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Research Interviewing

I&L 3003-1010 (28198)

Fall 2015

Instructor:Dr. Ellice Forman

Office:5527 WWPH

Office hours: By appointment

Phone:(412) 648-7022

Email: ellice@ pitt.edu

Classroom:5152; Mondays 1-3:40

Introduction:

“No longer should we regard the interview as simply an instrument of data gathering technology; it is also an integral part of society – now more decidedly than ever.”

-Gubrium & Holstein (2002)

We live in an interview society. From Oprah to consumer focus groups to political opinion polls, the modern interview has penetrated and shaped our economy, culture, politics and worldviews and has changed our notions of democracy, citizenship, knowledge and learning. But what does it mean to ask individuals for their personal opinions? More specifically, how can this form of data collection inform research in the social sciences? How should we understand and conduct interviews in productive and ethical ways?

Course Goals:

This course is designed to introduce doctoral students to the theories and methodologies of research interviewing in the social sciences. Students will discuss published studies, collect and analyze data from interviews, and critically evaluate various approaches in light of their own research questions. In class each week, we will discuss specific aspect(s) of the readings and apply various tools and theories of interviewing through group and individual activities.

Required Texts and Supplies:

All texts are available at the bookstore or on Blackboard unless otherwise noted.

• Rubin, H. J. & Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data (3rd edition).Thousand Oaks: SAGE.

• Ginsburg, H. P. (1997). Entering the child’s mind: The clinical interview in psychological research and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

• An email account.

• A digital audio-recorder.

Course Activities:

Class Participation (20%): You are asked to come to class on time, attend all classes and to be actively involved in class discussions and all other activities.

Discussion Board (15%): Each week (beginning September 14), please post a substantive response to one (or more) of the readings on our Blackboard discussion board ( Responses should refer to specific passages or concepts in the weekly readings and build off of previous responses. Questions about the readings are also encouraged. Because these electronic discussions will be used as jumping off points for class discussions, responses should be posted by 3 pm on the day before class meets (each Sunday).

Group Interviewing Project (30%):

During the second week of the semester, you will be asked to form a research group with 2-3 classmates with whom you share similar research interests. Throughout the semester, you will work together on an interview-based research project. Some of your work will be completed in class (like formulating a topic and designing an interview protocol); other parts of your project will take place outside of class (such as conducting and transcribing your interviews). The project will include:

-Formulating a topic/focus/research question(s)

-Identifying potential participants

-Designing an interview protocol

-Conducting and transcribing two interviews per group member

-Comparing interview transcriptions and interview techniques

-Coding and analyzing interviews

-Presenting your project to the class

-Reflection on group collaboration

We will give you details of each stage of this project during class time. Each student will receive an individual grade for this project based on the quality of his or her contributions to the group as well as the group’s collaborative work. Various due dates. Final presentation due on December 14.

Conducting, Representing and Reflecting Upon an Interview (20%): As part of your group project, you are asked to conduct two interviews using the interview protocol that your group has developed. For this assignment you are asked to transcribe and reflect upon ONE of the interviews you conducted. This assignment is due on November 2. Your reflection should be approximately 6 pages long and should address ALL of the following questions:

-How did you choose to represent (transcribe) the interview and why?

-How would you describe your relationship/interaction with your interviewee?

-How did your interview protocol work in practice? What questions were most and least successful in drawing out rich responses from your interviewee?

-What responses from your interviewee did you predict and which were surprising?

-How would you judge your follow up and probing questions?

-What 2-3 quotes from your interviewee do you think are most meaningful to your research question and why?

-What have you learned from revisiting your interview? What would you change next time about your technique and what would you draw upon again?

Analysis ofa study in your field using interview data (15%): This assignment asks you to be a critical reader of interview research in your field by using what you have learned in this class to critique a peer-reviewed article that uses interview data as one of its primary data sources. Your critique should address ALL of the following questions:

-What were the topic and research questions that guided the study?

-Why was interview data used?

-How was the interview data collected? (e.g., By whom? With what questions? From what sorts of/how many interviewees?)

-What was the interplay between the interview data and other data sources (if any)?

-How was interview data represented in the article? (e.g., paraphrased? Form of transcriptions? Amount of data shared?)

-How was the interview data analyzed?

-How would you assess the validity and reliability of the interview data and interpretations?

We imagine that your final analysis would be an essay of approximately 5 pages. This assignment is due on November 16.

Miscellaneous Important Stuff:

• All assigned readings (other than the two required texts) can be downloaded from our Courseweb site ( Earlier versions of the Rubin & Rubin text will not contain all the important information in this revised 3rd edition.

• All assignments must be completed in order to pass the course. Assignments are due at the beginning of class unless otherwise noted.

• All of the writing you do for this seminar should be wordprocessed in 12 point font and double-spaced with one inch margins (yielding approximately 250-300 words/page). Proficiency with the conventions of Academic Written English will be expected.

  • Academic Integrity. Students in this course will be expected to comply with the University of Pittsburgh's Policy on Academic Integrity. Any student suspected of violating this obligation for any reason during the semester will be required to participate in the procedural process, initiated at the instructor level, as outlined in the University Guidelines on Academic Integrity. This may include, but is not limited to, the confiscation of the examination of any individual suspected of violating University Policy. Furthermore, no student may bring any unauthorized materials to an exam, including dictionaries and programmable calculators.
  • Disability Services. If you have a disability that requires special testing accommodations or other classroom modifications, you need to notify both the instructor and Disability Resources and Services no later than the second week of the term. You may be asked to provide documentation of your disability to determine the appropriateness of accommodations. To notify Disability Resources and Services, call (412) 648-7890 (Voice or TTD) to schedule an appointment. The Disability Resources and Services office is located in 140 William Pitt Union on the Oakland campus.
  • Statement on Classroom Recording. To ensure the free and open discussion of ideas, students may not record classroom lectures, discussion and/or activities without the advance written permission of the instructor, and any such recording properly approved in advance can be used solely for the student’s own private use.

DIL Departmental Grievance Procedures: The purpose of grievance procedures is to ensure the rights and responsibilities of faculty and students in their relationships with each other. When a student in DIL believes that a faculty member has not met his or her obligations (as an instructor or in another capacity) as described in the Academic Integrity Guidelines, the student should follow this procedure:

  1. The student should talk directly to the faculty member to attempt to resolve the matter.
  2. If the matter cannot be resolved at that level, the student should talk to the relevant program coordinator.
  3. If the matter remains unresolved, the student should talk to the associate chair of DIL (currently Dr. Patricia Crawford).
  4. If needed, the student should next talk to the SOE associate dean of students (currently Dr. Michael Gunzenhauser).
  5. If the matter still remains unresolved, the student should file a written statement of charges with the dean’s designated Academic Integrity Administrative Officer (currently Dr. Michael Gunzenhauser).

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