Research Design and Dissertation

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, University of Lincoln, language: English, abstract: According to Taylor and Bogdan (1984), in-depth interviews are continual face-to-face encounters between the researcher and the informants' perceptions on their lives, situations or experiences as expressed in their personal words. Therefore, in-depth interviews are a face to face conversation between the interviewer and interviewee which is normally the expression of their own words. This paper is going to discuss an in-depth interview which is rooted in an analysis of qualitative data. The interview is about the International work experience of a person Alex (fictional name) who has 36 years of work experiences in different foreign countries (Nigeria, Benin, Congo, Angola, Germany, Holland, France, Austria, Italy, South Africa, Russia etc). The reason for choosing this topic is the author's own interest in the working experience of foreign countries. International work experience is very fascinating topic now-a-days. A lot of people after completing their graduation wanted to have an international work experience. Therefore, it is interesting to share the international work experiences of others with those who are interested.

The first section of this essay will discuss the methods used by the author to conduct a successful interview. This section will discuss a brief biography sketch to whom the author decided to interview and how, why the author contacted with the interviewee and arranged the interview. Later, the second section will discuss the interpretation of the most related elements of the interview. The author scrutinizes the interview by using background literature in this section. The final section will deal with the troubles faced during the interview and the strengths and weakness of the method based upon an evidence of the author's experience. In appendix 1, an interview schedule with the pre-planned, pre-planned but not asked questions and spontaneous questions asked in this interview are included. Finally, appendix 2 represents a sample transcript with the most significant parts of the interview with the application of transcription techniques.