Qualitative Interview Mini-Report

In this assignment, you will draw on your learning from class to design, conduct and analyze data from a qualitative interview. To complete the assignment, you must:

1. Design an interview guide to help answer the research question, “how do students decide what degree to take in university?” in a 30-minute qualitative interview.

2. Use this interview guide to interview a classmate for 30 minutes. With your classmate’s permission, and if you have a phone with this capability, you may audio-record the interview. If you can’t do so, you will need to take detailed notes during the interview.

3. After the interview is complete, you will either transcribe the recording or add detail to your notes from memory. Do not put your interviewee’s name or other identifiers on your transcript or recording. Then you will analyse the transcript or your notes using any of the coding procedures we learned about and used in class.

4. Answer the questions below, and submit your answers (max 2 pages, single-spaced) as your assignment.

QUESTIONS

1. List the interview questions you came up with, and any probes you planned to use. The following format is suggested:

Q1. YOUR QUESTION HERE
[Probes] your probe 1? Your probe 2?
Q2. YOUR SECOND QUESTION HERE
[Probes] your probe 1? Your probe 2?

2. Our research question was, “How do students decide what degree to take in university?” Why are your interview questions good ones to help answer the research question? What guidelines did you follow in constructing your questions?

3. How did your questions actually work, when you used them to interview your classmate? Did you have to make any changes to get the interview to flow? Why or why not?

4. How did you analyze your data? Did you audio-record your interview or take notes? What method of coding did you choose, and why? What codes did you apply? Which ones were most common?

5. What do you think your interview data tells you about the answer to our research question? In other words, what were your findings from this one interview? Please share your findings while being careful to protect the identity of your interviewee—even though I’ve seen you, it’s a good practice. Do not use their real name.

6. Are there any questions you wish you asked, or asked differently? Why or why not?

TIPS
No bibliography is needed for this assignment.
Using codes that have some connection to sociological concepts is a great way to show your professor that you’re learning.
Using course terminology and concepts throughout your assignment is necessary to get a decent grade. Use new words and ideas you’ve learned through the class.
Remember to save your transcripts and notes in case you want to expand this assignment into your final assignment!

SOSA 2002 – Winter Week 8