Interviewing skills used during data gathering

The participants must be motivated and willing to speak, to share their perceptions and the setting must be conducive for this to happen. The researcher made use of different interviewing techniques during the interview (De Vos et al., 2011) which will be discussed underneath:

3.4.6.4.1 Starting the interview

The researcher engaged participants in an informal manner such as talking about matters pertaining to the weather in order to build rapport with participants. The researcher was not familiar with the participants prior to the meeting and it was necessary to first establish

mutual trust. The researcher also presented a short summary of what the research is about

(See Appendix B: Research Information, Appendix C: Consent to participate and Appendix D: Example of a Transcript). Terre Blanche, Durrheim and Painter (2006)

indicates that the starting of the interview is then concluded and the interview can be started with an open ended question to get the interviewee talking and help to put them at ease (Also

see paragraph 3.4.6.2: Methods of data collection). It was important not to start the

interview with difficult and sensitive questions (Terre Blanche, Durrheim & Painter, 2006) in order to put the participants at ease.

3.4.6.4.2 Use of specific interviewing skills

Terre Blanche, Durrheim and Painter (2006) propose that even though the interview is recorded it still may be a good idea to scribble down questions or thoughts that might occur while the interviewee is speaking. The researcher should be familiar with the interview schedule so that there is no need to continually refer to the interview format and in doing so interrupt the contact and flow of communication that are characteristic of a good interview. The researcher should keep reminding himself why he is doing the interview, for example because the researcher wants to gather in-depth information about teachers‘ perceptions about parental involvement/ non-involvement in public schools.

The researcher should listen more than talk, follow up on what participants say, ask questions when the input of the participant is not quite clear, and ask to hear more about the subject, explore and probe even further. The researcher should ask open-ended questions, which do not anticipate a particular response, follow up and do not interrupt, keep participants focused and ask for concrete details. The participants can rephrase or reconstruct what they have said and the researcher is not supposed to reinforce the participant‘s response, tolerate silence and allow the interviewee to be thoughtful.

The following types of questions and interview-techniques were utilized in this particular study during the in-depth interview:

 Relevant Questions

In this study, relevant questioning was key to soliciting appropriate data from the participant. Probing was used to generate more information on a particular subject under discussion. It is always a combination of verbal and non-verbal cues, which give the interviewee a signal that the interviewer would like them to continue. These questions also assisted the interviewer with a method of maintaining control over the flow on the interview. The use of probes and flow of questions were used by the researcher to deepen the response to the question on the teachers‘ perceptions on parental involvement/non-involvement and to get rich responses (Patton, 2005). The researcher refrained from asking leading - or closed-ended questions and used prompts to elicit further information.

 Attentive listening skills

The researcher paid attention to the narratives of participants so as not to miss any vital information that might have emerged from the interview. Listening attentively helped the researcher selecting information which conveyed meaning and also to determine when he had to ask for more clarity from the participants (De Vos et al., 2011).

 Summarizing

The researcher used summarizing skills to encourage deeper exploration of aspects before moving to new ones. Summarizing also helped to remind participants of what they have narrated so far as to avoid repetition of information (De Vos et al., 2011).

 Attending Skills

Verbal and non-verbal cues such as nodding of the head, or saying ―uh-huh‖ or ―okay‖ were used by the researcher during the interview to encourage participants to provide more

information on issues being explored. This also helped to demonstrate to the participants that they were understood correctly (De Vos et al., 2011).

3.4.6.4.3 Ending of the interview

During the data-gathering in this study, interviews typically lasted from 20 minutes to an hour or an hour and half, because the participants found it difficult to concentrate much beyond that. The researcher, however should not be driven by the time limits, but rather ensure not to get caught up in details that are extraneous to the study so that no time is left for relevant questions. The researcher asked the participant towards the end of the interview if there was anything more they would like to say. The researcher should always be aware of what the participant said after the recorder was switched off, because in many instances some very interesting information only then emerges. Finally the recorder should be stored in a safe place. It is also a good idea to make notes about the interview as soon as possible after completion (Terre Blanche, Durrheim & Painter, 2006). The researcher properly thanked each participant for their time and valuable contribution and undertook to inform them of the results after completion of this study.