Interview-based Qualitative Research Research Articles

The Potential of Smart Technologies and Micro-Generation in UK SMEs

Small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 99% of businesses and contribute 13% of energy demand globally. However, much of the demand-side energy research and policy attention to date has focused on the domestic, large commercial and industrial sectors. Previous research on SMEs has primarily concentrated on the drivers and barriers to the adoption of energy efficiency measures. However, less attention has been given to other areas of demand-side management in SMEs, such as the role of ‘smart’ technologies and micro-generation. The paper aims to contribute to filling this gap. To analyse the potential of smart technologies in UK SMEs, a quantitative model is developed to assess seven categories of smart technologies in ten non-domestic sectors. Overall, the results suggest that smart technologies within the UK SME market offer significant estimated annual energy savings potential of ~£8.6 billion against an estimated energy spend of ~£49.7 billion (representing ~17% savings potential on energy expenditures). From the smart technology categories examined, fleet management, integrated building management systems and smart meters have the potential to offer the greatest energy savings to SMEs, providing estimated total energy savings of ~£7.5 billion annually. To analyse the potential of micro-generation in UK SMEs, interview-based qualitative research was undertaken with 17 SMEs to explore the drivers and barriers to its adoption. The research found that the initial costs, technical feasibility and planning permission on historical buildings were the main barriers, and that the ‘green’ marketing potential of micro-generation, coupled with ethical reasons and feed-in tariffs, were the main drivers.

Rehabilitation in Principle and Practice: Perspectives of Inmates and Officers

This article addresses rehabilitation, its conceptualisation by officers and inmates, and its expression in practice within a select Norwegian prison. It reports on findings from a qualitative interview-based research project conducted as a pilot study, whereby semi-structured interviews were conducted with inmates and officers at the prison. Furthermore, the authors examine the principle of rehabilitation as it follows from Norwegian law and assess how it is implemented in practice in a Norwegian prison. The preliminary findings from the study reveal factors—such as inmate isolation and mental health challenges, drug use, unequal treatment, and limited capacity and resources—that are impacting the effectiveness of what the prison has intended to achieve and ask for further research and discussion in this area.

\u201cNot just a normal mum\u201d: a qualitative investigation of a support service for women who are pregnant subsequent to perinatal loss

BackgroundFollowing previous perinatal loss, women in a subsequent pregnancy may experience heightened emotions, such as anxiety and fear, with a range of longer-term implications. To support these women, the Mater Mothers’ Bereavement Support Service in Brisbane, Australia, developed a Pregnancy After Loss Clinic (PALC) as a specialised hospital-based service. The present study investigated the experiences of mothers with previous perinatal loss in relation to: (a) their subsequent pregnancy-to-birth journey, and (b) the PALC service. Such research seeks to inform the ongoing development of effective perinatal services.MethodA qualitative interview-based research design was employed with a purposive sample of 10 mothers who had previously experienced perinatal loss and who attended the Mater Mothers’ PALC during their subsequent pregnancy in 2015. All mothers had subsequently delivered a live baby and were in a relationship with the father of the new baby. Women were aged between 22 and 39 years, primiparous or multiparous, and from a range of cultural backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews, conducted either at the hospital or by telephone by an experienced, independent researcher, lasted between 20 min and one hour. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, with participant names changed. Interviews were analysed using content analysis by two researchers who were not involved in the service delivery or data gathering process.ResultsSeven themes were identified from the interview material: The overall experience, The unique experience of first pregnancy after loss, Support from PALC, Experiences of other services, Recommendations for PALC services, Need for alternative services, and Advice: Mother to mother.ConclusionsParticipants spoke positively of the PALC services for themselves and their families. Anxieties over their subsequent pregnancy, and the desire for other health professionals to be more understanding were frequently raised. Recommendations were made to extend the PALC service and to develop similar services to support access for other families experiencing perinatal loss.

