Project and
Methods:
Interview:
Spaces:

The researcher's space or the participants

Blux conducted half of their interviews in facility. A team of four people in the room interviewed, took notes, and ran technical equipment. Tweleve other designers were in a room near by watching live video of the interviews.

Women Who Play also held half of its interviews in facility at
Art Center's South Campus.

 

There are advantages to holding the interviews in the researcher's space or in-facility. More interviews can be conducted in one day. When conducting interviews in-facility, lighting, sound, backdrop and technology can be planned for and controlled. It may even be possible to set up an observation room for large groups to watch as the interviews happen. For Blux this was accomplished with video cameras and instant messaging software. Unfortunately, participants who choose to have in-facility interviews when they also had the option of a home interview tend to be more ambivalent about participating.

While they require greater trust and effort on the part of the participant, in-home interviews can lead to stronger results than other methods particularly when they include a in-home photo session. The ability to see where someone lives, how they organize their personal space, the things they choose to bring into it, is an opportunity that cannot be replaced by other methods. Even in a study that has nothing to do with the home per se, seeing a subjects home still has value. How they behave in their home and how they interact with the researchers in their home, all have meaning. Being in the person's home has advantages, but those advantages cannot be fully leveraged with out the use of still photography.

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