Semi-Structured Interviews

Semi-structured interviews involve ‘an interviewer and an interviewee discussing specific topics in depth’ (Hennick et al., 2011: 109). Semi-structured interviews are an effective way for researchers to find out about participants’ experiences, views, values, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, relationships and behaviours (Bryman, 2016) as they describe and explain their everyday lives and activities ‘in their own words’ (Valentine, 2005: 111). By conducting interviews, I aimed to develop an understanding of young people’s experiences of participating in dance lessons, exams and performances, capturing their ‘individual voices and stories’ (Hennick et al., 2011: 110). In total, I carried out 61 semi- structured interviews, ranging from 5-50 minutes in length. I conducted 50 interviews with young people: 30 at the dance school (participants were interviewed twice), 10 at the secondary school and eight at the dance group. I also interviewed four parents of young people in the dance group, two student helpers at the dance group, the dance group organiser and six dance teachers (three at the dance school, two at the secondary school and one at the dance group) to provide further context. At the beginning of each semi-structured interview, I explained to participants what the interview would be about and how long it would last for. I informed participants that they did not have to answer any questions that they did not want to. I explained that that there were no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers to any of the questions I asked and that I was interested in their experiences, opinions and ideas. I confirmed that they were happy for the interview to be audio recorded and reminded them that they could stop the interview at any time without giving a reason. I created an ‘interview guide’ for each interview (see Appendix B for example) listing questions and topics to discuss (Bryman, 2016: 468). In general, I began interviews with ‘warm-up’ questions (e.g., “When did you first start dancing?”) (Mason, 2002: 73) and as the conversation developed, I asked participants to discuss ‘more difficult, sensitive or thought-provoking’ ideas (e.g., “Could you describe your relationship with your dance teacher?”) (Longhurst, 2010: 107). I let the discussion unfold in a ‘conversational manner’ allowing participants to explore and raise issues that they felt were important (Longhurst, 2010: 107). I also asked participants about activities or events that I had observed during classes and rehearsals. I adapted the interview format for young people with Down’s syndrome (see discussion below). All interviews were recorded using a dictaphone and fully transcribed (see Section 3.6). When designing and conducting interviews, my own experiences as a ‘dancer’ influenced the topics I selected for discussion and the questions that I asked. I also found that my knowledge of dance (e.g., the names of dance steps) was useful because it often helped the flow of conversation. For example, in my interview with Miss Rachel at the dance school, my knowledge of the ISTD Tap syllabus meant that the conversation could continue without interruption:

[W]hen my students get to, to Grade 4 [Emma: Yeah] erm I, I, I let all my students wear t- shirts in class if they want to over their leotards. The reason I do that [...] is because I’m trying to get a much more relaxed.. Years ago Tap was very.. ahh, I’m not sure how anyone who doesn’t understand dance would understand [Emma: Laughs], but ‘ISTD’. I know you understand. And now they want a much more relaxed, American style of Tap [...]. Weight further forwards, down into the ground. And I don’t think wearing a leotard for that does it any justice.

Miss Rachel recognised that my position as a former student at the dance school meant that I would ‘understand’ the changes to the ISTD Tap syllabus, enabling the conversation to continue without interruption. At the secondary school and dance group, however, I found that this could also be problematic as sometimes participants wrongly assumed that I would have a certain knowledge or understanding, and I then had to interrupt the conversation to ask the participant to explain. On a few occasions, I found myself drawing on my own knowledge and experience to ‘give advice’ to participants. For example:

Isabel: I’ve thought about it [a career in dance], but I don’t know how [Emma: Umhum], and I don’t think. The only way I thought it would be possible, if you like went to the Royal Ballet School and that’s not gonna happen! Cos you have to be like, I can dance, but I haven’t got the exact figure [Emma: Umhum] and flexibleness, strength.

Emma: Umhum. There’s, I suppose there’s other dance schools like, erm like have you heard of Urdang? [Isabel: Umm no]. I think there’s, there’s some other ones that girls from [this dance school] have gone on to [Isabel: Yeah] that are like not just Ballet, they’re other types of dancing as well.

In this exchange, our ‘interviewer-interviewee’ roles seemed to reverse as I informed Isabel about my knowledge of vocational dance schools. In general, I found that my position as a ‘dancer’ acted as a point of connection with interviewees and helped me to establish rapport. Several participants commented that they enjoyed having the opportunity to talk about their experiences of dance to someone who understood and was genuinely interested. Stinson et al. (1990: 21) interviewed young women about their experiences of dance and similarly found that many participants expressed ‘delight in having someone listen to them with clear interest as they spoke of dance and of themselves’ noting that ‘they had never had an opportunity to speak in this way with someone who understood and that all dancers should have a chance to do this’. As an interviewer with a personal interest in dance, I found the interview process particularly interesting and enjoyable, especially

when participants described thoughts and feelings that I had considered or experienced myself as a dancer.

In the next section, I provide specific details and reflections about the semi-structured interviews that I carried out at each fieldsite.

