Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers

Scientific instruments often undergo calibration to ensure that they will produce results that meet or exceed defined criteria within a specified degree of confidence. Such calibration almost always refers to mechanical instruments, those used primarily in the physical sciences. Rarely is the notion...

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Main Authors:	Peredaryenko, Margarita Sergeevna, Krauss, Steven Eric
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Nova Southeastern University 2013
Subjects:	BF Psychology
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/73464/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/73464/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/73464/1/Calibrating%20the%20Human%20Instrument_%20Understanding%20the%20Interviewing.pdf

id	iium-73464
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-734642019-07-31T03:38:23Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/73464/ Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers Peredaryenko, Margarita Sergeevna Krauss, Steven Eric BF Psychology Scientific instruments often undergo calibration to ensure that they will produce results that meet or exceed defined criteria within a specified degree of confidence. Such calibration almost always refers to mechanical instruments, those used primarily in the physical sciences. Rarely is the notion of calibration used in relation to the social and human sciences, especially in the context of qualitative research where the human being is the main research instrument. The focus of this study was to explore the experiences of novice human instruments undergoing a process similar to that of calibration. In doing so, we studied how novice qualitative researchers perceived themselves as the research instrument in the process of their first qualitative interviewing experiences. The findings from interviews with four such novices were that their initial calibration gravitated towards one of two states — being “researcher - centered” or “informant - centered .” Their proximity to either of these two states was determined by how they identified with each of four dimensions: (a) where the knowledge of the phenomenon under study lies; (b) what kind of response the researcher received from his/her informants; (c) what kind of information the researcher is looking for; and (d) what kind of information the researcher eventually receives. The middle position on the continuum of states between researcher - centeredness and informant - centeredness is discussed in relation to complexity theory. Nova Southeastern University 2013 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/73464/1/Calibrating%20the%20Human%20Instrument_%20Understanding%20the%20Interviewing.pdf Peredaryenko, Margarita Sergeevna and Krauss, Steven Eric (2013) Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers. The Qualitative Report, 18 (43). pp. 1-17. ISSN 1052-0147 E-ISSN 2160-3715 https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1449&context=tqr
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	BF Psychology
spellingShingle	BF Psychology Peredaryenko, Margarita Sergeevna Krauss, Steven Eric Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers
description	Scientific instruments often undergo calibration to ensure that they will produce results that meet or exceed defined criteria within a specified degree of confidence. Such calibration almost always refers to mechanical instruments, those used primarily in the physical sciences. Rarely is the notion of calibration used in relation to the social and human sciences, especially in the context of qualitative research where the human being is the main research instrument. The focus of this study was to explore the experiences of novice human instruments undergoing a process similar to that of calibration. In doing so, we studied how novice qualitative researchers perceived themselves as the research instrument in the process of their first qualitative interviewing experiences. The findings from interviews with four such novices were that their initial calibration gravitated towards one of two states — being “researcher - centered” or “informant - centered .” Their proximity to either of these two states was determined by how they identified with each of four dimensions: (a) where the knowledge of the phenomenon under study lies; (b) what kind of response the researcher received from his/her informants; (c) what kind of information the researcher is looking for; and (d) what kind of information the researcher eventually receives. The middle position on the continuum of states between researcher - centeredness and informant - centeredness is discussed in relation to complexity theory.
format	Article
author	Peredaryenko, Margarita Sergeevna Krauss, Steven Eric
author_facet	Peredaryenko, Margarita Sergeevna Krauss, Steven Eric
author_sort	Peredaryenko, Margarita Sergeevna
title	Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers
title_short	Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers
title_full	Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers
title_fullStr	Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers
title_full_unstemmed	Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers
title_sort	calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers
publisher	Nova Southeastern University
publishDate	2013
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/73464/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/73464/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/73464/1/Calibrating%20the%20Human%20Instrument_%20Understanding%20the%20Interviewing.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:44:09Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:44:09Z
_version_	1777413337598918656

Calibrating the human instrument: understanding the interviewing experience of novice qualitative researchers

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