Thank you for your insight on formulating questions for my qualitative research.
For this week’s professor response, I have chosen to discuss the interview questions and whether they are semi-structured or open-ended. I must admit, I had to do some research to better understand what constituted a semi-structured question and interview format. Based on different articles and questionnaires, my understanding of the semi-structured question is best implemented when the researcher has only one opportunity to interview the participant and the pre-formulated questions allow more information to be covered. My understanding of the open-ended interview is more of allowing the participant to respond freely to the initial question and then utilizing their response to lead and guide other questions.
In a research article by Marsilio (2017), participants were involved in a qualitative study where phenomenological methods were utilized, and veterans were asked a series of semi-structured questions regarding social media use. The semi-structured interview process seemed to allow structure and direction to the data collection process and keep the focus of the conversation on a specific topic. My plan is to develop a few semi-structured questions such as, “What has been your biggest challenge since returning home”? Incorporating questions such as, “Tell me about your experience returning home from deployment?” would perhaps open the door for other questions that discuss suicide or thought of self-harm. My goal is to facilitate a discussion but leave room for the participant to openly discuss what they are feeling and how their lived experience in combat has impacted their present reality.
Marsilio, K. (2017). Student Veterans’ Shared Experience Using Social Media in Higher Education: A Pilot Study with a Hybrid Phenomenological Data Analysis Method. Information Systems Education Journal, 15(5), 45-59.
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