The Southern School of Dance

At the dance school, I carried out 15 initial interviews (30-50 minutes long) with young people in the autumn term, during which I asked them about when they first started dancing, why they enjoyed dancing, their reasons for attending dance lessons, their experiences of participating in dance exams and shows, any difficulties or challenges involved with dancing and their thoughts about their future participation in dance. I then conducted 15 follow-up interviews (5-30 minutes long) with these young people in the summer term, during which we further discussed and explored in more detail topics from their initial interview, and talked about their experiences of rehearsing for the upcoming school dance show in July. I also asked students taking GCSEs and A Levels about their experiences of attending dance lessons whilst preparing for school exams. Four of these follow-up interviews also included some video reflection (see Section 3.5.3). I felt that participants were generally more relaxed and confident during their follow-up interview as they were familiar with the interview format and knew what to expect. Furthermore, I had built a relationship with participants over the year (e.g., through participating in dance classes together, chatting in the changing rooms) which, I felt, meant that they were more comfortable discussing their experiences and ideas with me. All interviews were arranged at a convenient time for participants (e.g., after a dance class) and were conducted in the dance school studio foyer areas, which provided a quiet and convenient place to talk.

I also interviewed three teachers at the dance school: Miss Mary (School Principal and Teacher), Miss Sally (School Principal and Teacher), and Miss Rachel (Teacher). The interviews were conducted in the summer term in the dance studio or foyer area and were 30-35 minutes in length. During the interviews, I asked teachers for information about the dance school (e.g., number of students attending classes) and about their role and responsibilities. The interviews also provided an opportunity to give teachers preliminary feedback about the research findings and to get their perspective on issues raised by young people during their interviews (e.g., dance teachers being like ‘second mums’, see Chapter 5, Section 5.2.3). As previously discussed in Section 3.2, this research aims to listen to young people’s voices and to explore young people’s experiences of dance from their own perspectives. Therefore, the opinions and ideas articulated by teachers have not been

privileged or treated as ‘more valuable’ than those expressed by young people, but instead used in an informative and supportive capacity.

Greenleaf Secondary School

At the secondary school, I carried out 10 interviews (10-30 minutes long) with young people during which we discussed how they were involved in dance at school (and outside of school), why they chose GCSE/A-level Dance and their experiences of both the practical and theory elements of the course, their experiences of participation in extracurricular dance clubs and shows, their views on Boys Dance, why they enjoyed dancing and their thoughts about their future involvement in dance. All interviews took place at lunch time, after school or during a free period, and were carried out in a teacher’s office, the school library or staff room, which provided a quiet and convenient place to talk. In addition, I interviewed Mr Brown (Head of Dance) and Miss Wood (Dance teacher). These interviews were 15-50 minutes in length. The interviews provided an opportunity to ask the teachers for information about the Dance department (e.g., details about the GCSE and A-level Dance Courses offered, extracurricular clubs and activities) and their roles and responsibilities within it, to get their responses on issues raised by students (e.g., students feeling ‘closer’ to their Dance teachers than other subject teachers, see Chapter 5, Section 5.2) and things that I had observed, and to provide some initial feedback on the research findings.

DS Dance

At the dance group, I conducted eight interviews with young people with Down’s syndrome. I was initially unsure about whether interviews would be an appropriate method to use with young people in the dance group because many of them have difficulties with speech and language. However, I also wanted the young people to be ‘active participants’ in the research and to have the opportunity to express their ideas and experiences (Walmsley, 2004: 64). Therefore, I decided to ask the dance teacher and group organiser for their guidance. They encouraged me to carry out the interviews and made suggestions about which young people I should ask to take part. In order to meet the needs and abilities of participants, they advised me to keep the interviews short (no longer than 10 minutes) so as not to be overwhelming, and to give participants the option of having a student helper or parent who they had known for a long time with them during the interview to reassure them. During interviews, I asked participants to tell me about whether they enjoyed dancing and why, how they felt when they were dancing, whether they liked doing performances, what their favourite dance and/or dance move was and whether they disliked anything about dancing. I kept questions short, simple and clear. All interviews lasted 5-10 minutes and were carried out whilst

lessons were happening in the corridor outside the school hall, which provided a familiar and convenient setting. Two dancers opted to have a student helper or parent present.

I found that the interviews generated valuable insights into young peoples’ experiences of dance; for example, the importance of friendships made through dance classes and the relationships between young people and their dance teachers (see Chapter 5). However, when carrying out the interviews I sometimes found it difficult to understand participants as their speech was not always clear, especially to my inexperienced and untrained ear. This interrupted the flow of the conversation and could be frustrating for both participants and myself. In interviews where a student helper or parent was present, they were able to assist with interpretation which eased this problem. I also found that participants’ speech and language skills meant that they gave very short answers (often only a few words or a part of a sentence) to the questions that I had asked. Thus, whilst the interviews did provide an opportunity for participants to articulate their ideas and experiences, the interview data generated was different (in terms of depth and length of discussion) to that produced during interviews with young people at the dance school and secondary school. Furthermore, as previously discussed, I asked the dance group teacher and organiser to suggest participants to be interviewed who they felt would manage well in an interview situation. Inevitably, this meant that the ‘voices’ of those dancers whose speech and language skills were less strong were not heard. Therefore, my experience of conducting interviews with young people at DS Dance raises questions about the possibilities and limitations of verbally based research methods.

At DS Dance, I also conducted four interviews with parents (face-to-face or on the telephone) that were 20-30 minutes long, during which I asked them to provide details about when their son/daughter became involved in DS Dance and their reasons for participation. In addition, I carried out two 10-minute interviews with student helpers and a 40-minute interview with the dance teacher, during which we discussed their experiences of teaching and helping during dance lessons and performances, and their thoughts about the reasons why young people come to DS Dance. I also carried out a 40-minute interview with the group organiser, during which we discussed the history of DS Dance, what it aims to achieve, how it is run (class fees, funding, the parent committee, classes and performances) and her thoughts about the reasons why young people participate in dance classes. These interviews were conducted in order to provide additional context and background information.29

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