Inclusive sex therapy practices: a qualitative study of the techniques sex therapists use when working with diverse sexual populations

ABSTRACTAttention to the clinical needs of diverse client populations, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer (LGBTQ) clients, openly non-monogamous clients, and bondage and discipline, sadism and masochism (BDSM) lifestyle clients, has grown in recent years. This study reports interview-based qualitative research findings, from a sample of sex therapy specialists and subject-matter experts (n = 34), on key clinical principles and practices used in the treatment of such diverse client groups. Three clinical principles are identified: therapist self-reflection, client-affirmation, and normalizing. Core clinical techniques to support these overarching principles are then described and discussed. The utility of such techniques, and relevant treatment considerations in inclusive sex therapy practice with diverse clients, are evaluated in relation to interview data.

A meta-ethnography of interview-based qualitative research studies on medical students’ views and experiences of empathy

Background: Quantitative research suggests that medical students' empathy declines during their training. This meta-ethnography asks: What new understanding may be gained by a synthesis of interview-based qualitative research on medical students’ views and experiences of empathy? How can such a synthesis be undertaken?Methodology: A meta-ethnography synthesizes individual qualitative studies to generate knowledge increasing understanding and informing debate. A literature search yielded eight qualitative studies which met the inclusion criteria. These were analyzed from a phenomenological and interpretative perspective.Results: The meta-ethnography revealed a conceptual confusion around empathy and a tension in medical education between distancing and connecting with patients. Barriers to empathy included a lack of patient contact and a strong emphasis on the biomedical over the psycho-social aspects of the curriculum. A number of influences discussed in the paper lead students to adopt less overt ways of showing their empathy.Conclusion: These insights deepen our understanding of the apparent decline in empathy in medical students. The lessons from these studies suggest that future curriculum development should include earlier patient contact, more emphasis on psycho-social aspects of care and address the barriers to empathy to ensure that tomorrow’s doctors are empathetic as well as competent.

Human Resource Management of Japanese Companies in Hungary: How do Japanese and Hungarian Styles Blend?

ABSTRACTA qualitative interview-based research with 32 participating companies, this article investigates the human resource management practices of Japanese subsidiaries in Hungary. The findings indicate that human resource management practices in Hungarian subsidiaries of Japanese companies are characterized as a hybrid of Japanese and Hungarian styles. Greater Japanese influence was found in the characteristics of the human resources department, corporate culture, safety practices, and trainings, whereas greater Hungarian influence was found in pay, benefits, and recruitment methods. The findings contribute uniquely to the understanding of whether and how the country-of-origin effect, localization effect, and dominance effect interplay in configuring human resource management practices in foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies.

Transition management towards sustainable mobility in Alpine destinations: realities and realpolitik in Italy's South Tyrol region

ABSTRACTSustainable mobility, including public transport and human-powered slow mobility is a priority for the sustainable development of tourism destinations, but it is a complex challenge to devise, implement and manage. This paper explores the mechanisms and conditions governing transition towards sustainable mobility in destinations, using a complexity-based approach. Destinations are understood as complex adaptive systems where social-ecological, socio-technical and socio-political subsystems interact dynamically with the tourism subsystem. These subsystems are interwoven and undergo significant, and inter-related, changes during transition towards more sustainable mobility. Three examples from the tourism intensive Alpine destination of South Tyrol (Italy) illustrate subsystem interactions during the transition process. Key player interview-based qualitative research indicates that the complexity of transition management is rooted particularly in the paired presence of risk aversion among local stakeholders and the unpredictability of visitor flows. Mitigating risk aversion through collective knowledge creation and offering answers to unpredictability by developing a strong adaptive and (re)organisation capacity seem to be required to adjust sustainable mobility solutions to continuous market changes, to convince stakeholders and to guarantee incremental and durable success. The public sector's special role is noted, as are the time demands of transition management, and the value of both formal and informal partnerships.

