Hermeneutic Sensitivity
28. Interviewer Role in Hermeneutic Approach⁻ plays a maieutic role, so the interviewer should minimize interruptions and od few buteffective interventions⁻ must make interviewer comfortable⁻ should be skilled, experienced, motivated , creative and hermeneutic sensitivity⁻ must REALLY listen: “Hearing is physiological phenomenon, listening is a psychological act”⁻ has to know very well the research goals, should have an active role in the research group⁻ has a flexible interview guide and he should be able to adjust it according to interviewees⁻ should pay attention both to verbal and non verbal communication⁻ should gather also extra-contextual information about the interview setting and conduction⁻ above all, interviewer must transcribe the interviews
29. in qualitative research interviewees are selected with NON probability sampling because1) data collection technique are complex and time- and resource- consuming , so is it notpossible to have huge sample2) there is no epistemological and gnoseological need to infer from the sample to thepopulation.Most common non probability sampling used in Hermeneutic approach are:Convenience sampling : interviewees are chosen based on their relative ease of access (tooobjectionable: better to use ONLY in a very preliminary explorative stage or when the all theothers sampling method are not applicable)Judgmental or Purposive sampling: the researcher chooses the interviewees based on whothey think would be appropriate for the study, i.e. according to some properties he would liketo be represented in the sample (i.e. gender, education, and so on)How to select Interviewees
30. Snowball sampling: existing interviewees help researcher in recruiting other interviewees fromamong their acquaintances.This sampling is appropriate to use in research when the members of a population are difficultto locate (es. underground cultures, hidden population).Sampling terminates when “saturation” is reached, i.e. when the collection of new data doesnot shed any further light on the issue under investigation “(Glaser & Strauss; Bertaux)Disadvantages of this sampling are:- Overrepresentation of the social circles related the first participants (the ones who startedthe snowball) (solution: choose many different «starting point»)- It is difficult to understand if the «saturation» point has been effectively reachedHow to select Interviewees
31. How to conduct an Hermeneutic InterviewTo conduct an Hermeneutic Interview it is sufficient to have a simple and flexible guideline inwhich the main research topics and subtopics are listed, eventually with some questions thatcould be asked if necessary.Interview guideline is useful, but it has not to be rigidly followed.Interviewer should let the interview flows as a normal conversation, without following asequential scheme, eventually introducing those topics and subtopics not faced by theinterviewee yet.The same suggestions are useful when conducting a normal non directive interview.Interview ‘s topics and subtopics can be chosen easily if using a research concept mapInterview guideline ( very brief summary)topicsSociodemographicMigratory ProjectActual conditionNeedsIntegration
32. How to conduct an Hermeneutic InterviewFirst question is crucial: it is your calling cardAvoid too direct questions as they may be too threatening or disturbingAlso avoid dichotomous questions (yes/no), they will freeze the interactionBetter to ask broad question and/or a factual questionRemember that Interviewees should feel comfortableIt could be useful to establish an empathic relationship with interviewees asking them forsuggestions about a common problem or involving them into the comment of a picture ora documentSpeech flow should be similar to everyday conversation, as this is more familiar to theinterviewee and nearer to his lifewolrdIt is better to avoid chit-chatting: interviewee could be demotivated and, above all,research will be lessened
33. How to conduct an Hermeneutic InterviewAccording to the principle of the «central role of the interviewee», all that intervieweesays is important and has to be recordedInterviewer must always remember that interview in social research is not aninterrogation or a test; interviewee must be respected: is the main actor and has theknowledge we want to knowInterviewer must listen to the interviewee with attention, interest, patience and humilityInterviewer must never express authoritative opinion (judgment, admonitions, etc.)Interviewee should always be allowed to hesitate or take a break (short or long) (toovercome the horror vacui (fear of not being able to say something interesting), to avoidanxiety, haste, and to prevent form all the other things that could cause biases)If asked, Interviewer will express opinions and evaluations only when the interview is over.If the interviewee appears to be stimulated by the answers, the interview should bereprisedNever attempt to prolong an interview: it is better to divide it in two or more sessions
34. How to transcribe a Hermeneutic InterviewPolisemyVerbal/Linguistic more evident, manifest, structured,Paralanguage (voice quality, rate, pitch,volume, and speaking style, as well asprosodic features such as rhythm, intonation,and stress);Kinesics e Mimicry(movement and body position);Proxemics (how people use and perceive thephysical space around them);Dressingless evident, manifest, structured( difficult to decode);Strengthen or modify what has been saidgive information on the interaction and therelationship between the interview’s actorsInterviewee’s narration is a oral text, its transcript is a written text, that is why Hermeneuticsis crucial in understanding and interpreting interviewsNarration is a polysemous text, produced with the aid of different codes, when analyzing thenarrations as a text, all linguistic aspects should be considered: syntactic, semantic,pragmatics, meanings, codes, and so on
35. How to transcribe a Hermeneutic InterviewWHYThe transcription of the interview is fundamental in order to analyze itTranscribing means to create a written text, i.e. to objectivize the speech so that it will bealways available hic et nunc (Berger and Luckmann)Transcription allows to analyze the speech in a better way:- words could be separated and their order modified, narration could be back-warded andeventually develop syllogistic form of reasoning (Ricoeur)- researcher could clarify his concepts and develop new ideas- if the transcription is given to the interviewee, it is possible to activate his reflexivityKeep in mind that «Transcription is a form of TRANSLATION» (and translation is alwaysbetrayal)Translation is never a mere transposition of word from a language to another as it is almostimpossible to produce a text that is fully congruent with the original one.Every transcription/translation attempts to combine different languages, communicationstrategies, socio-cultural background every transcription is an interpretative act!
36. How to transcribe a Hermeneutic InterviewWHENSomeone suggests to transcribe during the interview = illusion of higher conformityBUTIt is very difficult to interact with the interviewee and transcribe his speech at the same time:⁻ Something is always missing⁻ Interviewee may feel threatened, disturbed or frightenedBETTER transcribe when the interview is over as, usually, speech is tape and or video recordedThis allows researcher to have an empirical basis more congruent with all that has been saidduring the interview (verbal and non verbal communication)WHOInterview MUST be transcribed by the Interviewer because she/he knows better:⁻ how interaction developed⁻ the environment and the socio-cultural context⁻ the verbal and non verbal communication and all the other aspects of the interaction thathave not been tape or video recorded
37. How to transcribe a Hermeneutic InterviewWHATTranscription is a time consuming activity however the general criteria is to transcribe literallyevery word said by the interview.Researcher/transcriber must never try to «embellish» the speech or «put it into an order»: ill-formed expressions, repetitions, regional accent or dialectal word should be kept as they givemore (and fundamental) information about the interviewer’s lifeword.The non verbal communication forms to be included into the transcription have to be carefulselected as it is not possible, neither useful to use it all. Moreover, a text reporting everypossible non verbal code will be not understandable and readable.That is why transcription should be done having always in mind the research goals.“This decision will be largely dictated by the purpose the material will serve in your research.A dialectician will be concerned with pronunciation, an historian probably will not be. Apsychologist doing detailed discourse analysis will be interested in the length of every pauseand the exact number and location of every "uh" and "er"; a journalist might not require thiskind of detail at all”.Usually, in social research, a restricted set of conventional codes is used