EDEA 604 Blog 5: Tips from the Author Corrine Glesne

It was a great opportunity to see and speak with Corrine Glesne, the author of Becoming Qualitative Researchers An Introduction 4th Edition (2011).  It was a short, yet very helpful insight into conducting qualitative research.  She gave a very helpful tips.  I just wanted to share some my notes and reflect on them.

- Figure out what exactly what you want to study.
It's been a little challenging over these months figuring exactly what I want to study.  The topic can't be too broad, nor to narrow, it needs to be like in the middle.  A little broad to add some flexibility and a little narrow to keep focus.

- Spend time on interview questions.
- 5 good questions = 1 hr.
From my previous post regarding research questions, developing questions to ask people in interviews is another challenge.  How can you come up with "good" questions that will be able to obtain the information you seek?  It is pretty genius to come up with at least 5 good questions, and hope that each question will take at least 10 minutes.  It must be good enough to last at least 10 minutes or with having good techniques to probe.

- Write a lot, keep something going.
The mind is constantly thinking of things whether researching or not.  It will be very beneficial to write it down, so that 1) it doesn't get lost, 2) it can further be reflected on and 3) used to explain or understand.  Blogging or free journal is a great way to do this.

- Start with an interesting question.
This tip was by far, very help in developing the interview questions.  I guess it's boring to start off with background questions.  An interesting question will try to help set the environment, build rapport and/or   better understand the person we are interviewing.  As an inspiring Indigenous scholar, setting the environment, building rapport and understanding the person usually starts off with those background questions.  Questions such as where they are from, their family and what they do are usually what helps Indigenous people understand one another.  But, I guess before that, an interesting question would liven up the interview process.

So after she shared this very valuable tip, I began to work on developing an interesting question.  The first question before the background questions.

Think back to a time, when you were on [the UHM] campus and felt that your Hawaiian identity was a threat, not acknowledge, or even challenged.  Please share what happened and how did you feel about it?

I think starting with an interesting question will begin the interview process with a very thoughtful and personal story of that person.  It will help that person to reflect, question and hopefully realize about their Hawaiian identity in a higher education environment.  And that is what my topic is catered around.