Overview
Discussion Assignment Instructions
The student must then post 2 replies of at least 100 words. Any sources cited must have been published within the last five years and all references must be formatted in current APA style.
Orignal discussion question:
By this point, you are required to have completed at least one of your field notes interviews. Describe your experience with the field notes interview(s) you have conducted to date. Include some details (technical, logistical, personal, professional, etc.) about the interview and the interview process itself. Use these prompts to help guide your description:
- What did you enjoy about the experience?
- What challenges (technical, personal, or otherwise) did you encounter?
- How, if at all, was it different from what you expected, based on your course readings and your assumptions?
- Based on your experience(s), how would you approach any subsequent qualitative interviewing?
- What did you learn about qualitative data collection from this experience?
Please respond to the following 2 discussion posts….
1.E.T Posted
Discussion Thread: Field Notes Interview(s)What did you enjoy about the experience?
I enjoyed the whole experience as it relates to my own dissertation process, and it provided me the feeling of I am not the only one in this journey. The most enjoyable moment of the interview experience is knowing all the challenges of the dissertation process will end soon.
What challenges (technical, personal, or otherwise) did you encounter?
So far, the only challenge was the verbatim transcription. Even though the use of audio recording and producing verbatim transcription replaced note taking as the convention, it is time consuming and delays research findings (Hill et al., 2022). The problem with verbatim transcription is that it is a word-for-word transcription of recordings and sometimes I have to listen/repeat one sentence multiple times. I am not against it, but it is a challenge.
How, if at all, was it different from what you expected, based on your course readings and your assumptions?
The interview is not different from what I expected at all. Before entering to the doctoral program, I know it is going to be challenging and I convinced myself to face all the challenges in order to accomplish my vision. I have the same background with my interviewee and that helped me to see the dissertation process from the same angle of view.
Based on your experience(s), how would you approach any subsequent qualitative interviewing?
Based on my experience, the best approach is effective listening. I will make the qualitative interview experience more personal interaction in order to get a detailed and depth information of the phenomenon from my interviewee/interviewees. I will also apply a follow-up question to clarify every information.
What did you learn about qualitative data collection from this experience?
The biggest lesson I learned about qualitative data collection from this experience is to be ready a head of time. Time management really challenged me. As the interview needs verbatim transcription and this process requires word-for-word transcription of recordings, I have to have enough time for the whole process. I learned that qualitative data collection requires good time management skill and I will apply that in the future.
References
Hill, Z., Tawiah-Agyemang, C., Kirkwood, B., & Kendall, C. (2022). Are verbatim transcripts necessary in applied qualitative research: experiences from two community-based intervention trials in Ghana. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 19(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12982-022-00115-w
2.V.W Posted
Currently, most of my interviews have been taking place within my workplace due to the influx with homelessness and Veterans coming into crisis services. I am awaiting clearance for the other space these interviews are going to take place. So, with regarding to the physical setting, I can say my office space is quiet and provides the participants with a lot of privacy, so they can speak freely. What I enjoyed the most is hearing the various stories regarding how the homelessness occurred and the struggles they are currently having with connection to resources especially in rural areas. I will say one challenge that I am noticing is how substance use plays a role with homelessness. I say this is a challenge as I will have to figure out a way to incorporate this data into my studies. Most of the participants that I have interviewed, conveyed that once the onset of the trigger happens, they began coping with substances thus leading to their homelessness. Creswell and Poth conveyed that themes within the phenomenology approach can be utilized to write a description of the context and how it influenced the participants experience (2018 p. 80).
I will say this process wasn’t different for me because I work with client’s who experience high rates of homelessness (non-Veteran) and who struggle with maintaining stability within the community. I can state that if substance use was involved, then interviewing did present with hesitation as most participants would begin to become vague with information. With regards to the approach, I will say that creating an open space and not being structured does allow for the most information to be gathered in my opinion. One takeaway I have with regards to data collection is the importance of note taking. I am still getting used to video recordings and oftentimes I would do a voice recording because of comfortability issues. I try to ensure that the participants are comfortable as possible while trying to share their story.
I am pending another location where Veterans frequently visit for support services to include homelessness, so I am excited about interviewing them.
References
Creswell, J. W. & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. ISBN: 9781506330204.