The Use of Semi-Structured Interviews - Essay Example

3.1 Introduction

The research adopts a qualitative research design. The choice of this research design will be mainly informed with the target population. The study will be done among a small population and hence the use of qualitative design will provide a comprehensive method of data collection. The qualitative research design is primarily part of exploratory research that is used by researchers to gain an understanding of various underlying motivations, reasons and opinions (Loseke & Cahil, 2007, 495). A sample of the population will be taken and the findings will be generalized to the population as long as it is a homogenous group. The research method that will be used for data collection is semi structured interview. The interviews will comprise of both close ended and open ended questions. The collected data will then be analyzed and tabulated descriptively.

In descriptive research design the data is collected only once such that there is no pretest and posttest. This approach is mainly concerned with finding out the cause effect. In this research the main objective is to find out the human resource factors that have impacts on job security and the resultant effect on individual productivity.

3.2 Choice of methodology

The project will utilize a qualitative research approach. This kind of methodological approach tends to encompass several research methods. Bogdan et al holds that the understanding of a specific situation, event or phenomenon comes from the exploration of the totality of a particular situation such as symbolic interactionism and phenomenology (Bogdan et al, 1987, 185). This is due to the fact that the researcher gains large amounts of solid data. It begins as part of grounded theory approach where the researcher tends to have no past understanding of the phenomena. In this case, Shaqra University conducted this kind of research for the first time, and hence the use of qualitative research was appropriate.

The main advantage of using qualitative research methods is that they are flexible, and hence allows more acclimatization and naturalness for the collaboration and interaction between the participant and researcher (Baskarada, 2014, 10). Therefore, this will make it easier for the employees of Shaqra University to open up about their thoughts on job security.

The research study will utilize interpretivist epistemology, which will involve the researcher interpreting elements of the project. In general, interpretivism tends to integrate different human interests into a research study (Larkin et al, 2006, 110). The objective of interpretivist research is to interpret and understand the different meanings in behaviour rather than generalizing and predicting the effects and causes. According to interpretive researchers, access to reality is through social constructions such as shared meanings, consciousness, instruments and language (Myers, 2008, 38). Interpretivism will be ideal for the research as it tends to be associated with different philosophical positions of idealism, and is used in grouping together diverse approaches such as hermeneutics, phenomenology and constructism (Collins, 2010, 38).

In the use of interpretivist epistemology, the researcher enters in the field with prior insight of the project. However, he or she assumes that there is insufficient information of developing a kind of fixed research. This is due to multiple, unpredictable and complex nature of what one perceives as reality (Hudson & Ozanne, 511). Therefore, he or she remains open to obtaining new knowledge throughout the research and allows it to develop with the aid of informants. The use of this kind of collaborative and emergent approach tends to be consistent with the existing interpretivist approach that human beings have the ability of adapting, and that no specific individual can gain knowledge of the context bound realities and time (Hudson & Ozanne, 1998, 513)

I chose the interpretivist approach in my project as it is based on several beliefs. First of all, it based on relativist ontology. This kind of approach tends to perceives reality to be based upon understandings and meanings on experimental and social levels. Therefore, using this approach allows me to interact with the research subjects and obtain valuable and sensitive knowledge directly from them. Secondly, it is based on subjectivist or transactional epistemology. This approach shows that people cannot depart from their knowledge. This means there is a clear link between the research subject and researcher. I will be able to interact with employees of Shaqra University, and from that I will be able to obtain primary data pertaining to the research study (Gill, 2014, 119).

By adopting interpretivism, different qualitative research areas like leadership, cross-cultural differences, determinants of job security, and ethical issues in Shaqra University will be studied. Primary data that is gathered through interpretivism studies is mainly associated with high levels of validity. This is because the data collected is normally honest and trustworthy (Saunders et al, 2012, 112).

3.3 Research Approach

The study will use the grounded theory approach. This is an inductive kind of research that allows researchers to go through multiple ideas. The inductive research will be grounded or based in the data or observations from which the research study will be developed (Ralph et al, 2014, 3). It will begin with detailed observations of the research subjects and then move towards abstract ideas and generalizations (Neuman, 2003, 51). By using the inductive research approach, I will develop empirical generalizations as well as identify different preliminary relationships as I progress in my research.