Are We There Yet? A Technique to Determine Theoretical Saturation

Although the concept of theoretical saturation (ThS) was first introduced by Glaser and Strauss's grounded theory methodology, it is now more widely used as a fundamental concept in interview-based qualitative research. Despite its widespread use, the concept is nebulous and lacks systematization. An extensive literature review in 2007, and again in 2013, shows that this inexactitude characterizes most claims for using ThS. Yet qualitative methodologists seem strangely reluctant to accept criticism or possible improvement. By assuming ThS to be an analogue of the principle of diminishing returns, we propose a quantitative technique for determining ThS using lognormal distribution principles. Applying the technique to three large data sets provided strong evidence that the method is efficacious. Usefully, this study also shows both that the technique is not affected by the order of interviews and that corpus size is not necessarily a true indication of theoretical saturation.

Interview-based Qualitative Research in Emergency Care Part II: Data Collection, Analysis and Results Reporting.

Qualitative methods are increasingly being used in emergency care research. Rigorous qualitative methods can play a critical role in advancing the emergency care research agenda by allowing investigators to generate hypotheses, gain an in-depth understanding of health problems or specific populations, create expert consensus, and develop new intervention and dissemination strategies. In Part I of this two-article series, we provided an introduction to general principles of applied qualitative health research and examples of its common use in emergency care research, describing study designs and data collection methods most relevant to our field (observation, individual interviews, and focus groups). Here in Part II of this series, we outline the specific steps necessary to conduct a valid and reliable qualitative research project, with a focus on interview-based studies. These elements include building the research team, preparing data collection guides, defining and obtaining an adequate sample, collecting and organizing qualitative data, and coding and analyzing the data. We also discuss potential ethical considerations unique to qualitative research as it relates to emergency care research.

Comparing Interview Interaction Modes in Management Accounting Research: A Case to Answer?

The medium by which interviews are conducted is of potentially important consequence in qualitative management accounting research. Advances in communications technology have largely mitigated the ‘tyranny of distance’ challenges experienced by geographically disparate researchers and research participants. In addition to face-to-face interviewing, researchers now have the option of using telephone as well as videoconferencing mediums through which to collect data, thereby enhancing their accessibility to data sources that have previously been prohibitive for reasons relating to both time and expense. Limited empirical attention, however, has been directed towards the similarities and differences between face-to-face, telephone and videoconferencing interview interactions. Indeed, the equivalence of these forms of qualitative data collection has rarely been questioned in the management accounting literature. The current study challenges the seemingly uncontested premise that ‘all interviews are alike’, and in so doing, aims to provide insights into the extent to which data obtained by interviews in face-to-face, telephone and videoconferencing modes in qualitative management accounting research may be comparable.Our investigation is informed by the opinions of 25 senior management accounting academics from 21 universities in the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand who have published qualitative interview-based research in selected international peer-reviewed academic journals in the 25-year period from 1988-2013. The perceptions of these academic participants clearly reflect a view that, ‘all interviews are not alike’ in the characteristics of the data they capture, and the implications of this variation for the ensuing analysis and interpretation of findings. Information Richness Theory (IRT) provides a partial explanation for these perceptions, but the predictions of IRT are moderated for all three modes of interaction. Channel Expansion Theory (CET) offers insights into why these perceptions may prevail, and these influence-shaping perceptions serve as the basis of a provision typology of interview modes, and their contextual suitability. Rather than a prescriptive or normative base upon which future interview-based management accounting research ‘should’ be undertaken, our findings serve as a starting point for further consideration and reflection, with direct implications for the credibility and validity of qualitative management accounting research.

