Traditional interviews

The final data source was a set of traditional interviews conducted at the end of the semester. Twelve students participated in these interviews, four from class B (described below) and eight from class C2. The interviews were loosely based on an interview guide and ran between 30 and 45 minutes in length. The purpose of the interviews was to inquire more deeply and directly into the experiences the students had during the semester. 

Baker and colleagues50 found that the validity and stability of three tests in the NES2 were comparable to five previously validated traditional interviewer-administered neuropsychological instruments. High correlations were reported between individual trials of the same interviewer-administered task. Stability on four of the computerized tests was supported by high correlations between scores when research subjects were tested on four separate days. 

Jane and Maureen s movie poster activity provides a DCM heuristic for uncovering educators values about writing. DCM-inspired activities are inherently visual, and they provide alternatives to traditional interviews, surveys, and questionnaires. DCM-driven methods, such as this movie poster activity, make visible aspects of rhetorical values that traditional research methods may not be able to reveal. In fact, Broad (personal communication, October 6, 2006) explained that UNR s innovative application of DCM reveals educators "latent rhetorical values" using a "psychoanalytical approach." Stalions... 

The RNNP case study is using a more traditional interview method, called semi structured. Semi structured means that the interviews are less structured as an questionnaire, but more structured than a free conversation on one topic. The interviewers use an interview guide hsting topics they want to talk about. For each topic there are some central questions. 

In more traditional interviews, the interview is often done on the employee s place of work. In this case, the employees worked offshore and were invited to the interview in their off period. The physical setting of the interviews was therefore not a familiar place for the employees being interviewed. 

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