This qualitative research employed in-depth, nondirectional interviews in
the form of open-ended questions in one-on-one interviews conducted by
the first author. All interviewees were informed that the interviews would
be recorded. A standard format was generally followed for each interview.
After a brief description of the research project, each interviewee was asked
a series of open-ended questions. These questions provided a rough structure
for each interview, but it was frequently necessary to explain and clarify
some of the questions, as well as ask additional question to get examples.
The individual interviews usually lasted for approximately 45 minutes and
were recorded. These recordings were then transcribed with each sentence
numbered for ease of reference. Each interview was analyzed for general categories
and these general categories were then analyzed for commonalities
that ran through all of the interviewees’ responses. To maintain anonymity
and reduce employee bias, the employee responses were reported to
management as composite only, rather than as individual comments.