Parents’ Semi-Structured Ethnographic Interview

3.4.2 Parents’ Semi-Structured Ethnographic Interview

The researcher used this type of interview to obtain additional information about identity issues from the IMAs’ parents. While the in-depth interview was selected to meet the adolescents’ developing perceptions, the parents, who supposedly had more life experience, would handle a more open form of interviewing and provide a larger space for interaction. While designing the

parents’ semi-structured ethnographic interviews, the researcher kept in mind certain considerations regarding the risks of losing focus (Spradley, 1979;

Zabar – Ben Yehoshua, 2001), as the researcher experienced in the piloting stage how easily these conversations could shift to other topics. However, this same space provided the researcher with an opportunity to share the parents’

attitudes regarding sensitive issues (Whitehead, 2005) related to the community, such as the relation with the church. Although semi-structured interviews are much more time-consuming than structured interviews, because of the requirement to draw up coding frames and carry out content analysis on a large number of interviews (Fox, 2009), this type of interviews is a “series of friendly conversations into which the researcher slowly introduces new elements to assist participants to respond as participants” (Spradley, 1979:

158).

45 parents were interviewed. In each time the interview began with a general idea of the topic to be discussed, that of identities, but then let the interviewees determine the direction of the interview (Berry, 1999; Fontana & Frey, 2000) discussing other related issues, such as the relation with the Maronite church, and their influence on their children’s perspectives. Being a member of this community, the researcher was aware of the significant role parents play in moulding their children’s attitudes.

Depending on the person, and the researcher relation with them, the language of discourse shifted from the formal to the less formal, and more classical language and terminology were used during these interviews than with those with the adolescents, and with most parents, it was easier to be direct since they expressed their feelings and way of thinking out of experience and understanding and reflected clear independent attitudes.

The interviews did not always go smoothly though; there were difficulties obtaining some information, specifically that related to the local church, due to the adolescents’ and parents’ fear of the negative reaction of the community to what they might say. In such cases, the researcher reassured the participant and stressed the relevant ethical issues, such as anonymity and preventing any harm to them.

3.4.2.1 Reliability and Validity of the Semi-structured Ethnographic Interview

Since reliability concerns measurements and it has no relevance in qualitative research and the judgement of its quality, the examination of trustworthiness to ensure it is crucial (Stenbacka, 2001). In this method, internal reliability, which guarantees an acceptable degree of replicability, was achieved by a careful description of the data and the participants who provided them. Such characterization includes personal dimensions relevant to the researcher, as well as other dimensions significant to the participant and others in the group.

Seale (1999) endorses the concepts of dependability and consistency for reliability in qualitative research. The consistency of data will be achieved when the steps of the research are verified through examination of such items as raw data, data reduction products, and process notes (Campbell, 1996), steps that were followed in this research.

Although the problems of reliability threaten the credibility of much ethnographic work, validity may be its major strength (LeCompte & Goetz, 1982). As for the validity of the method, the use of the note sheet should assure that the discussion will focus on those same notes and would not deviate to other issues. Having recorded the interview should also add to the validity, since it will allow for a deeper understanding of what the participant said and meant to say.

3.4.2.2 Piloting Parents’ Semi-structured Ethnographic Interview

After having finished the data gathering stage of the pilot participants, the researcher interviewed their parents using the semi-structured ethnographic interview (Appendix 11). Semi-structured interviews are useful when collecting attitudinal information on a large scale, or when it is not possible to draw up a list of possible pre-codes because little is known about the subject area. A semi-structured interview involves open-ended questions that define the topic under investigation and provide opportunities for the interviewer and interviewee to discuss some topics in more detail (Fox, 2009). The interviews, which were based on guidelines by Barak – Stein (2007), Haynie (2003) and Spradley (1979), sought to elicit parents’ attitudes towards specific issues

which were found (for the researcher) important to identify, such as their belonging to the community, and being model figures for their children in this regards.

In a semi-structured interview, the interviewer and the interviewee are equal partners. Basically, the interviewer knows what areas of interest to cover, but allows the interviewee the options to take different paths and explore different thoughts, feelings, etc. The interviewer, however, can then bring the interviewee back to the subject under discussion by prompting questions. Or ask the interviewee to elaborate on the original response or to follow a line of inquiry introduced by them (Fox, 2009). Piloting the parents’ interview made the researcher make a major change to the approach of conducting the interview with the main sample and assume a more controlling role in assigning turns since the researcher wanted both parents to give their input on the issues raised, since, during the interviews, wives made most of the talking, while husbands interfered only to stress a point, or add a comment. The researcher also followed Spradley’s (1979) recommendations to intersperse some informal conversation within the interview to avoid the nature of an interrogation and maintain good rapport. If the respondents seemed to get tired or started to lose attention, a break was suggested or interjected some comment which led to a brief diversion into small talk before proceeding. The main concern was to keep their privacy as an important consideration of building trust in the interview process, it was therefore guaranteed that names would not be used in the research, and consent was taken for the use of tape recorder and taking field notes by hand, which provided a record and interpretation of the data expressed during the interview (Ortiz, 2003).

In the interviews with the rest of the parents, the small talk phase helped the researcher as much as it was intended to relax the parents, and it was comfortable for both sides to share creating that relaxed atmosphere. The researcher learned how to become more time-efficient in conducting the interviews, how to be more specific toward certain issues, and when to interfere and clarify ambiguities. The researcher also learned to hold this interview immediately following that of the participants’ life history (which was later

replaced by narrative text tools) in order to minimize any contact between them so that they would all feel comfortable to express themselves without being affected by what the other family members had said.

3.4.2.3 Conducting Parents’ Semi-structured Ethnographic Interview The researcher called the parents to set a date to hold the interviews together with the adolescents to save time and keep his intrusion in their lives to a minimum. The researcher started with the parents of the five participants of the pilot group. After having analysed the pilot, he proceeded to the rest of the participants. The researcher managed to meet with most of the parents, except for four who could not participate for different reasons. After getting their agreement to record the interview for documentation purposes only, and committing to erase the tapes after the research has been completed, the researcher started by “officially” opening the interview by clicking the record button on the tape recorder, then he moved to the list of the questions. The interviews were taped and written notes were taken when necessary. The average time of an interview was between 30-45 minutes, corresponding with Fox’s (2009) typical time frame an interview should last. The researcher always ended the interview, also officially, by thanking the parents and turning the tape recorder off. With most parents, this was the point when the researcher would wish them a good night and leave. The build-up of having almost an interview every night, or every other night, left its impact, and there were those nights when the researcher felt that the interview at the parents' houses lasted too long.

While some parents were more willing to open up than others, the general outcome was satisfying and the ideas and comments collected helped to clarify and solidify some of the aspects that had been expressed during the interviews with the IMAs. The interviews were recorded, and when the data was transcribed, the researcher summarized the interviews and got back to the parents where he got their approval of the accuracy of the discussed issues during a short meeting that was done at their convenience, even at a short notice. Again, such a step was used as a validation tool and it made the data collected more reliable. The verification process also gave me the opportunity

to assure to those who had asked for the tapes to be erased after the interview that they indeed were.