EDET 636 Impact of
Technology on Students
Week 6 Blog
Essential Question: What are the most important things to remember in
conducting interviews?
When
conducting interviews with intentions to obtain qualitative research data from
students, we need to be careful with what questions we ask. If we are seeking
for a formal interview and precise answers to questions, we will need to have
questions prepared ahead of time. If we are seeking for more fluid information
from the interviewee, we will prepare questions that can be followed up with
another question that addresses the answer of the original. For my own
interviewing process that will be done in my action research, I will be taking
a semi structured method of interviewing by having more or less structured
questions and providing flexibility in the questions. (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016)
As the
interviewer, we need to be mindful of how the person we are interviewing feels
during the interview. If the person (student) is uncomfortable or feels
attacked then the data being collected will not be accurate for the research.
The interviewer needs to be respectful, encouraging, nonjudgmental, and
nonthreatening when asking questions of all nature. (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016) People are more willing to share their thoughts and feelings with
interviewers who are considerate, interested, and sympathetic to them.
Another
thing to keep in mind when conducting interviews and recording the data is that
sometimes the responses that are recorded can be non-verbal responses such as a
heavy sigh that implies stress or a head put down on a desk that implies
boredom or non-engagement. This is important when recording the interview
because it gives more accurate qualitative data that can be provided to the
research.
Resources:
Merriam, S. B.
& Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative
Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. San Franciso, CA. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Piktochart http://piktochart.com/
I came across a great survey produced by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMSS) in 2015. They had questions that were, in my opinion, not biased. I took some of them, especially the ones from "learning mathematics" section. I will ask my own students these, along with my own to gather information for my research. I don't know if you knew about TIMSS, but I vaguely recall this survey over the years. They wrote a survey about attitudes of math learning. https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/timss2015/questionnaires/downloads/T15_StuQ_IntSc_8.pdf You should take a look at it. Great stuff. Hope your research is going great!
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