After completing this weeks readings, and watching the online lecture from Scott, I’m feeling much more prepared for the final assignment. Like Tom, I’m also using a semi-structured style to conduct my second section of research. As the subject is my brother, I want to further understand his media habits from his subjective experience. By using open-ended questions, I’m hoping his answers will lead my research to theories and concepts, and not the other way around.
I was set on doing two of the earlier topic we learnt in the semester, but now I’m sure that will change based off the answers I was given when I interviewed my brother. His reasoning behind his media habits showed an emphasis on social media, using applications such as Facebook to network. So the concepts I identified in my proposal may no longer be relevant to my final assignment.
By using a qualitative research report, rather than quantitative, we can research a subject’s subjective experience with media. If we limited our research to a structured interview, there is no room to consider the subject’s unique characteristics at depth. This rigid format restrictions the information available to the researcher. However, on the other end of the scale, an unstructured interview provides no scaffold to direct the subject’s answers. Without some mapped out questions and directions, the subject may not provide the information that is needed. This leaves a semi-structured interview style, leaving room for additional questions and depth, while providing a scaffold for information.
When interviewing my brother, I used an ethnographic setting specifically seeking a casual environment. The environment was so casual, that I was granted 45 minutes before the football started, in which to interview my brother. Not ideal, but it was enough. When told this, I couldn’t help but think of temporality and how Adam uses media such as TV to mark time in his day. Even the setting of our interview reflected the concepts and effect of media in everyday life.
