Semi-structured interviews

Throughout the designing of this research project, careful consideration was given to how to access the discourses in which the HE-in-FE experience could be understood. This was essential in developing ‘epistemological integrity’ (Marshall and Rossman, 2006, cited in King and Horrocks, 2010, p8) and a good degree of congruence between the nature of the study, the methodological approach and the methods. A post-structuralist approach was taken in this research because of its appropriateness in allowing the aims of the research to be met.

Qualitative interviews are a notably prominent method in qualitative research, leading to an assumption that they are a preferred qualitative method. This, however, should not be the case in good, well-executed research. The selection of methods should be justified in terms

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of the rationale for the research; that is, the researcher should consider what they are aiming to find out and how can this be known (King and Horrocks, 2010).

Interviews were selected as the primary method of data collection within this research because they lend themselves best to studying the experiences of individuals; they allowed me to explore the respondent’s perceptions of their experiences of HE-in-FE and the

language and discourses they draw upon to describe it. They also provided a method for studying society and culture in that qualitative interviews provide data which reflect the respondents’ social construction of their world. However, to get a more complete picture it is important to obtain data from other methods such as observations (Brinkman, 2013).

Qualitative interviews offer the rare opportunity of gaining access to the everyday world as it is lived by the interviewees (Kvale and Brinkman, 2009) and illuminating the discourses they draw upon to describe their experiences. Although the researcher should be

knowledgeable about the interview topic so that they can interpret the meaning of what is said, they are required to bracket any presuppositions that they have and be open to unexpected phenomena. Such an approach views the interview as an interactive,

constructive process where the interviewer and the interviewee are co-constructors of the knowledge produced (Kvale and Brinkman, 2014).

In post-structuralist approaches to research interviewing, the emphasis is on the social construction of knowledge. In post-structuralist philosophy, the notion of knowledge

mirroring an external reality is replaced by the idea that reality is socially constructed. Such an approach to qualitative interviewing sees knowledge as perspectival, depending on the values and viewpoint of the researcher. The qualitative research interview is seen as a site of production for such knowledge (Kvale and Brinkman, 2014). In interviewing the staff and students within the case study institution, knowledge is produced which is constructed and

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shaped by language and discourses. The data produced can then be analysed to discover how discourses are shaping what is known.

Semi-structured interview schedules were devised consisting of a series of themes to cover during interviews, avoiding any presumption of the nature of the interviewees' responses and allowing them to raise unforeseen issues (Creswell, 1998). This allowed for the participants to voice their opinions and concerns while staying focused on the research questions. The interview questions were designed to elicit the views and perceptions of students and tutors regarding their experiences of HE-in-FE in order to enable analysis of the language and discourses the participants used to describe and explain their experiences.

There are three main sources which can be drawn upon when devising an interview guide (King and Horrocks, 2010), these are the researcher’s own personal experience of the research area; the research literature on the subject area; and findings from preliminary work obtaining information from individuals with experience of the subject area. The

interview schedules for this research drew on information from my own personal experience of working in HE-in-FE alongside a review of the literature in the subject area.

Transcription is the process of converting the audio recordings into text and is a necessary procedure prior to analysis. In order to properly prepare a transcript for analysis, it is necessary for the transcriber to be aware of contextual issues beyond the verbal responses and to understand the context within which the responses are made (King and Horrocks, 2010). As such, to prepare for analysis, the interviews were audio recorded and transcribed, verbatim, by me. This was beneficial as meaning and nuance can be lost when transcription is undertaken by a third party. Although this was a time-consuming process, it allowed me the opportunity to become fully immersed in the interview data, developing awareness of

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the contextual issues and context of the interview data. The table below provides a summary of the interviews that took place.

Table 3: An overview of respondents

Year of Study Respondents role Number of respondents Approximate length of interviews (Minutes) Year 1 (November 2014)

First year foundation degree students

8 30-60 minutes

Course Tutor 1 60 minutes

Library Assistant 1 60 minutes Year 2 (November 2015) Second year foundation degree students 6 30-60 minutes Librarian 1 120 minutes

3.7.2 Non-participant Observations

Non-participant observations (Pole and Morrison, 2003) were adopted as a research method as they allowed me to see the real-life experience of being an HE student in a small FE setting. The aim of collecting observation data was that it should complement, add to, and triangulate that obtained from the interviews and enable me to better make sense of the interview data and improve validity of the findings.

A non-structured, non-participant approach was taken to the observations. It is important to remember when undertaking an observation that the information that researchers’ perceive through their senses is not absolutely objective; information is perceived through filters.

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These filters can be relevant to the research, for example in applying analytical frameworks. The filters can also be simply down to preconceptions and be a result of the researchers’ backgrounds, socially and culturally, and of whom they are (Angrosino, 2007).

My identity as a researcher was openly acknowledged allowing me to witness the experience first-hand. This approach has the ethical benefit of allowing me to gain informed consent (Pole and Morrison, 2003). The purpose of the observation was discussed with the group prior to the observation taking place; verbal consent was obtained from all students

agreeing to participate. The observations took place in the classroom, corridor, canteen and in the library. The specific sites were selected as it is important to choose a site where ‘the scholarly issue you are exploring is most likely to be seen in a reasonably clear fashion’ (Angrosino, 2007, p30).

A meticulous approach was taken to recording the observation data. Each field note was headed with the date, place and time of observation along with a brief statement about the setting and the number of participants (Angrosino, 2007). In order to protect anonymity and confidentiality, codes were used to identify participants (e.g. IP1 – Interview participant one). Events were recorded in sequence. When writing the field notes, different colours were used to denote objective observations and my own thoughts, when typed. These were italicised in order to distinguish them from what was actually seen.

Throughout the note taking, efforts were made to write down conversations as near

verbatim as possible in order to convey a sense of being there (Angrosino, 2007). A benefit of observing within an educational setting meant that me making notes within the

classroom was an accepted norm. This enabled the collection of detailed notes in the field. Notes were made in a draft format during the observations, they were then typed fully as soon as possible following the observation. This is important as our memories are selective

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and fragile and any delay in writing up the notes can result in an inaccurate recall of the observation (Pole and Morrison, 2003).

Visual data and documents can include a variety of materials including photographic evidence, videos, posters and advertisements (Henn, Weinstein and Foard, 2009). Visual data was generated during the observations using the ‘Photo-observation method’ described by Arthur et al (2012). During the observations a series of photographs were taken of what was observed. Still cameras were used to photograph the spaces which were observed and which were discussed during the interviews with participants to support and help to provide context during analysis of the interviews and observations. The table below provides a summary of the observations that took place.

Table 4: Summary of observations

Date Time Length Location Participants

present

5.11.14 5pm 1 hour College Room

C101 Library 13 students in total, all female, ages 20-40 years. One female tutor present. 19.12.14 4:30 3 hours College Room

101 Canteen 13 students in total, all female, ages 20-40 years. One female tutor present.

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