Today’s Plan:
- Interviews and Focus Groups
- Homework
Interviews
Like focus groups, interviews are also constructed around recording responses to open-ended questions. Asking “yes” no questions, even with a “why?” follow up, tends to be counter productive.
For instance, don’t ask: “do you think gender portrayal in AAA video games is improving? … Why / not?” That might be an okay warm up question in a focus group (maybe), but if you’ve properly researched your interview subject, then you should be able to ask a more pointed, substantive question (move from attitudes to ideas): “What are some recent examples of games that are moving gender portrayal in more positive directions?” Or “Why, as the industry as a whole moves toward more positive portrayals, do you think games like Daddy’s Sugar Factory are still popular?” Good interviews will prompt experts to *think* rather than merely respond. And, like a good focus group leader, a good interviewer will be attuned to a subject’s comfort and mood–they can notice agitation and work to pull something more out of the subject (subtly re-asking a question).
So while you should enter an interview with a script of questions, you should also treat them as more free-flowing encounters. Great interviewers adapt their tone and approach to the specifics of the situation, paying close attention to their subject’s deportment and comfort level as the interview goes on.
Resources on interviews:
- Jimenez, Orozco, “Prompts, Not Questions: Four Techniques for Crafting Better Interview Protocols”
- Dean Nelson on interviews
What is a prompt?
The goal of the prompt is not to get the respondent to answer a specific question but rather to provide the respondent with a device to think through and discuss a set of topics.
Let me try an example. Lets say I was going to interview someone on LGBTQ+ representation in video games. I could ask them a question like: “Do you think we need better representation in video games?” But this is a bad question. First, it is *really* leading them to say yes. Second, it is a “yes/no” question and offers them nothing to work through. What happens if I follow J&O’s four prompts?
My first question might become something like this:
- Grand Tour #1: Where do you think we are in terms of representation of LGBTQ+ characters in games today as opposed to ten years ago? What milestones do you think of?
- Grand Tour #2: For National Coming Out Day, Bungie officially announced the sexual orientations of 4 main characters. They identified St. 14 as gay, Eramis as lesbian, Mara Sov as bisexual, and Drifter as pansexual. What is your perspective on this kind of official announcement?
- Counterfactual: So would you say we are past the point where these kinds of announcements matter?
- Comparison: How do you compare what Bungie is doing here to, say, what Naughty Dog did in the opening chapters of Last of Us 2? [Follow up #1: If you had to chose one, which move is more impactful, LoU2 or Destiny? Follow up #2: How would you respond to accusations that LoU2 is gratuitous, using sexual activity as a selling point?]
- No-Limits: What kinds of backlash do you think Bungie might face regarding this move? [Follow up: how might they best handle this backlash?]
My first two questions are both grand tour questions–I go from a general question to a reaction regarding a specific event. I move into counter-factual as a kind of follow up (counter-factual, because I imagine that my respondent WOULD think that representation matters a lot).
What happens if I follow Jimenez and Orozco and turn this question into a prompt? Something like:
Let’s take 5 minutes and think about how you might use J&O’s frame work to craft an interview question about gun policy, vaping, climate change, or some other topic. Indicate what kind of prompt you are crafting. Let’s put those questions here.
Focus Groups
Today I want to spend some time exploring focus groups. Focus groups can come in one of two generic flavors–either simple question/response (more common) or activity-based (less common). The value of a focus group lies in collecting a variety of perspectives *and* recording how people react to the ideas/opinions/experiences of other people. There is something unpredictably inventive, or choric, about the kind of dynamic conversations that focus groups can prompt.
- Group size: 3-5, 6-8
- Record discussion, assistant moderator takes notes
- Generate an outline and a “script” of questions
- Welcome
- Overview of Topic
- Ground Rules
- First Question [Build Trust]
- Follow Up Strategies
- Second Question [Probe Attitudes]
- Third Question [React to Commonplace / New Information]
- Sample questions / activities
- How to synthesize data
Let’s start by walking through this guide to focus groups by Richard Krueger.
Outside of academia, focus groups are generally used by marketing researchers.
You will also encounter focus groups in local journalism and political research
Homework
Read the Corder essay and complete the post in Canvas.
Over the weekend I am going to ask everyone to focus on their methodology–even if I haven’t commented on the proposals yet, go back into your proposal and revise the primary research section. [If you are simply doing “extra research,” then just spend time doing research].
