prepared by Jane M. Gangi, Ph.D. March 10, 2011

Rubin and Rubin (2005): Surveys situate participants as “passive” In contrast, qualitative interviews situate participants as “partners,” who can guide the interview alongside the interviewer (as cited in Madison, 2005, p. 25).

Hardly anyone doesn’t want to be listened to Let the person teach you; stay away from the role of “expert” Silence can be part of an interview (Riemann, 2003)  Show interest  See other’s point of view  Give enough of a purpose without leading: How do you see schools? vs. What's good about schools?  Keep away from yes and no questions  Keep questions open-ended: Tell me a little more about...  How do you feel about…? Why do you think that happened? How do you think other people saw…? What would a day be like in the life…?

What Ferguson (2000) told the children in Bad Boys: Public Schools and the Making of Black Masculinity: “I explained to the boys that I was writing a book about kids and school and that I wanted to tell the story from their perspective; that I needed their help, what they knew, in order to write something good….Most of the boys seemed genuinely pleased to discover that I wanted to talk about things that interested them….After I interviewed each kid, he had a turn to be the interviewer and ask me whatever questions he wanted. Several took me up on the offer. I was asked about my work, my family, and what I spent my money on. Just the kind of questions I might get from social science researchers” (pp ).

Ferguson (2000): “How would you describe yourself. What words would you use?” (p. 74) [If time]: □ Performance ethnography of 5 th and 6 th grade boys’ answers (pp ).

“PARENTS’ IMPRESSIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL”: “I don’t like that principal, because he won’t talk to you. And if he does, he just gives you a bunch of double-talk.” “I like the way he explains things to you.” “I don’t like the way he runs that school: sex education; no discipline; kids are not taught what they are supposed to be taught.” “I think that the principal is overly concerned with parents.” “I think that he is a good Christian” (p. 280)

“What Kind of Principal is Mr. Bell?” “To me he is the cutest and nicest principal I’ve ever met. To others he may be an ordinarily man.” “Mr. Bell is the kind of a principal who helps you figure it out.” “Mr. Bell is a very nice principal he never gets Mad at you and he helps you about all Kinds of things.” “A Dam stopit one.” “I like Mr. Bell real well for a principal but I sure wouldn’t want him for a relative” (p. 279)

“Pleasant Memories Are…” “When Mr. Bell understood us when we got in trouble.” “Mr. Bell came and had dinner with the sixth-grade Camp Fire Girls.” “One day he was going to xeplle me. Then didn’t.” “When I leave this school I won’t have any pleasant memories” (p. 279).

“One Time I Won’t Forget” “One time I had a note from my mom that said I didn’t have to take ‘hot lunch’ if I didn’t want it. I didn’t want it so I didn’t buy it. Bell called me to the office about 10 times over that one stupid lunch.” “I won’t fore get the time when my friend and I were blamed fore bilding a fire in the bath room.” “I will remember two things about him. He always is blinking like he has something in his eyes. And then on the intercom he always starts out with music. I know that he plans what he is going to say but it doesn’t always come out that way” (p. 27)

Ferguson, A. A. (2000). Bad boys: Public schools and the making of black masculinity. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Riemann, G. (2003). A joint project against the backdrop of a research tradition: An introduction to “doing biographical research.” Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 4(3). Retrieved from: research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/666/1441http:// research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/666/1441 Wolcott, Harry. (1984). The man in the principal's office: An ethnography. Prospect, Ill.: Waveland Press. (Original work published in 1973).

Anderson, K., & Jack, D. C. (1991). Learning to listen: Interview techniques and analysis. In S. B. Gluck & D. Patai (Eds.), Women’s words: The feminist practice of oral history (pp ). New York, NY: Routledge. Collins, P. (1998). Negotiating selves: Reflections on “unstructured” interviewing. Sociological Research Online, 3(3). Retrieved from Glesne, C. (2011). Chapter 4, Making words fly: Developing understanding through interviewing. Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (4 th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Hatch, J. A. (1990). Young children as informants in classroom studies. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 5, Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Kvale, S. (1983). The qualitative research interview: A phenomenological and a hermeneutical mode of understanding. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 14,