The use of qualitative research for my research will have numerous benefits. However, there are several challenges in which I may encounter. First of all, the volume of data I will collect from the employees of Shaqra University might be immense making analysis as well as interpretation of the data time consuming. Secondly, my presence during the gathering of data might affect the subjects’ responses. Some of them might be nervous and my presence might make some of them quite uncomfortable and hence affect their responses. However, as part of qualitative research, my presence is unavoidable. Another limitation is that the data findings might be difficult as well as time consuming for me to characterize them in a visual manner. These limitations are characteristic of all kinds of qualitative research (Guba & Lincoln, 2005, 200).

I will use semi-structured interviews to collect primary data from the research respondents. In most cases, semi-structured interviews are carried out in a fairly open framework that allows conversational, focused, two-way communication (Leech, 2002, 4). This method is best suited for my case as I only have a single chance to interview the subjects. The semi-structured interview will be preceded by observing the research subjects, as well as unstructured and informal interviewing to allow me to develop an intense understanding of my topic. From this, I will develop meaningful and relevant semi-structured questions. The characteristics of semi-structured interviews are many. First of all, the respondents and the interviewer engage in an official interview. Secondly, the interviewer then comes up and uses an interview guide that entails a list of questions in a specific order (Holland, 2013, 3).

There are numerous advantages associated with the use of semi-structured interviews. First of all, I will be able to prepare the research questions before time allowing me to appear competent and be prepared during the interview. Secondly, it will allow the informants to have the freedom of expressing their views based on their own terms. Thirdly, it will allow us to have a two-way kind of communication hence working as an extension tool. Another advantage that I might obtain from the use of semi-structured interviews is that the research respondents might discuss their personal and sensitive issues (Holland, 2013, 3).

3.4 Sampling Strategy

A target population is defined as the total group that interests the researcher. In this case, the target population will be the employees of Shaqra University. The research participants will consist of twelve employees from Shaqra University. The participants will be randomly selected through stratified random sampling (Meng, 2013, 541). The study participants will be selected from the employees of Shaqra University for inclusion in the research project. It will rely on the laws of probability to select samples from which it will be used to influence the population. Owing to the fact that the university has few employees, the target respondents must meet the stipulated interview criteria. The interviews will contain two sections. Part A will consist of demographics such as age, educational qualifications, social status as well as the number of years one has served in Shaqra University. This section will contain multiple choice answers from which the respondents will tick the correct answer. Part B of the interview will contain questions relating to human resource factors and their effects on job security. According to Saunders et al, a small sample that is appropriate ensures that relevant data is applicable in representing the entire population under study. The study will test the connection between the human resource factors and job security, and how they affect productivity at work. This will be made possible by the qualitative measures that will enable me to accurately assess the connection between the different variables (Guba & Lincoln, 198).

3.5 Research design

Research design is defined as the plan or scheme outline that is used in the generation of answers to different research problems. The study will employ interpretive approach because it is based on several beliefs. The first is relativist ontology which perceives reality based on understandings and meanings on experimental and social levels. Secondly, it is based on subjectivist or transactional epistemology. In this approach, individuals cannot be separated from knowledge. Therefore, it links the researcher and the subject. The research study will utilize an inductive approach. This will be based on the underlying principle that Shaqra University has never conducted this kind of research (Rathmanner & Hutter, 2011, 1080).

The research project will be a cross-sectional study, as it involves a one-time interaction with the individuals from Shaqra University. Descriptive studies may include a one-time interaction with different groups of persons (cross-sectional study) or may it may follow individuals over time (longitudinal study). Descriptive studies try to define and describe a subject, often through the creation of profiles of groups of people or events. In this case, to come up with descriptive studies I will collect data through the use of semi-structured interviews. I will choose this particular descriptive survey research design based on the actuality that in the project, the study will be concerned with the state of affairs that already exist in the field. During the research study, no research variables will be manipulated.

