The interview schedule emerged through a multi-layered, iterative process (Appendix C). The initial interviews operated as pilot interviews in trialling the first schedule. The first interview was with a very seasoned, highly regarded academic and researcher, and the advice that was given steered the course for the following interviews. Improvements were made to an opening question ‘How has working at the university impacted on your personal life over the last decade?’ This question was considered to be too broad or too intimidating to be an opening question and was later modified to ‘What are your reflections about the changes in universities in your time as an academic?’ The personal impact of the changes was investigated as an aside question after the interviewer related a particular account of work related change.
Other interview questions that were modified as a result of comments made by early interviewees concerned the topic of work life balance. The original question asked was ‘How do you balance your personal life with university work and how well does this work for you?’ This question tended to elicit a gender related response rather than a detailed individual response. Men, depending on age, commented that their personal life was fine and in the capable hands of their wives, and women responded by expressing concerns about their presumed neglect of the family. More in-depth, individual questions needed to be asked to probe for a more detailed individual response. Example questions were ‘Has your response to your children changed over time?’ or ‘Has your contribution to family life changed over time?’
The closing question ‘Are you optimistic about the future of universities?’ elicited quite an emotional response from many participants. In order to avoid the ‘grumpy old men’ syndrome and avoid responses that harkened back to the ‘good old days’, participants were asked to direct their responses to giving advice to new academics. A typical question was, ‘Would you advise a young person to pursue a career in academia?’.
The interview schedule also developed in relation to the data. In line with grounded theory approaches, data analysis was conducted alongside data collection, and so that key themes emerging from initial interviews were incorporated and explored in subsequent interviews, until no new themes emerged. Key themes that emerged from initial interviews dealt with teaching and students, research and administration, technology and collegiality and how these impacted on work life balance.
How academics respond, adapt and cope with the transformational changes in the
The first question asked of interviewees was ‘How long have you been an academic?’ This question was important to establish the experiential credentials of the academic. The aim of the project was to investigate the work life changes of academics over a period of three decades and so it was important to establish that most of those academics fell into this category. In the final analysis, out of the 33 academics interviewed, more than half (16) had careers that lasted over 20 years, and 15 academics had over ten years’ experience. The other three academics were deliberately chosen because they were new to academia and so they could contrast their perceptions of what they thought academia was like with their real life experiences.
The research part of the interview began with an opening statement that outlined the project’s aims followed by an open question to the participant for comment. The opening question to participants, ‘What were the most significant changes that have impacted on your academic career?’ was designed to elicit from the participant their personal impressions of significant changes that have occurred during their career as an academic. This is different from deliberately introducing topics and then asking participants to comment. The interview process relied heavily on the participant introducing topic leads that were then fleshed out with further questioning.
The interviewer had a list of topics that were important issues to be covered for the progress of the project’s research but the topics were not introduced by the interviewer in the first instance. Topics were introduced by the participants and these were checked off the interviewer’s list. If there were some topics on the list that were not first introduced by the participants, then the interviewer would seek further comment from the participant. The list of topics that needed to be covered for the research project are presented in the following table:
Research Technology
Collegiality Students and teaching
Administration Work life balance
Service to the university The future
Table 4.3 List of research topics
How academics respond, adapt and cope with the transformational changes in the
The topic of work life balance, a main research theme of the project, was investigated through direct and indirect questioning. Direct questions, such as ‘Did workplace changes affect your personal life?’ were asked of participants, and where glib responses were received similar to, ‘Oh everything was fine at home, my wife took care of everything’, more indirect questions were asked to delve deeper into the issue. Sample indirect questions such as ‘Has your relationship with your children (wife/partner) changed over time? Do you attribute this change to work?’ were often asked of male participants, who didn’t immediately consider the impact that work may have had on their work life balance. Only with further questioning did many male participants reveal a more detailed account of the impact of work on their personal lives. Many of the female participants were more forthcoming how work impacted on their personal lives. Most of the female participants were mothers and very little prompting was needed to elicit detailed responses.
The interview ended with an investigation of the participants’ views of the future of universities and the role of academics would play. Questions were framed to elicit a reasoned response from an experienced academic who was advising a young academic or someone considering pursuing an academic career.
Interview transcripts
Transcription was performed by a paid, qualified transcriber, experienced with maintaining research confidentiality. All identifying information was removed from the transcripts which were given numerical codes. Transcripts were completed on an ongoing basis soon after the interview and were checked by the researcher for accuracy.
The audio recording was transcribed verbatim and included non-verbal elements such as ums and ahs, laughing, coughing and sighs, as well as repetitions and false starts.
Hard copy transcripts and signed consent forms were stored in a locked filing cabinet in the project supervisor’s office. Electronic files of interview recordings, transcripts and interviewee lists and codes were filed electronically on a password-protected drive accessible only to the project’s supervisor.