Phenomenographic interviews as a learning process

Phenomenographic

interviews as a

learning process

Eva Hornung, Shahd Salha, Sheila Webber

Oxford, September 2014

Structure

• Introduction

• Three perspectives

– Sheila

– Shahd

– Eva

• Drawing together the three experiences

• Conclusions

Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014

Three key elements • We are writing a paper: emerging thoughts in this

presentation

• Learning experiences of the researcher (may consider:

cultural context, attitude to research, personal feelings

about phenomenography; relationship to

interviewees/research)

• Learning experiences of the interviewees

• The context/environment of the interview (e.g. context of

interview (where/who/when etc.), changing roles, setting,

environment of the research process, what happens after

the interview and after the research has “finished”) Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014

SHEILA: FIRST PHENOMENOGRAPHIC

RESEARCH

UK academics‟ conceptions of information literacy and

of teaching information literacy (Webber et al. (2005);

Boon et al (2007) etc.)

80 academics; 20 each from 4 disciplines

Sample varied in terms of university, age, gender,

research rating of department etc.

Research Assistant interviewer, mostly interviewed them

in their offices

Fellow researcher, but mostly not in their discipline

Not investigating their own discipline


MY EXPERIENCE OF INTERVIEWS

Stuart Boon

Bill Johnston

Anticipation

Individual discovery

Joint exploration

Laughter

Argument

Excitement

Richness

Learning about information literacy

Their understanding

My understanding

Learning about the disciplines &

academic life

Learning about being a researcher

“I think that the way that you have asked me the

questions and the way that the discussion has

been structured has actually pushed me to reflect

in a pretty significant way, actually, about both the

theoretical and the practical model [of information

literacy] So I would thank you for that because I

suspect I am … going to go off and do something

with this as well, which was perhaps not your

intention” (English (discipline) academic 6)

Those with most complex conceptions of teaching/ information

literacy most vocal in describing impact/ learning (I think: haven‟t

explored systematically) Hornung, Salha, Webber, 2014

FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF

PHENOMENOGRAPHIC INTERVIEWEES

With my PhD students

As external examiner

Through “rediscovering” the interview

transcripts (they still live!)


THE SCENE FROM SYRIAN CONTEXT

The variations and

the changes in the

school librarians„

perspectives of

information

literacy..


BACKGROUND ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE

The study provides a new way, which is less

common, to conduct two phenomenographic

researches in the same study

The study used a longitudinal and discursive

phenomenographic approaches conducted in

two parts in 16 months durations counting the

time spent for piloting

The same professionals were interviewed


MY LEARNING EXPERIENCE WITH

PHENOMENOGRAPHIC ( SALHA,2011)

This first research in the Arabic context which

used the phenomenographic approach

No earlier research studies in the similar

contexts to learn from

I was not sure which phenomenographic

approach I should adopt


MY LEARNING EXPERIENCE WITH

PHENOMENOGRAPHY ( SALHA,2011): FIRST

PRESPECTIVE


AFTER MORE READING AND LEARNING THE

DEVELOPMENT OF THE AWARENESS


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH

PHENOMENOGRAPHY

Professionals had no awareness of the phenomenon of IL

Some of them knew me but our relationship was limited to tutor-student relationship

They were not sure about the meaning of the studied phenomenon so the main feeling was uncertainty and confusion

The culture of silence and the fear from others were a serious obstacle

Piloting was a successful strategy to reduce the risk and learn more about the setting


AFTER THE PROGRAMME

They become more confident

They became familiar with the studied concept

We became more familiar with each other

Established better connection allowed us communicate and share more

They became more expert interviewees and I became more expert interviewer

I become more aware of the difficulty and of their learning style

They became more aware of my interviewing style

I realised that I can play many roles


THIRD STORY: CPD AND SOLO LIBRARIANS

On the perceptions of one-person librarians in

Ireland of “continuing professional

development”

30 interviewees who ranged from recent

graduates to very experienced professionals

Researcher was peer of participants – played

different roles (see Caven, 2012)

No experience of interviewing and recording


THE NOVICE RESEARCHER

Field notes and reflective research diary

Reflections on learning uttered during the interview

process influenced the interview schedule

Interviewees were free to choose the setting, which

was putting them at ease (but: audibility of recorded

interview and interruptions)

“After the interview” experience – cultural informal

context… Irish people love to talk


CATEGORIES OF DESCRIPTION

Category 1: Upskilling for the sake of the organisation/library

service (service orientation)

Category 2: Developing as a professional librarian (LIS

profession orientation)

Category 3: Helping you to do all the jobs an OPL does (OPL

orientation)

Category 4: When you have learned something and you want to

do things in a better way when you come back (personal

orientation)

Category 5: Your development as a human being (lifelong

learning orientation)

Hornung (2013)


LEARNING THROUGH INTERVIEWING PROCESS

Interviewees mentioned how interviews changed their

thinking (category 5 in particular)

Evidence of previous learning experiences (both surface

and deep)

Relationship between interviewer and interviewee

changed

Interview as a learning experience for both

The setting influenced the quality of the relationship and

of the interview


Common threads in all Three studies

• Interviewees mentioned how interviews changed

their thinking

• Relationship between interviewer and interviewee

changed

• Interview as a learning experience for both

• More aware of variation!


Our position now


Sheila Webber Information School

University of Sheffield

[email protected]

Twitter & SL: Sheila Yoshikawa

http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/

Orcid ID 0000-0002-2280-9519

Dr Eva Hornung CDETB Curriculum Development

Unit/Trinity College Dublin

[email protected]

LinkedIn: Eva Hornung

Dr Shahd Salha A researcher

Sheffield University Information

School

[email protected]

LinkedIn: Shahd Salha

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

References • Cavan, V. (2012) “Agony aunt, hostage, intruder or friend? The multiple personas of

the interviewer during fieldwork.” Intangible capital, 8 (3), 548-563.

• Boon, S., Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (2007) "A phenomenographic study of

English faculty's conceptions of information literacy." Journal of documentation, 63

(2), 204-228.

• Hornung, E. (2013) On your own but not alone: one-person librarians in Ireland and

their perceptions of Continuing Professional Development. Library trends, 61 (3),

675-702.

• Salha, S. (2011) The variations and the changes in the school librarians'

perspectives of information literacy. PhD Thesis, Information School, University of

Sheffield. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1538/2/Salha,_Shahd.pdf

• Webber, S., Boon, S. and Johnston, B. (2005) “A comparison of UK academics’

conceptions of information literacy in two disciplines: English and Marketing.” Library

and information research, 29 (93), 4-15


Education

Phenomenographic interviews as a learning process