Individual interviews

What is an example of individual interviews being used in the educational context?

• ‘The Colour of Class’, Nicola Rollock et al (published 2015)

• examines how Black Caribbean MC families use social + cultural resources to support children’s education

• qualitative semi-structured interviews with parents defining themselves as Black Caribbean

• participants recruited through announcements on family + education websites, Black social groups and professional websites

• researchers drew on existing contacts through snowballing

• used NS-SEC classification to measure class; interviewed parents in professional/managerial occupations

• researchers used pseudonyms for parents to protect parental anonymity

• only interviewed 13 fathers

• researchers carried out follow-up interviews with 15 parents 1 year later to revisit original themes

What key ethical issues did the authors of 2015 ‘The Colour of Class’ (Nicola Rollock et al) discuss in the book?

• research team made up of 3 White professors + a Black researcher

• the latter, Nicola Rollock, shared the Caribbean cultural heritage + social class position as parents in the study & could relate to issues raised

• White members were outsiders & questioned their ethnic privileges

• research team offered interviewees choice in terms of ethnicity of researcher

• advantage of having white researcher: interviewees explained experiences FULLY, knowing that these would be outside Whites’ experiences

What are the practical disadvantages with using individual interviews in the educational context?

• unstructured/ semi-structured time-consuming and labour-intensive compared to structured interviews

• lack of time could deter parents/teachers

• funding affects no. of interviews that can be carried out (have to pilot, carry out & transcribe numerous interviews) ~ might only cover computer-assisted structured interviews

• students may be absent on scheduled interview day; certain group more likely to be absent than others (so under-represented)

• schools unlikely to release parents’ contact details

• can be difficult to arrange convenient time for home-based interviews with parents

• teachers must fit interviews around schedules & may be reluctant to allow students to miss lessons

• primary school children differ in terms of language development, ability to understand complex ideas & attention span ~ interviews must be short to avoid tiring kids, & questions appropriate for their development (advantage: can rephrase Q if student doesn’t understand)

What are the ethical advantages with using individual interviews in the educational context?

• when studying oppositional groups (eg. counter-school culture) allow researcher to build rapport ~ members of culture may be more likely to speak to skilled interviewer than fill in questionnaire

• more likely to discuss sensitive/painful experiences

What are the ethical disadvantages with using individual interviews in the educational context?

• sociologists may have to undergo DBS check & obtain parental consent ~ more problematic for unstructured interviews as Qs not standardised so not clear at outset what student is consenting to

• participants may see researchers as authority figures so may provide answers they think the researcher is looking for (social desirability effect impacts validity) ~ some researchers ask older students to choose venue to give them some control; unstructured interviews also give greater control

• participants may ask researcher for advice eg. about local schools or GCSE options ~ both providing & withholding advice represents a moral choice

• confidentiality eg. if student reveals they are bullied

What are the theoretical disadvantages with using individual interviews in the educational context?

• social desirability effect eg. teachers will be guarded about how they react to gender, ethnicity etc.

• interviewer bias (interviewer unintentionally influences participant responses through behaviour, tone, wording of questions, expectations)

• interview characteristics —> less valid results eg. pupils likely to connect more with informally-dressed, young interviewer

What are the theoretical advantages with using individual interviews in the educational context?

• Nicola Rollock et al (2015): one main strength of qualitative research based on interviews = provides rich data, insights + nuances that could not be gained via stats

• interpretivists: gives meanings to educational processes eg. labelling

• less formal atmosphere —> participants opening up

• some may agree to interview because they feel strongly about issue & use as opportunity to air grievances (though may be unrepresentative)

• can build rapport

• structured interviews (type of social survey) generate quantifiable data so can identify patterns/correlations; also can be replicated to check reliability and allow generalisations

What are the disadvantages of using structured interviews (rather than unstructured) in the educational context?

• participants have less opportunity to develop answers eg. to discuss circumstances ~ fresh issues unlikely to develop

• sociologists devise Qs in advance according to what issues they see as important

KEY TERM

semi-structured and unstructured interviews that generate data in the form of verbatim quotations

qualitative interviews

KEY TERM

groups that oppose the status quo or resist authority such as counter-school cultures

oppositional groups