SRA Training

In-depth interviewing
Summary:	In-depth interviews can provide marvellously rich accounts of people’s social worlds by exploring individual circumstances, stories, motivations and decision-making. In-depth interviewing skills also form the basis of the skills required for other qualitative techniques. This course is designed to give participants some first-hand experience of the art of asking open-ended, non-directive questions – only a fraction of which have been scripted in advance – and of probing for further depth and detail.
Objectives:	By the end of the workshop, delegates will: understand the nature and purpose of different types of qualitative interview be able to work from an interview guide have practised asking open-ended questions, many of which have to be crafted on the spot appreciate the difference between probing and prompting understand the importance of sufficient probing in order to generate rich and nuanced data have experienced both sides of the interview relationship, by acting as interviewer and interviewee
Topics:	Content includes: theories of interviewing when to use this method different kinds of interview and degrees of structure questioning skills and techniques (and how to criticise and improve on these) practical issues involved in setting up interviews and interviewing different kinds of participant recording and transcription
Who will benefit?	Researchers who are new to qualitative interviewing or who want to improve their interviewing skills
Learning outcomes:	Participants will appreciate the skills involved in conducting a valuable in-depth interview, and know how to criticise their work in future, ensuring that: rapport is established with the interviewee topics are explored in an open-ended and sufficiently detailed manner
Course tutor:	Liz Spencer is a Sociologist and an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences who has specialised in qualitative methods since 1973. She has held research posts at a number of British universities, including the London School of Economics, The London Graduate School of Business Studies, and the University of Essex, and was a Research Director at the National Centre for Social Research. She teaches a range of courses for the Social Research Association and for the Universities of Hong Kong and Essex, and has been a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Higher Studies in Vienna. Currently Liz is a Research Associate of the Institute for Social and Economic Research as well as an independent research consultant. Her recent methodological publications include chapters in Qualitative Research Practice and a report for the Cabinet Office on judging the quality of qualitative research and evaluation. Together with Jane Ritchie, she pioneered ‘Framework’, a matrix-based approach to data management and display
Date & Location:	12th May 2010, 09:00-09.30 - 17:00 Location: Cardiff
Programme	Download Programme to follow and booking form (doc)