"What people do in narratives is never by chance, nor is it strictly determined by cause and effect; it is motivated by beliefs, desires, theories, values or other 'intentional states.'" -Jerome Bruner, 136.

"The challenge for interviewers is how to diminish the 'power' of the expected and listen for the 'real' story. -Freed

*Required Readings and Activities

Module Two: Data Collection, Analysis and Interpretation

2.3 Conducts and transcribes data from structured interviews, active interviews, and/or focus group interviews, understands purposive sampling processes

A. Readings: Merriam, Chap 4;

*Hollway, Wendy and Tony Jefferson. 1997. Eliciting Narrative Through the In-Depth Interview. Qualitative Inquiry. Vol 3. No. 1, pp 53 - 70.

Morse, Janice. 1998. What's wrong with random selection? Qualitative Health Research. Vol 8, NO 6, pp 733-736.

Lapadat, Judith. 1999. Transcription in research and practice: from standardization of technique to interpretive positionings. Qualitative Inquiry. Vol 5, No 1, pp 64-87.

B. Web and Other Links:

Freed's Choice References
Sampling and selection, kinds of samples - Ratcliff
Nondirective Interviewing - some questions to ask yourself - Boeree
Interview as Dialog (be sure to scroll down)- Boeree
Focus Groups (be sure to scroll down)- Boeree

C. Discussion Starters/Reflective Journal Topics: (Choose one topic and start or continue a discussion thread.)

1. When and why would you want to use structured interviews, non-structured interviews, focus groups?

2. What might be some characteristics of your purposive sample if you were studying the experiences of professional business persons returning to college.

D. Experiences/Activities:

***1. Develop questions and conduct at least 1 hour long interviews - could be with more than one person. Transcribe and code for "meaning".

2. Conduct a focuws group interview with a partner. Take turns facilitating the group interview and taking notes. Transcribe and code for "meaning".

E. Portfolio Documentation:

1. Transcribed interview data with codes and initial interpretations. A reflexive journal sharing your thoughts as categories emerge. Share what you learned about yourself and the process from conducting the interviews.