writing practice 3

Peter Orlando
Qual
Gregson
11.15.07

Thoughts on interviewing in SL.

Everyone is different; people find different way of wording the same questions and setting up and interview/conversation. I tended to go the friendly route, where I would make an effort of getting to know the person for a little bit; establish some rapport, and then go in for the questions. I found that this way people felt a stronger connection to me and didn't mind being interviewed as much. Some people went straight for the kill and they got answers that were often short and vague, the same type of answers you'd get if you were asked a series of interview questions on the street.
Another thing learned from this exercise is that vague questions usually receive vague answers. "What do you like about sl?" can yield things like "talking to people" or "concerts." This can be a unifying trait of many interviews and also where they begin to differ. If the interviewer has the cunning to ask an appropriate follow-up question, they will likely get the detail they desire, however these vague questions can kill a conversation… a simple "that’s interesting, why?" seems to work wonders.
More data is good until you have too much. That seems weird however data collection is a balance; you want enough to give yourself a good chance a gaining the result you were looking for, but not so much so that you are consumed by weeding through tons of irrelevant information. This seemed to be a proper amount of data; it was rather easy to sift through and most of it was not too long winded.
Accuracy again is a find balance in the world of interview. If you have too much info data can seem convoluted. If you lack enough data it can seem like you are forcing things that are irrelevant to fit your thesis. Again the key is finding a good balance of data that contains enough supporting data for your thesis without becoming convoluted.