6A - Informal interview trial

Last night Jess (who is also on module two) and I carried out some trial interviews via skype. I asked her questions that were relevant to my inquiry. In my inquiry I aim to talk to teachers and also examiners or individuals who work for an exam board. I knew that Jess was a teacher so she was an ideal person to do a trial with because she would understand and relate to the questions I would be asking.

Prior to the interview I sent Jess an email giving a brief explanation of my inquiry:

“Dear X,

I look forward to talking to you in regards to my inquiry. My inquiry is looking into performing art exam syllabuses and how they are put together. I would like to find out more about why certain exercises are chosen as I know that they will be chosen carefully. I hope that through my inquiry I will understand more about the pedagogy that is behind the exam syllabus so that I can transfer this to my students in my own teaching methods. Therefore talking to someone like yourself (hopefully an examiner/someone on the exam board) would be extremely helpful and give me an insight into how the exam syllabus is chosen and has developed over time.

 I am undertaking my inquiry as part of my Professional practise of the arts degree at Middlesex University. “

I was acting as if the participant would have already signed a consent form. I have been looking at some examples of how to set these out online. Jess also sent me over a covering letter for the interview which confirmed with the participant that they had done the consent form and agreed to the interview of their own free will. I thought this was good as it reassures the participant that they are in control of what they say. Jess also gave me some good advice to maybe make more of the fact of how my inquiry will be published. So not public but within the university setting.

I had planned to audio record the interview however I ran out of memory on my phone and couldn’t find a programme to download on my laptop that didn’t warn of viruses. So I recorded the interview by taking written notes. This posed a difficulty because I was only able to write quick enough to get down some of Jess’s key points that she said in relation to some of the questions. I was also aware of not leaving her hanging too long while I was writing, having a recording device would have allowed to interview to flow more. I think it would also have given me the opportunity to ask further questions about some of Jess’s answers.

Here is an example of some of the questions I asked Jess:

1.       Do you use a specific method in your lessons? Inspired by a known practitioner? Why does this work well in your lessons?

Yes methods picked up from other staff. She thinks that engagement can be difficult with her students so a lot of the methods she has to concentrate on are behaviour management techniques. She says that they do have training workshops to learn about specific techniques like – ‘praise in public, reprimand in private’.

2.       What do you think students find most difficult about the exams?

Knowing HOW and WHAT to revise. They don’t realise they don’t have to just read. Even in drama theory they would just read. Not everyone will take in information this way. She said she was making a generalisation but that boys are often more physical. It can help them to do a practical exercise to revise. We shouldn’t segregate subjects. You don’t only have to write when learning English.           

I want to find out about teaching methods in relation to the exams. So a good thing for me to have done would have been to ask her further questions about specific teaching methods that she used. Maybe I should have spent a bit longer on that topic. But because I was spending time writing I would forget a thought I had to ask something and move on to my next prepared question. I did prepare a set of questions but decided on a semi-structured approach as I knew that questions would arise from the participant’s answers.

Another reason I think it will be important for me to audio record my interviews in my inquiry is because now I feel that I cannot truly quote word for word what Jess has said. I can tell you from my notes and my memory the thoughts that she had on certain topics which is useful but I think it will be important to have quotes to back up some of my reasoning.

Jess was also able to give me advice on the wording of some of my questions, for example, I asked:

1b. Did you take any performing based exams at school?

So she quite rightly at first thought no, because she hadn’t at primary or secondary. She then thought, well yes she had done a BTEC at sixth form. Which I was interested to hear about. So we said that I should ask in general rather than at school, because a lot of people take those kind of exams out with school.

Doing the trial has been useful. It is has brought to my attention a few main points which I will improve upon for my inquiry. I may have to reword some of my questions to make them clearer. I have to get an audio recording device. Having this will allow me to share a more detailed and accurate account of the interviews in my inquiry. It will also allow the interview to flow more. If I am not furiously trying to write down everything the participant says I will find it easier to focus in topics I am particularly interest in and ultimately get more relevant data for my inquiry.