Establishing Access To, Making Contact With, and Selecting

Participants

9310010A Nina

9310016A Alexia

9310018A Carl

9310032A Peggy

9310050A Doris

Instructor: Mavis Shang

Date: Apr.9.2008

The Perils Of Easy Access

The easier the access, the more difficult the interview

Interviewing People Whom You Supervise

May not talk openly

Interviewing Your StudentsHardly be open to his or her teacher

Interviewing AcquaintancesMay limit the potential of interview

Interviewing FriendsAssume you know your friend

Taking Oneself Just Seriously Enough

Not take themselves seriously as researchers

An uncritical attitudeDoing research is a work that elites do

• Research has long been seen as a male preserve.

Access Through Formal Gatekeepers

Range from legitimate (to be respected) or self-declared (to be avoided)

E.g. parents, teachers, principals,

superintendents → legitimate

Must gain access through the person who has responsibility for the operation

Research an experience that takes place in many sites

→ Do not need to seek access through an authorityE.g. High school teachers who teach in many schools → go directly to them

The more adult the potential participants, the more likely that access can be direct.

Informal Gatekeepers

Persons who are widely respected and do not have authorities but hold moral suasion

→ not to use them formally for seeking access, but to gain their participation as a sign of respect

→ help researchers gain access to others

Avoid Self-appointed gatekeepersMust be informedTry to control everything

Access and Hierarchy

Difference between research and policy studies

→ The latter are often sponsored by an

agency

Affects the equity of the relationship between interviewer and participant

Interviewer seems higher

Establish access to participants through peers rather than through people “above” or “below” them

Making Contact

Do it yourself.Third parties seldom do justice

Have not internalized

Do not have investment

Seldom response to questions that arise naturally

• A contact visit

→ Select participants

→ build a foundation for interview

relationship

Make a contact visit in person

Telephoning is often the first step to contact.

The major purpose of the telephone contact:

To set up a time that the interviewer can meet

participants in person to discuss the study.

Time For arranging a separate Money contact visit Effort

1. The most important purpose of contact

visit is:

To have a basically mutual relationship

with the participant.

Group contact visit

Advantage: save time because the interviewer

can explain it to many people at

once.

Disadvantage: one participant may affect the

attitude of the others

participating

Characteristics that can enhance a contact

visit:Tone: Seriousness but friendliness

Approach: Purposefulness but flexibility

Presentation: Openness but conciseness

2. A second important purpose of the contact visit: To decide whether the participants is interested.

Participants should understand:The nature of the studyHow he or she fits into itThe purpose of the three interview sequen

ce

Building The Participant Pool

Another purpose of the contact visit:

The appropriateness of a participant

The major standard for appropriates is

whether the study is central to the

participant’s experience.

Some Logistical Considerations

Develop a data base of their participants

A simple participant information form:

Facilitate communication

Record basic data about

Keep in touch with the participants

Avoid disturbing the participants

The contact visits can also be used to

determine

The best times – let participants choose the

hour

The best dates

The best places - convenient, private,…, etc.

After the contact visit, interviewer should write

follow-up letters to the participant.

Disagree – thank them for meeting

Agree – confirm the schedule of interviewing

Sometimes the no-show is: Poor communicationLack of enthusiasm

Before the interviewing begins,

Pay attention to the details of access and

contact.

Selecting ParticipantsIn-depth interview

Purpose: to understand the participants’

experiences, not to predict or control that

experience

Researcher’s task

→ to describe the experiences

→ readers can connect to the experiences

Define the issue

→ to see whether the participants’

experiences can be accepted to most

people

In-depth interviewer’s job

→ to ask some deeper questions that

make participants to say more about

their experiences during the interview

Two possibilities for making connection

(1) Find connections among the experiences

from the participants

(2) Open up for readers the possibility to

connect their stories

Purposeful sampling →

a non-random sampling technique based on

member characteristics relevant to the

research problem.

Maximum variation sampling

→ select in order to get maximum

differences of perceptions about the topic

among rich information

→ allow the widest possibility for readers to

connect what they are reading

Another useful way

→ select some participants who are

outside that range

→ for interviewers to check themselves in

order to prevent drawing easy conclusions

Snares to Avoid in The Selection Process

•Participant is reluctance to get involved

•Strike a balance between easily accepting and

ardently persuade

•Participants are too eager to be interviewed

•In-depth interviewing elicit person to be

interesting no matter he is famous or not.

How Many Participants Are Enough?Snowball sampling: ask participants to identify people or sites to study (e.g. Homeless people)

Two criteria for enough:- Sufficiency => cannot interview only person in any particular category- Saturation information => begins to hear the same information

Enough => not learning anything new