Interview Protocol

Data was collected in semi-structured interviews using a protocol of principal and follow-up questions. This was the strategy most commonly cited in the literature referenced in this review of phenomenographic studies (Marton, 1994; Sandberg, 1994; 2000; Ashworth and Lucas, 1998; 2000; Bowden and Walsh, 2000; Bowden and Green, 2005).

In phenomenographic research, the interviewer wants the interviewee to reflect upon his or her experience of the phenomenon. The questions asked during the interview

encouraged the interviewees to reflect on the phenomenon, PPM work in the present study, and from their own frame o f reference. The interviewee’s discourse and his or her answers to the semi-structured questions defined the development of the interview. When appropriate, the interviewee was asked to further explain their understanding of the object o f study and provide examples that clarified the person’s meaning (Barnard et al., 1999).

Marton (1986: 42) provides an account o f the type o f conversation that takes place in a phenomenographic interview: ‘. .. interviewing has been the primary method of

phenomenographic data collection. What questions are asked and how we ask questions, o f course, are highly important aspects o f the method. For present purposes it will suffice to say that we used questions that are as open-ended as possible in order to let the subjects choose the dimensions o f the question they want to answer. The dimensions they choose are an important source of data because they reveal an aspect of the

individual’s relevance structure. Furthermore, though we have a set of questions at the start o f the interview, different interviews may follow somewhat different courses.’ Phenomenographic studies seek to describe the qualitatively different ways in which aspects of experience are understood, perceived or conceptualised (Sandberg, 2000). As Dall’Alba states (2000: 94): ‘the mapping o f the qualitatively different ways in which a phenomenon or aspect of the world is understood requires that a clear focus is

maintained on what is being described ... Each question raised during an interview must elicit some aspect of the understanding or conceptualisation under investigation’. A set of questions is typically used in order to elicit rich descriptions o f the conceptions. Remaining on-task while maintaining the focus of the research represents one of the main challenges o f phenomenographic data collection (Bowden and Green, 2005).

Bowden (2000) suggests that once the interviewee’s responses to the open-ended

questions have been discussed, the researcher should continue to probe. The objective of probing is to encourage the interviewee to ‘reflect on what they have expressed, to explain their understanding more fully, and to reveal their way of understanding the phenomenon’ (Bowden, 2000: 10). Richardson (1999: 69), building on Marton and Booth (1997), refers to this process as bringing the interviewee ‘to a state of “meta­ awareness” in order to enable them to articulate their conceptions’.

Ashworth and Lucas (2000) emphasised the importance of empathy when conducting phenomenographic interviews. Potentially, phenomenographic interviews can be uncomfortable for the interviewees (Marton and Booth, 1997; Trigwell, 2000; Bowden and Green, 2005). Interviewees are invited to reflect deeply on issues they have often not reflected on or tried to integrate before. Empathy can facilitate engaging with the interviewees’ experience o f the phenomenon of interest. It focuses the interviewer on the experience that is being described by the interviewee, which facilitates the process of bracketing off the interviewer’s preconceptions (Ashworth and Lucas, 2000). In particular, researchers need to make sure not to influence the thinking of the interviewee throughout the interview process. It is therefore critical to avoid leading questions that indicate the researcher’s perspective.

Both the interview and analysis phases of the research are guided by elements common to the phenomenological research tradition, namely: the rule of epoche (the bracketing off or withholding o f any preconceived ideas, theories and prejudices when interpreting the lived experience under investigation); the rule o f description focus (rather than explanation focus); and the rule of horizontalisation (the ascribing of equal value to all description and experience). These elements are essential to the quality of the research outcome (Barnard et al., 1999) and are further explained later in this chapter (See Section 5.5).

The preliminary interview protocol was developed following the guidelines set out by Ashworth and Lucas (1998; 2000), Bowden and Walsh (2000), Akerlind (2002; 2005) and Bowden and Green (2005), as well as previous phenomenographic research (Bowden et al., 1992; Sandberg, 1994; Barnard et al., 1999).

Table 5-2: Preliminary Pilot Study Interview Protocol

Personal statement by interviewer Interview outline

Demographic information Primary questions

What does PPM work mean to you?

What are the most important aspects of your work in PPM?

What are the most important competences for a senior manager working in PPM?

Follow-up questions

- What do you mean by that?

- Could you please explain that further? - Could you give me an example? - How did you deal with that?

- Is there anything else you would like to add about your work in PPM?

The principal open-ended questions were designed to extract what senior managers conceived as PPM work. The objective o f using follow-up questions was to reveal how senior managers conceived of the phenomenon (Sandberg, 2000). Follow-up questions give the respondents the opportunity to reflect further on what they explain when answering the principal questions. Additionally, they also allow the respondents to provide a clearer description o f their ways o f understanding and experiencing the phenomenon, using examples drawn from their own experience. From a researcher’s perspective, the follow-up questions also offered the chance to clarify certain statements and reach a deeper level o f understanding o f their underlying meanings. The interviews were conducted using the set o f questions detailed in Table 5-2 until no further progress was made. As a result, the respondents shared their conceptions of PPM work, with each conceptual attribute supported by examples.