Help with interviews

Any topic related to class is a wide-open blog topic. I think my biggest concern at this point is how to do the interviews I would like to do for my dissertation. I know I want to do interviews in an effort to allow those effected by the phenomenon to make sense of the data for me. In essence, I don’t want to speak for them, I want them to tell me what they think the data means. As a reporter, I want quotes to back up my information. However, I’m having a hard time figuring out exactly how to do the interviews.

For those of you who don’t remember, my dissertation topic is if journalists are affected emotionally by covering day-to-day traumatic events. I began studying trauma through a Victims in the Media course at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. I took the course as part of my emphasis in journalism during my education master’s work. The course was sponsored by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, which is the primary resource for information on the topic. Through my studies I discovered that one of my editors at The Oklahoman, Joe Hight, is extremely involved in the Dart Center and actually helped UCO obtain the grant to teach the class. He has become a wonderful resource for me in my quest for knowledge on the topic.

It was in the same class that I was introduced to the textbook Covering Violence by William Cote and Roger Simpson (2000). The book provides a foundation for thinking about covering violence and how it affects those who are covered and the reporters covering it. Reading the textbook helped me identify three main researchers in the field: William Cote’, Roger Simpson and Frank Ochberg. From continuing to read works by those scholars and cross-referencing their reference pages I have found a variety of scholarly works on the topic. I also have identified a variety of articles in Quill, the Society of Professional Journalists’ magazine, that have been useful in identifying scholars in the field.

My initial methodology is to use the Society of Professional Journalists’ membership list to randomly identify working reporters and editors to whom I can send an electronic survey. I will set up the survey through Survey Monkey. After the information is gathered, I would like to do 10 to 20 depth interviews in an attempt to “make sense” of the data. This is where the questions begin. As I see it, I have two options: (1) Do nationwide interviews via telephone, (2) Do regional interviews so I can travel and actually interview the people in person.

There are several benefits to interviewing respondents via telephone. First, I won’t have to limit the people I interview because of location concerns. I would rather be able to make the interviews truly random by interviewing journalists from all over the country. Second, I won’t have the expense of attempting to travel and interview people. If I decide to keep the interviews regional, I’ll drive to the locations where I perform interviews. This could get expensive, especially with gas prices as they are today. The expense too would limit the number of interviews I’m able to do. Instead of doing 10 or 20, because of expense and location I’d probably be doing more like five at the most.

There is one overwhelming reason to interview the respondents in person – better responses. I think I can build a rapport with the respondents and receive better information if I do the interviews face-to-face. The greatest problem is that I’m reluctant to do that because I don’t want the limit my pool.

I would love to hear your suggestions.