Novice Interviewing and Remotely-Guided Interviewing (RGI)
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Novice Interviewing and Remotely-Guided Interviewing (RGI) |
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In all interviewing situations, a power differential often exists between the
researcher and the participant. This differential may be real or imagined, but
it exists due to a lack of familiarity between the individuals. To establish
some degree of common ground, some investigators train and employ members of
difficult-to-reach populations as peer interviewers; this technique has been
used to study issues of drug use and homelessness. In task-oriented interviews
such as think-aloud protocols, peer interviewing has the potential to be
problematic as a tutoring relationship could arise. Also, interviewees tend to
cue off of interviewers to gain some idea of the accuracy of their
problem-solving approach.
Our group is exploring the use of novices in lieu of peers as interviewers in
problem-solving interviews. The novices would receive similar training in
interviewing techniques but would lack the content knowledge of peers. Without
appropriate content knowledge, the novices would be incapable of giving accurate
cues to interviewees. Without cues, the interviewees would be forced to rely
more on their own conceptions of problem solving, which should result in more
valid data about their problem-solving approaches and mental models.
In our studies, we have combined novice interviewing with remote guided
interviewing (RGI), but the two are not necessarily integrated. In RGI another
researcher communicates with the interviewer during an interview by way of an
earpiece; the remote researcher can provide prompts for follow-up questions and
provide real-time feedback to the interviewer. RGI is essential if novice
interviewers are to probe interviewees’ understandings of content material; in
this situation, the remote researcher acts as a content expert.
