interviewer is free to probe.

  • What ethical issues could be involved in this study? 

check your answer

Answer: Staff may not want to reveal their opinions in case the information is reported back to the manager and seen in a negative light. Confidentiality will be a key consideration. The key person system is based upon the psychology of attachment. Individuals who have had attachment issues in the past may find the interview brings unresolved issues into the foreground. The interviewer will need to be particularly sensitive and have a strategy about how to handle such a situation in a way that does not leave the participant in distress.

Activity 4

Harper, D. (2002) ‘Talking about pictures: A case for photo elicitation’, Visual Studies, 17(1). 

This is a very ‘readable’ article about photo elicitation, which gives the history behind its adoption as an interview tool and looks at some of the problems which may be encountered. The passion of the author for photo elicitation is clearly evident.