Low-carbon retrofits in social housing: Interaction with occupant behaviour

The turnover of the UK housing stock is such that CO2 emissions reduction targets will require extensive refurbishment of existing homes. Both within the literature and in practice, there is limited understanding of the interaction between housing energy efficiency refurbishment and occupant behaviour. The authors implemented interview-based qualitative research into energy-related behaviours before and after an energy efficiency refurbishment project on social housing in the north east of England. Half of the sample also received an information intervention. Template analysis identified seven key patterns affecting energy behaviour: access to knowledge and skills; nature of technical intervention; habit; external circumstances; quality of technical intervention; convenience of technology; and thermal comfort. These findings were discussed in relation to Social Practice Theory and competence, material and image as components of practice. The research provides an insight into the interaction between occupants and retrofit technologies in the context of a social housing retrofit. It is recommended that policy makers and implementers of retrofit programmes ensure that competence, material and image considerations are integral to retrofit programmes for energy use practice to change and more optimal CO2 emissions reduction achieved.

Sampling in Interview-Based Qualitative Research: A Theoretical and Practical Guide

Sampling is central to the practice of qualitative methods, but compared with data collection and analysis its processes have been discussed relatively little. A four-point approach to sampling in qualitative interview-based research is presented and critically discussed in this article, which integrates theory and process for the following: (1) defining a sample universe, by way of specifying inclusion and exclusion criteria for potential participation; (2) deciding upon a sample size, through the conjoint consideration of epistemological and practical concerns; (3) selecting a sampling strategy, such as random sampling, convenience sampling, stratified sampling, cell sampling, quota sampling or a single-case selection strategy; and (4) sample sourcing, which includes matters of advertising, incentivising, avoidance of bias, and ethical concerns pertaining to informed consent. The extent to which these four concerns are met and made explicit in a qualitative study has implications for its coherence, transparency, impact and trustworthiness.

Still Here

This study explores perceptions of the academic, social, and institutional forces that shape success for African American male students attending a 4-year, predominately White public college in southern New Jersey. This study utilized an interview-based qualitative research method to examine African American male students’ social and academic experiences at a small, predominantly White, liberal arts college in southern New Jersey. Attention to the experiences of African American male students attending White colleges is particularly important because issues surrounding social receptivity (i.e., the general acceptance of an individual or group’s presence) are factors that play a significant part of the students’ learning experience. This study found that in 21st-century America, the African American male students’ perceptions of and experiences with social receptivity at a predominantly White institution (PWI) can have a significant impact on the students’ learning experience. The major themes of this study that emerged were “Level of Preparation for College Life at a PWI,” “Lack of Belonging in a New Social Environment,” “Feelings of Social and Personal Isolation,” and “Feelings of Negativity Toward the Faculty.”

Teaching and Learning Responsible Research Conduct: Influences of Prior Experiences on Acceptance of New Ideas

Despite requirements for Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training, little is known about how much this training actually influences the thinking and behaviors of participants. Interview-based qualitative research methods were used to study the reactions of Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows to what was taught in an RCR course. For trainees with limited prior RCR experience, or who agreed with what was taught, it was relatively easy to influence their attitudes and how they thought they would use the new information in the future. However, if their prior experiences or existing knowledge conflicted with what was taught they resisted and often rejected new ideas that were presented. Interviews also revealed the tremendously complex process trainees must undergo trying to resolve or integrate all of the different perspectives they receive on RCR from other sources. These results revealed the importance of viewing RCR training from the perspective of learning theory and how prior knowledge influences what people learn. The results also support the need for periodic rather than one-time RCR training to counter the often conflicting views and practices young scientists experience in real-life research settings.

