Where the aim is to collect in-depth data then there is a range of techniques available that are broadly modelled on normal conversation but which, like other forms of discussion, have their own implicit or explicit interactional rules. Respondents are involved in answering questions or engaging in a discus-sion around predetermined topics. This discusdiscus-sion may be conducted through individual interviews, oral testimony or group discussions.
Individual in-depth interviews
In-depth interviews involve one person, the interviewer, talking to another person, the respondent. The form of the discussion may be more or less struc-tured but in both cases the aim is to provide an opportunity for the respondent to talk in depth about the topic. A structured interview is based on a standard, prepared questionnaire which the interviewer works through with the respon-dent. The advantage of this method is that it is easy to compare answers from different people because you have asked them all the same questions. The disadvantage is that it may result in a rather stilted conversation and hence produce less useful information than might otherwise be the case.
A semi-structured interview could be based around a checklist of questions or issues that you want to cover in the course of the discussion without the precise wording of those issues being formulated in advance. An advantage of this method is that it generally leads to a more informal dialogue, which should mean that the interviewee is more forthcoming. However, it 86 COMMUNITY PROFILING
is more dif ficult to analyse the information, as it will not be in a standard format.
Many of the issues we have identified relating to undertaking interview surveys will also apply to conducting in-depth interviews. They are resource-intensive in terms of people and those people undertaking the interviews will require considerable training. In addition, responses from interviews which include a lot of in-depth or qualitative questions may be dif ficult to code and analyse. There are three further practical issues that are especially relevant to this kind of method and need considering before undertaking in-depth interviews. First, semi-structured interviews can be quite lengthy, so it is
Figure 7.3 Some observation techniques
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important that the interviewee knows this in advance and has the necessary time available. For this reason, it is advisable to contact the interviewees in advance to arrange appropriately timed appointments. Second, semi-structured interviews, because they are much more like a dialogue, entail interviewers being confident and knowledgeable about the issues under dis-cussion so that they are able to ask appropriate supplementary questions. This is especially important when interviewing professional people or service pro-viders. Third, by their nature, semi-structured interviews are not amenable to recording responses through ticking boxes. It may therefore be necessary for interviewers to tape record interviews as well as making some notes during the interview. The interview should then be written up as soon as possible follow-ing completion usfollow-ing both notes and tape recordfollow-ing to remind the interviewer of what was said. However, the interviewer must first get the agreement of the interviewees to tape the interview.
Oral testimony
A different type of personal interview is known as oral testimony, or life his-tory. Within all communities there is a considerable wealth of information that is never committed to paper. Families may have lived for several generations in one community and built up significant knowledge and insight about the area in which they live. Oral testimony is a very useful technique for gaining an insight into people’s experiences and perceptions within their community; it can uncover aspects of people’s lives and the community which otherwise remain hidden. Oral testimony can also help to address politically and socially sensitive topics, which may be dif ficult to enquire into using other methods, and its findings are often made more powerful when combined with results from other methods. This technique has been used extensively by local historians exploring the changes in family and community life in Britain and abroad. Recording oral testimonies is often the only way of capturing the detail of some aspects of life that would otherwise disappear without trace. It can highlight the experiences of groups of people going back in time to give a historic context to the community and help to fill in the gaps and explain obscure points in the understanding of a community. (See Figure 7.4 for an example.)
All that is needed is a tape recorder and someone with an interesting story to tell. Oral testimonies may be either researcher-led or informant-led.
Researcher-led oral testimony involves a list of prompting questions to direct respondents towards the issues felt to be most important for the overall project, whereas the informant-led approach involves respondents giving their life history or community memories in an open-ended, unstructured way.
Although oral testimony can produce rich and interesting data, it can be a very time-consuming method. Several visits are often necessary to collect one 88 COMMUNITY PROFILING
person’s testimony as people are often much more open in a second or third discussion than in the first. It is also important to determine from the begin-ning how the testimonies and other sensitive data will be stored. Testimonies may contain very personal and sensitive information so, like all other data, must be stored securely, with only the researchers having access to it.
Group discussions
Community profiles often deal, wholly or partly, with issues which concern not only individuals but also the community as a whole. You may, therefore, want to adopt a more collective approach to gathering information by using group discussions or group interviews. When discussing issues in a group, people may formulate and articulate views that had previously only been vague ideas, their understanding of issues may be clarified by what others are saying, and new ideas and issues may emerge.
Undertaking group discussions entails very different techniques and skills to individual interviewing. First, an appropriate group has to be brought together. You may want to invite community or voluntary groups to send a certain number of representatives or you might want to organize a discussion with a group of people drawn from a particular street or who are involved in the provision of a certain service to the community. In general, the group should consist of no more than seven or eight people with two facilitators to guide and record the discussion.
The group should meet in an informal, comfortable setting and the meet-ing should be scheduled to last for about one and a half hours. The role of the facilitator is to introduce the themes for discussion, encourage as many people as possible to participate and ensure that no one in the group dominates the discussion or intimidates others. This requires particular skills and it may be a good idea to try to find someone to fulfil this role who has had experience of doing group work. The other facilitator needs to keep a record of the meeting,
Figure 7.4 Example of oral testimony Source: www.kingscrossvoices.org.uk/default.asp
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including: date and venue of meeting; details of who participated; and points raised in discussion. As with semi-structured interviews, a tape recorder can be useful provided the group members agree to its use. Detailed notes of the meeting, including the facilitators’ observations, should be written up as soon as possible after the meeting.
The main drawbacks to group discussions are, first, as they are primarily designed to explore issues, perceptions and attitudes in a qualitative way you will not be able to get quantitative data from them. Second, group discussions can generate considerable information but this information can also be dif-ficult to bring together and analyse. Third, as discussion groups are com-paratively small they are rarely representative of a community, so it is not possible to make generalizations about the community as a whole from group discussions alone. Finally, to orchestrate an effective group discussion requires considerable facilitation skills.