I chose interviews as a method to collect data on the lived experiences of students and staff members. I referred to Views on Interviews: A Skeptical Review by Mats Alvesson to plan the interviews, guided by tutor feedback and peer discussions.
Structure
The interviews were semi-structured. I prepared a set of questions related to the research project. Rather than asking directly about decolonisation, I focused on general school life as an international students. The interviews were designed as casual conversations rather than as a means of obtaining specific answers on the topic.
Size
The interviews were conducted individually in a one-to-one format. Participants included three current students and one staff member from the Performance department.
Participants
Carys, Rachel, and other peers pointed out that selecting specific students could reinforce existing power dynamics. To address this, I sent a call-out email to students from the course where I work, allowing participants to self-select. Please refer to the call out document for the detailed types of participants.
Medium
The interviews were conducted face-to-face. I wanted to prioritise a casual and conversational format to enable deeper engagement. I also valued small talk, nuances, and facial expressions within a “social” framing (Irvine et al., 2012). As the interviews involved low risk in terms of privacy and sensitive content, I decided that face-to-face interviews were appropriate.
Category & Topic Sensitivity
The sensitivity of the content was low. However, as the participants were students, I provided appropriate support through an information sheet and consent form.
Language
The interviews were conducted in English. As I am not a native English speaker, the language used by both the participants and myself was not always perfect. I consider this linguistic imperfection to be part of the participants’ lived experience. When responses were unclear, I asked participants to clarify what they meant.
Neo-positivism
As ARP is a small-scale research project, I treat these interviews as partial representations of facts and lived experiences of current students and staff members. This approach provides an overview of existing experiences rather than definitive conclusions.
Based on the research theme, I produced the following materials:
Interview Questionnaires Yui Yamamoto.docx
Limitations
As this is a small-scale project, a sample of three students and one staff member may not be sufficient to generate compelling data. In addition, the participants’ nationalities were primarily East Asian, reflecting the majority of international students on the course. This may result in a focus on specific cultural perspectives, whereas a more diverse ethnic sample might have produced different responses. Furthermore, the participating students were highly motivated and proactive, and confident in expressing their opinions. Students who are less proactive may hold different views that are not represented in this study.
Research Process
My research is based on Kemmis and McTaggart’s action research spiral. I needed to go through a number of revisions of questions.
Alvesson, M. (2011) ‘Views on interviews: A skeptical review’, in Interpreting Interviews. London: SAGE Publications, pp. 3–40.
Irvine, A., Drew, P. and Sainsbury, R. (2013) ‘“Am I not answering your questions properly?” Clarification, adequacy and responsiveness in semi-structured telephone and face-to-face interviews’, Qualitative Research, 13(1), pp. 87–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794112455046