Introduction: Deaf Lives Leading Deaf Lives

Introduction: Deaf Lives Leading Deaf Lives Brenda Jo Brueggemann Let me begin at the beginning for the gathering of texts that make up this special issue. Let me start with the original idea for the Narrating Deaf Lives conference (where each of these texts and authors appeared) that was held November 4–6, 2004, at Gallaudet University, and with the inception of Gallaudet University Press's Deaf Lives series on biography, autobiography, and documentary. Once upon a time, not so long ago, there were already some Deaf, CODA, hard of hearing, and late-deafened autobiographies and biographies out there. Yet, as both Jan-Kåre Breivik (Deaf Identities in the Making, 2005) and I (Lend Me Your Ear, 1999; Literacy and Deaf People, 2004) have recently suggested, deaf lives and writing—placed together, particularly in relation to deaf people's own life stories—have not been common and perhaps not even condoned. Breivik summarizes the risks, rewards, and resources of narrating or identifying a deaf life via writing (in a language that feels uncomfortable, does not facilitate the process of writing for the author, and often is not the author's own). He points out that deaf people are often "engaged in identification processes where the stakes are high. To succeed in their identification endeavors, they are often restricted to a limited number of alternatives . . . because literacy has been and still is less than widespread" (2–3). Some of the standard earlier autobiographies by deaf people came from postlingually, well-educated, literary-minded individuals—English poet and professor David Wright's Deafness: An Autobiography (1969) and Chicago Sun-Times journalist Harvey Kisor's What's That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of [End Page 111] Deafness (1991), for example. (These are also by white men.) And, as Breivik points out, "their stories often highlight the faculty of reading and writing as a specific trait of their lives and as a means of connecting to or 'making it' in the hearing world" (3). Their works constitute, then, the way in which "writing is always the hero of writing," a clever point made by literacy scholar Thomas Newkirk (1997) in a study on the performance of self in student writing. Yet things are changing, and processes and products for literacy, as well as ways of expressing life experiences and stories, are among the advances. Digital media, video, film documentary—all of these genres are increasingly used to convey life stories. These new and increasingly visual methods of autoexpression mark what Breivik claims is an "autobiographical trend [that] is both a global trait of modern life . . . and reflects the specific transformations within the Deaf worlds" (3). The Deaf Lives series aims to capture, reflect, and promote these creative, diverse, and expressive ways of "narrating d/D lives." The November 2004 conference and the sampling of papers from it that are published in this issue gesture toward inclusive and innovative means of discovering, interpreting, and producing deaf lives in multiple genres and formats. This issue celebrates a number of examples of interesting d/Deaf lives of infinite variety leading other d/Deaf lives, surely equally remarkable and diverse. It was imagined that others who are not Deaf, deaf, or hard of hearing—like the parents, teachers, siblings, and peers that Gina Oliva addresses in her commentary included here—might listen in or read over one's shoulders. As the first volume in Gallaudet University Press's Deaf Lives series, Oliva's text is her story—her autobiography—but it is also the stories of nearly eighty other "solitaires" (as she calls them). Oliva's book, Alone in the Mainstream: A Deaf Woman Remembers Public School (2004), resourcefully blends personal narrative with interview-based qualitative research. Moreover, she addresses the need to have the effects of mainstreaming deaf and hard of hearing students explored by the adults who experienced that process themselves long ago. When Oliva's manuscript first arrived at Gallaudet University Press, it was not a biography, a memoir, or an autobiography...

