Who, Where, and How of Interviewing Peers

Abstract

Research within a phenomenological framework is aimed at understanding the lived experience of participants to capture the essences of their combined stories to provide new insights and truths surrounding a particular phenomenon. Essential to this process is the acquiring of data representative of the experience being researched. The art of unstructured interviews is to acknowledge and value participants’ stories as each participant traverses deeply personal experiences with the interviewer. This article examines the impact of factors that influence the successful interviewing of peers and explores how ignoring the foundational elements of “who, where, and how” may result in lean or even skewed data. Aimed at accessing the essence of a phenomenon through conversational interviews, the authors offer an adaptable framework that considers the additional elements of “space, language, role, and trust” which is aligned with the intent of phenomenological studies.

Elicitation as a Multilayered Process

“…This mix may be set by external researchers in advance or it may be decided by participants themselves in the planning for the interview. Second, opportunities to discuss reflexivity (i.e., each participant's positioning and interests in the research), as some others have noted (Quinney et al, 2016), might also be critical to assisting participants in coming to consensus about how they will engage with the research and perhaps would facilitate discussions of ideal interviewing styles as well.…”

“…For this reason, it made sense for our research with home care workers, which seeks to improve workers' health and job quality, to be as participatory as was feasible. In the following paragraphs, we describe the perceived advantages and critiques of participatory peer interview projects, drawing on a wide literature exploring the experiences of homeless adults (Devotta et al, 2016), illicit drug users (Elliott, Watson, & Harries, 2002), young fathers (Braye & McDonnell, 2013), sex workers (Benoit, Jansson, Millar, & Phillips, 2005), nurses caring for an ill family member (Quinney, Dwyer, & Chapman, 2016), people with learning disabilities (Nind, 2017), and medical students (Byrne, Brugha, Clarke, Lavelle, & McGarvey, 2015).…”

How Patients with IBS Use Low FODMAP Dietary Information Provided by General Practitioners and Gastroenterologists: A Qualitative Study

“…With the participant’s permission all the interviews were audio-recorded, and direct verbatim transcripts were produced. Interviews were conducted in a quiet room booked specifically for the purpose of a private, relaxed and uncluttered space likely to encourage rapport and dialogue [50].…”

Tensions in the personal world of the nurse family carer: A phenomenological approach

“…To facilitate the development of rapport and trust between the nurse‐researcher and the participating nurses, the researcher briefly disclosed their own personal experience as a NFC (Corbin Dwyer & Buckle, ). Sharing experiences and connecting at a personal and professional level facilitated deeper exploration of the topic of interest (Quinney, Dwyer, & Chapman, ). The interview was initiated by a broad open question such as ‘Tell me about your experience of being both a nurse and a carer for your family member during those times when they were acutely ill’.…”