Guidelines for Training and Interviews The Ebola 100 Project Guidelines for Training and Interviews

Study Purpose To conduct a “history of the present” of the West African Ebola Outbreak by interviewing a minimum of 100 individuals (max. 500) We’re debriefing individuals about personal and institutional experiences. Both subjective and objective accounts are good. It is one (but not the sole) priority of this study to make sure that every interviewee is asked about their access and use of anthropological information, and the anthropology network. This is an anthropological study. This is not a program evaluation or an overall evaluation of the response. The questions may not reflect your personal interest. The questions are general. You are free to direct the questions towards areas of your own interest, but the intent of the interview must be consistent with the goals of the study.

Diversity of Participants Not everyone participating in this study is coming from a similar background Some participants: Were not directly involved in the response Were deployed by large organizations Are national staff Were involved voluntarily Were informally supporting individuals in the region Were engaged in advocacy Are based in biomedicine/clinical trials Are social scientists/anthropologists Were working for government or multilaterals

Who are the interviewees? You are being asked to be both a recruiter and an interviewer for this study. Please pursue snowball sampling approaches. Specifically, ask for the names and possibly the email addresses of people mentioned during the interview. We are seeking people who were or are presently involved in the West African humanitarian response in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, or are involved in the humanitarian response in regional or institutional centers Interviewees will include staff of multilateral organizations like UNICEF, WHO, and the UN Mission for Emergency Ebola Response (UNMEER), bilateral funding agencies and donor partners, governmental representatives of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea (national, district and local), the United States, the UK, and France, International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO), local NGOs and Community-based Organizations (CBOs) and traditional leaders

Structure of Interviews Approximately I hour. Interviews will all be recorded via audio, unless If not possible. Must be preceded and concluded with IRB review and submission of document At the beginning participant should be briefed about expectations for the interview At the end of every interview, participants should be asked if they have any questions. Ensure that verbal or (e-signed) consent is obtained Please write interview notes as well. Interview notes from interviews on the pre-formatted word document in the shared dropbox Ebola 100> Data> Qualitative folder, with participants’ names in saved title. We will aspire to obtain funding for transcription…

Communicating with Interviewee Use standard format for reaching out to new participants. Feel free to modify as appropriate. Responsibility is with interviewer to set up appointment with interviewee. Please honor time appointments and do not reschedule. Send IRB protocol, interview frame, and obtain phone number or skype address prior to interview, during email communication

IRB Protocol Study has a an IRB protocol that is basically flexible. We send the protocol to the respondent when setting up the interview and ask them to review it. We ask for verbal consent at debut of interview, and request them to differentiate designation of confidentiality at the end of the interview. We ask them to sign electronically. All completed interview forms must be saved with interviewee names in dropbox folder.

Interview Guidelines We are consciously restricting this to a limited number of questions. The questions are general, abstract, and non-specific. We encourage prompts Directing questions towards the specific experiences of the individual is recommended. We are depending on your competency and expertise and wisdom to make these interviews be focused and effective for the participants. It must be conducted in a conversational style. Objective and subjective experiences are welcome. Everyone is invited to direct the questions towards areas of their own concern, or towards issues that are appropriate for their own audience. The benefits from adopting a more open model with a restricted set of questions will be found in the scale of responses obtained.