Interpretivism will be the preferred method as it seeks to analyze the human phenomenon in its natural context with the aim of understanding different actions and meanings. I will be able to gain more insights that are associated with a large variety of interpretations (Saunders et al, 2012, 117). The research study will be restricted to Shaqra University, which is a small section of the country, when information collected from different regions of the country would have been also useful.

Even though interpretivist approach proves to be useful for the case, there are various shortcomings that would need to be contained. One of the criticism is that interpretivism is mainly subjective in nature and may leave room for bias from the researcher. Another disadvantage is that the primary data generated from interpretivist research may not be generalized. This is because the data is heavily impacted by the researcher’s personal values and viewpoint. This means that reliability as well as representativeness of the data tends to be undermined to some extent. The other criticism is that the use of the method may make the researchers to believe that all the respondents involved in the process are all rational in behavior. This may not be wield true results since the nature of people is always different; consequently affecting the outcome.

3.6 Pilot Interview

A pilot study will be conducted to reduce the potential difficulties that would arise while conducting the final interviews. The interviews will be cautiously designed and tested with the use of a few members of the targeted population to ensure further improvements. This will improve the validity and accuracy of data that will be collected for the project (Mellenbergh, 2008, 215).

3.7 Approach to data analysis

The data will need to be analyzed by analyzing and coding of data. The analysis of data in qualitative research aims to understand and uncover the big picture (Leech, 2002, 4). This is by using the data collected to describe the specific phenomenon and what it actually means and represents. To analyze the data, I will be coding and labeling all the data collected from the respondents so that the differences and similarities can be identified and recognized easily. Data from the interviews will be entered into my personal computer so that I can code, count and analyze it. However, I will be forced to conduct a content analysis since there is no data for pre-coding in the case of qualitative analysis. Content analysis refers to the procedure used for categorizing behavioral or verbal data with the purposes of tabulation, summarization and classification. I will use content analysis by coding and classifying the data from the respondents. This is to enable me make sense of the collected data as well as to highlight the vital messages, findings and features (Baskarada, 2014, 23).

3.8 Ethical considerations

The data that will be collected will contain sensitive information. Therefore, as the researcher I have the moral duty to treat data I collect with utmost modesty (Melnyk & Morrison-Beedy, 2012, 67). Anonymity should be stressed throughout the project. I will start off by giving an alphabetical code to the respondents to protect their identities. Code names have been used on different instances including military to hide identity of persons (Webster, 2013, 3). In this project, I will use alphabetic as code for the respondents name. This will be A, B, C, and D all the way to L. By doing this, I will be assuring the respondents of utmost confidentiality throughout the research project (Saunders et al 2012, 89). This will ensure the research respondents are not reluctant in giving the information as sought by the research project. Shaqra University management also assures the privacy and anonymity of the data collected from the respondents (Shaw et al, 915).

Reliability and Validity: Reliability is the capability of the research instruments to offer dependable information with the aim of drawing informed conclusions (Miller, 2012, 45). For this particular project, Reliability of the questionnaire will be established by test-retest method in the specific place of study. By use of random selection in the research, the results that will be obtained from the research participants can be used to generalize to the larger population. This can be in Shaqra University and also for other institutions and business organizations across the country hence external validity. The study project will be reliable in that the results obtained from the research will be carried out and repeated by future researchers. I am hoping the project will turn out to be informative and hence reliable for future researchers to use. Further research may be conducted to test the effect of the various human resource factors and their effect on job security.

3.9 Conclusions

The research will utilize an epistemology philosophy. Epistemology involves the investigation of justified belief and knowledge. A qualitative approach will be used for the project. The research will employ the use of semi-structured interviews with both open and close ended questions. This method is best suited for my case as I only have a single chance to interview the subjects. The semi-structured interview will be preceded by observing the research subjects, as well as unstructured and informal interviewing to allow me to develop an intense understanding of my respondents. A pilot study will be conducted to reduce the potential difficulties that would arise while conducting the final interviews.