Chapter 4 Research Methods
4.3 Data Collection - Interviews
4.3 Data Collection - Interviews
An interpretative interview based approach was the framework for the collection and analysis of data. The choice of data collection method primarily depends on the research aims and objectives and the type of data the researcher wants to collect. The aim for the current study was to map empirical insights into the social construction and meaning of gender variant identities through an interpretative study of the narrative histories and material practices of transgender identified individuals currently living in Scotland. The data gathering strategy and interviewing technique that was most appropriate to meet this was semi-structured in-depth interviews, during which narrative life histories were recorded and later transcribed fully by the researcher. The
Constructing identities, reclaiming subjectivities, reconstructing selves: an interpretative study of transgender practices Scotland
90 source of empirical data collection was face-to-face interviews with 28 individual participants who identify as transgender, with 10 participants interviewed twice.
Interviews took place mainly in the researcher’s office on the University of Glasgow main campus.
Pertinent to the current study is the model of semi-structured interviews that Weeks et al (2001) suggest provides: ‘a way of exploring shifting nuances of identity by providing brief life-histories of the subjects, and allow for the development of narratives’; and their use of reflexive research techniques in order to capture the
‘contingent’, ‘emergent’ and ‘processual’ complexities of meaning in identities and relationships (Weeks et al, 2001:201). The current study attempted to make use of the following strategies used by Weeks’ research team: when conducting interviews the emphasis was on a ‘flexible and reflexive approach’ which would enable the ‘unfolding of interviewees’ viewpoints and narratives of experiences’; at the start of the interviews the focus was on general issues relating to the individual’s biography, and the remainder of the interview was then organised around particular themes for which the interviewer had developed a ‘checklist’ (Weeks et al., 2001:203).
To meet the semi-structured purpose of the current research, an interview schedule was created as a broad framework of open-ended questions to act as a guide and to support the later identification of themes during the coding of data. For the sake of ethical and methodological transparency, questions were sent to interviewees beforehand, and the typed transcription was sent for approval after. To meet the in-depth purpose, the interviewing technique was based on two interrelated methods. Firstly a narrative approach where participants were encouraged to relate as much of their life histories as they could recall within the framework of specific times and situations in their lives, and pertaining to the subjects addressed by the questionnaire schedule. Secondly a phenomenological approach where the researcher’s task was to bracket personal judgement in order to hear participants’ narratives and perceptions, and ask further questions to clarify meaning in an attempt at understanding participants subjective perceived truths about themselves. This is a different approach to that informed by symbolic interactionism concerned with analysing how individuals manipulate the
Constructing identities, reclaiming subjectivities, reconstructing selves: an interpretative study of transgender practices Scotland
91 outward presentation of self – an approach introduced later for the data analysis but not at the interview stage as it would have interfered with the listening process.
Interviews were structured enough to keep the discussion focussed on the topic and permit comparisons between interviews, but had enough flexibility to allow for reflexive modification according to the situation. A specific set of standard questions was asked of each participant concentrating on the diverse, complex and fluid meanings of transgender identities and how they are constructed intersubjectively through regular reiterated material practices. Open-ended narratives were encouraged because life stories are infinitely more complex than such closed questions can reveal. When participants were asked for basic demographic indicators such as age, geographic location etcetera it was in order to hear their narrative history around these. The biographical and demographic information gathered was regulated into categories as much as possible for the purpose of comparison. Data was very much dependent upon the self-definitions of the research participants. Where possible demographic information has been distilled into tables which appear in the Appendix.
In the interviews participants were encouraged to explore the issues raised by the questions and talk about whatever they considered to be significant. This was intended to promote an expanded engagement with certain themes, fluidity of narrative process and the deeper revelation of research participants’ views, values, understandings and interpretations of the issues in question; and potentially participant empowerment in the process. The interview agenda was controlled in the selection of topics to be discussed, by the semi-structured question schedule, within which a free flow of narrative was encouraged, but the participant was regularly encouraged to return to answering the question. The interview agenda was also open to development depending on individual responses. The only time limit on the interviews was that set by the participants, their responses to the questions, and the requirement to complete the interview schedule. The interviews ranged in length from 40 mins to three hours (average length being 90 mins) and reflected narratives of perspectives, material practices, experiences, histories.
Interviewer intervention to direct the process only occurred when extrapolation of specific issues was sought to enable the development of complex themes and to obtain detailed qualitative data.
Constructing identities, reclaiming subjectivities, reconstructing selves: an interpretative study of transgender practices Scotland
92 The second interviews, conducted with ten of the research participants, were mainly self-selected by participants in terms of their availability and geographic accessibility.
Second interviews were valuable not only in elaborating on previous information, but also revealing further information that may have been hidden in the first, as discussed throughout the data analysis chapters. Questions that arose during the transcription could be clarified and explored, and certain researcher assumptions debunked, or altered in the light of new information. This process supported deepening of the data.
Ideally all interviews should have been conducted contemporaneously so that the same wider social forces: legislation, economy, ideological interpellations, were operating on participants. However time constraints on a sole part-time researcher working a full-time day job rendered this impossible. Thus the interview period lasted for two years from July 2012-July 2014, whilst the transcription, analysis and writing up of findings took a further eighteen months.
The face-to-face interview is habitually presented in contemporary media and culture as enabling a special insight into subjective meaning and lived experience. Interviewing technique is seemingly common sense knowledge accessible to anyone, however there may be more of a skill to the process than is immediately apparent. The constructionist view is that interviews are inherently interactional events in which talk is locally and collaboratively produced and meaning is created through talk and interaction. The interview questions in the current study were guided by the EHRC study Monitoring Equality: Developing a Gender Identity Question (Balarajan et al, 2012). Under the category of gender identity questions were asked in the following order: How was your sex defined at birth? How would you describe your gender identity? Have you or do you intend to go through any process to change from your birth defined sex to the gender with which you identify? Used in combination these questions allowed for personal gender identification plus transgender history to be captured; and used deliberately in a more open ended fashion without the recommended EHRC tick boxes, so as to enable participant self-identification as well as an insight into the thinking of the research participants uninfluenced by researcher bias. All questions contained the provisory that research participants did not need to answer if they felt it inappropriate, but all answered the questions.
Constructing identities, reclaiming subjectivities, reconstructing selves: an interpretative study of transgender practices Scotland
93 Transcription of interview recordings was personally done verbatim by the researcher as soon as possible after the interview while observations were still fresh and to avoid meaning being lost in translation. Transcription is time consuming and took approximately 6 hours for every hour of recorded interview. Some participants chose to speak more than others and therefore their transcripts are much longer, and some participants were more forthcoming in certain sections than in others. For example, the transcribed response of some participants to the demographic question asking about sexual orientation lasted for many pages, whereas others responded with a one word answer.
Transcription is not an automatic process, it is an act of translation involving selectivity and dilemmas of linguistic convention, in which certain decisions of inclusion and exclusion are made, usually with implications of power and control. The majority of the interviewees in the current study had distinctive Scots accents. Where the decision was made not to attempt to transcribe these literally it was for the following reasons: lack of linguistic skill to do so effectively; fear that it would seem patronizing for a Standard English speaker to be emulating Scots vernacular; the possibility that non Scots readers would struggle to understand. The ums and ahs and pauses and some repeated verbal expressions for example ‘you know’ and ‘I mean’ were also edited out to facilitate ease of reading, but otherwise the quotes are all verbatim.