Stephanie Schaidt - Ugandan Children's Literature and Its Implications for Cultural and Global Learning in TEFL

In the information phase, the interview partners were thanked for their participation and offered something to drink, after which the purpose of the interview was explained. The students were assured that their anonymity would be protected and it was stressed that there were no right or wrong answers to the questions. The informants were encouraged to talk from their own perspectives and experiences. In addition, the students were informed about the time frame of the interview and invited to take their time and talk about their experiences in detail.

The topic areas listed in the interview guide were then addressed. The following example of an interview guide used with Rebecca (case 11) may illustrate the procedure further:

1 Biographical data: personality and family, hobbies, experiences with languages and cultures

2 General experiences in the reading project: reflections upon expectations

3 Responses to individual books/stories: most impressive and least impressive text, encounters with foreignness, empathy with characters

4 Global topics: HIV/AIDS, child soldiers, gender issues

5 Conversations about literary texts with others

6 Further suggestions for reading project

7 Reflections upon changes in perspectives

8 Reflections upon school partnership with a Ugandan school

The interview was chosen as a research instrument for this study because it produces data with greater depth than other data collection methods (Cohen et al., 2011, p. 411). In an interview, opportunities for explaining ambiguities, making clarifications and elaborations are given. This helps to make the individual perspectives of the different subjects visible.

On the other hand, interviews are open to subjectivity and interviewer bias (Cohen et al., 2011, p. 411). Therefore, the person who is interviewing has to recognise her/his own bias and has to avoid “being judgemental” (Patton, 1980, p. 421). According to Nunan (1994, p. 150), “one source of bias is the asymmetrical relationship between the participants”. Interviewer and interviewee do not have the same rights and power and this may affect the interview. Therefore, the researcher should show maximum respect in an interview. Another source of bias can be the lack of anonymity of interviews. Because of the face-to-face contact with the researcher, interviews are particularly susceptible to social desirability bias. Sudman and Bradburn (1982, pp. 32–33) list a number of topics which are desirable and therefore often over-reported in interviews: being a good citizen (e.g. voting, taking a role in community activities), being a well-informed and cultural person (e.g. reading newspapers), fulfilling moral and social responsibilities (e.g. giving to charity). Topics such as illness and disabilities, illegal or contra-normative behaviour and financial status on the other hand are rather underreported in interviews, Sudman and Bradburn explain. The researcher has to be aware of this social desirability bias and consider it in her/his analysis.

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