Gathering data Interviews

The characteristics of the interview method such as flexibility, depth of information, quick response, and validity, help researchers explore social and cultural phenomena, and gain a deep understanding of the people’s perspective on the research issue. The method assists researchers to explore and explain the beliefs, feelings and behaviours of people on the research issues (J. Mason, 2002). I employed interviews in my study because of the following reasons:

 Interviewing participants helped me discover and understand the contextual factors affecting the development of DLE in Vietnam from the perspective of the stakeholders.

 I received immediate responses to questions. Therefore, the method assisted me to probe more deeply by adding more questions as needed. These questions were ones I could not anticipate before the interviews.

 The interview method required simple equipment and was mostly based on communication skills which I already had.

 It produced a high response rate.

Before conducting the interviews, I explored the working environment of interviewees. I visited their site to introduce myself and speak informally with people I already knew. This step helped me to understand the structure and “culture” of the organisation and ensure that I behaved appropriately. In addition, recording and transcribing were the two methods which I used in the interviews; thus, equipment such as the digital recorder, notebook, laptop and pen had to be available and working well.

Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were used for collecting data. In- depth one-to-one interviews and focus group interviews were employed in this study. The interview methods and participants and the organisation types are listed in Table 4.

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Table 4: Participants and interview methods

Interview methods Participants Organisations

Focus group interviews LIM practitioners Libraries and information centres

Individual interviews LIM managers

Focus group interviews LIM lecturers LIM educational institutions Individual interviews LIM deans

Focus group interviews LIM students

Individual interviews Officials Relevant government departments

Professional association

The focus group sessions ranged from 70 minutes to two hours long, with an average time of 90 minutes. The individual interviews averaged 60 minutes, and ranged in length from 40 to 75 minutes (Section 4.4 gives more details of the research sample).

Semi-structured interviews

In the semi-structured interviews, I used an open framework that allowed for focused, conversational, two-way communication. In this sense, I could give information to, and receive information from the interviewees. Before conducting the interviews I created an interview protocol. The protocol included a list of main questions on relevant topics to incorporate into the interview. Other questions could be asked but by following this process I did not lose sight of the main questions. This type of interview was chosen because it helped me control the issues being addressed. The flexibility of the method allowed me to establish new main and sub questions when I found a new idea or issue during the interview.

Kvale (1996) suggested nine types of question asked in qualitative interviews: introducing questions, follow-up questions, probing questions, specifying questions, direct questions, indirect questions, structuring questions, silence and interpreting questions. These types of questions were employed in each actual interview. For formulating the questions, I used the process described by Bryman (2008). The process consists of nine steps: general research area, specific research, interview topics, formulate

71 interview questions, review/revise interview questions, pilot guide, identify novel issues, revise interview questions and finalise guide.

When determining the interview protocol (i.e., the interview guide), I focussed on a specific research topic (the development of DLE), then broke it down into specific interview topics (initial factors/issues). I then developed the interview questions based on these initial factors. After several days, I reviewed the interview questions, and revised them to make them clearer, then I conducted a pilot interview. Based on the issues arising from the pilot interview, I revised the interview questions again.

Open-ended questions

These questions were designed to encourage full and meaningful answers in semi- structured interviews. The questions allowed interviewees to freely express their own answers without any leading, prompting or interrupting from me. These questions gave interviewees an opportunity to answer as much as they could, and I could develop new questions based on their answers.

Individual interviews

The individual interview method (one-to-one interviews) was employed to examine the perceptions and attitudes of LIM managers, deans of LIM schools, officials from relevant government departments, and chairpersons from LIM associations on the development of DLE. These individuals were highly important to the development of DLE in Vietnam and there it was important to interview them one by one so that they could speak in confidence. This method also enabled me to expand on questions and probe deeper when an interviewee said something of potential significance. As noted above, I developed an interview protocol (see Appendix 1) to guide me in conducting the interview.

Focus group interviews

The focus group method is a type of group interview in which interviewees and a moderator/researcher discuss a particular tightly defined topic. According to Powell and Single (1996), “a focus group is a group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, the topic that is the subject of the research” (p.499). Wildemuth and Jackson (2009) indicate three strengths

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of focus groups: (1) interviewees have opportunities to compare their ideas with other interviewees; (2) interviewees’ social nature imitates the frame in which people usually build their opinions and attitudes; and (3), new ideas will be generated in focus groups.

In my research, separate focus group interviews were conducted with LIM practitioners, LIM lecturers and LIM students. From the focus groups with LIM practitioners, I aimed to understand their need to acquire knowledge and skills for their current positions, and to identify their needs relating to DLE. The focus groups with LIM lecturers had several aims: to discover the lecturers' perceptions and attitudes about DLE; to determine the recent changes in education within the LIM profession; to determine whether the lecturers are open to learning and teaching about DLE; and to identify their needs for career development. The focus groups with LIM students were aimed at exploring their perceptions of current LIM educational programmes and their expectations for changes to those programmes. In the focus group sessions, it was hoped that the various sets of interviewees would be able to share their ideas and also make additional comments when they reflected on what others in the group said – leading to new perspectives and richer data.