The logic of small samples in interview-based qualitative research

In a qualitative framework, research based on interviews often seeks to penetrate social life beyond appearance and manifest meanings. This requires the researcher to be immersed in the research field, to establish continuing, fruitful relationships with respondents and through theoretical contemplation to address the research problem in depth. Therefore a small number of cases (less than 20, say) will facilitate the researcher’s close association with the respondents, and enhance the validity of fine-grained, in-depth inquiry in naturalistic settings. Epistemologically prior to these considerations, however, is the explanatory status of such research. From a realist standpoint, here concept formation through induction and analysis aims to clarify the nature of some specific situations in the social world, to discover what features there are in them and to account, however partially, for those features being as they are. Since such a research project scrutinizes the dynamic qualities of a situation (rather than elucidating the proportionate relationships among its constituents), the issue of sample size - as well as representativeness - has little bearing on the project’s basic logic. This article presents this argument in detail, with an example drawn from a study of persons with a past history of cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Themes of holism, empowerment, access, and legitimacy define complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine in relation to conventional biomedicine.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been defined largely in relation to conventional biomedicine. CAM therapies that are used instead of conventional medicine are termed "alternative." CAM therapies used alongside conventional medicine are said to be "complementary." "Integrative medicine" results from the thoughtful incorporation of concepts, values, and practices from alternative, complementary, and conventional medicines. The evolving process of integration between CAM and conventional medicine evokes new conceptual frameworks, as well as new terminology. Interview-based qualitative research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison seeks to probe and develop this theoretical structure. Interviews with users and practitioners of CAM therapies have revealed four primary themes: holism, empowerment, access, and legitimacy (HEAL). These themes characterize CAM and contrast it with conventional medicine. CAM is said to be more holistic and empowering yet less legitimate than conventional medicine. CAM is more intuitive; conventional is more deductive. While CAM is perhaps more psychologically accessible to many patients in that it better reflects commonly held values, it is often less financially and institutionally accessible, at least for those with conventional health insurance and limited income. Substantive barriers--including economic, organizational and scientific differences, as well as an apparent widespread lack of understanding--continue to thwart attempts at integration. More and better evidence is needed if CAM therapies are to be accepted by mainstream medicine. State-of-the-art research methods developed by conventional science will be needed to test CAM therapies. Conventional medicine, however, has much to learn from CAM. By incorporating a more holistic, empowering and accessible therapeutic approach, conventional medicine could build on its present legitimacy, and thereby enhance its power to "HEAL."

Building the Complementary Board. The Work of the Plc Chairman

This article addresses the critical issue of board effectiveness, and in particular the conditions under which chairmen as well as other non-executives can make an effective and positive contribution to the strategic direction and control of companies. It is informed by qualitative interview-based research with chairmen, chief executives and non-executive directors in major UK companies which focused on the now typically separate role and work of the company chairman. The article argues that in the governance debate too much attention has been given to issues of board structure and composition to the neglect of issues related to the knowledge and motives of individual non-executives, and how their energies are combined in processes of board accountability. Drawing upon directors’ experiences, the article examines the bases that underpin and the positive potential of what are termed ‘complementary’ board relationships, through which a chairman can contribute directly to the performance of the chief executive, as well as create the conditions for other non-executives to contribute to the performance of the executive team. The article also explores the negative dynamics of what are termed ‘complimentary’ relationships between executives and non-executive directors and how these sometimes inadvertently come to weaken board accountability and create the conditions for an external crisis of confidence.

Partnerships and the private recruitment industry

This article, based on a postal survey and qualitative interview‐based research, examines the relationship between major private recruitment bureaux and their clients in the UK, with particular attention to the recruitment and selection of temporary workers. The private recruitment industry is growing and large bureaux are seeking closer partnership arrangements with clients. Contracts for labour services are being developed on a 'preferred' supplier basis – similar in type to the approach taken for the purchase or supply of goods or components. However, formal preferred supplier contracts with temporary work bureaux were used by only a minority of clients, usually larger organisations or those having projects or workplaces with high volume demand. While such bureaux seek models of relational contracting or partnering, many clients prefer less fully engaged or 'semi‐distanced' relations facilitated by the informal dimensions of inter‐organisational contacts.

WORLDS APART: STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES OF LEARNING INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNTING

This paper argues that, whilst a substantial amount of educational research has been conducted within the introductory accounting curriculum, there is scope for alternative research founded on a particular view of learning, that of social constructivism. In this view, learning is seen to be a response to a student's perception of, or way of experiencing, his or her particular situation rather than the outcome of a particular personality trait or a conditioned biographical response. This argument is supported by the presentation of the findings of a phenomenographic study into students' experiences of learning introductory accounting within the United Kingdom undergraduate curriculum. This qualitative interview-based research reveals two contrasting worlds of accounting: for most students it is a world of detachment and for only a few is it a world of engagement. Drawing on these findings, the paper proposes that an awareness of the nature of the student experience may provide a new way of viewing the introductory accounting curriculum and a new agenda for future research.