Connected directly to my own lived experiences, the attached Qualitative Interview Transcript from EDUC 610- Qualitative Analysis in Education focuses on the stressors, challenges, and potential trauma(s) that inner-city educators can potentially face on a daily basis. Through an in-depth 1 on 1 personal interview with a professional colleague, I was able to gather a number of significant insights that would not have been discernable through quantitative research.
By using available transcription technology, I was able to effectively convert our conversation to written text, allowing for themes and trends to be developed. After numerous iterations and revisions in the manual coding process, I was confident in my ability to recognize major thematic components of our interview.
While I originally envisioned the interview process as a simple exercise that required little attention, I quickly realized the level awareness required to recognize to minute details, and the subsequent focus that is necessary for an effective, useful research interviews. This, paired with the analytical requirements of well-developed thematic coding have given me a full appreciation of the valuable, yet challenging aspects of the qualitative interview process.
By recognizing how easy it can be to get lost within the coding process, I feel this assignment provided a very clear example of how important it is to remain focused, yet flexible in qualitative research. As a result, I believe this greatly helped my ability to not impart my own pre-existing biases on my work, and thus allowed for the minimization of conflict and bias within the interview.
