Paper Example on Phone Interview at Walden University: Data Collection & Instrumentation

Introduction

The phone interview was carried out over the phone. The interview location was Walden University. The duration of data collection was about 10 minutes. The data was recorded over the phone. There were no unusual circumstances in the interview.

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Instrumentation

Data collection was carried out using open-ended questions. A total of four questions were asked. Each of the questions had a probing question to further seek more clarifications on the phenomenon of interest to the interview. For instance, in the first question, the interviewee was asked: "Can you tell me what program you are in at Walden?" The following probing question followed this, "And what year did you start?" The data collection tool was developed by myself. Consequently, the data collection tool had not been previously used with other participants other than the current interviewee. I believe that the interview questions are appropriate for the current study because they address all the significant issues related to graduate student's experiences of social change at Walden University.

Data Analysis

Description of Codes, Categories, and Themes Emerging from the Interview

First Cycle Coding. The term first cycle coding refers to the process of looking for distinct concepts and categories in the data, which act as the foundation for further analysis of qualitative data (Aurini, Heath, & Howells, 2016; Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, & Jackson, 2015; Klenke, 2016; Mills & Birks, 2014; Saldana, 2015). A coding pattern is characterized by causation, correspondence, sequence, frequency, difference, and similarity of things (Salma Patel, 2014). Following coding of data, themes emerge.

First cycle coding utilizes descriptive codes. This refers to the use of single words or short descriptions to identify what is going on in the content of the interview. One of the simple descriptions that emerge from the first interview question is that the interviewee is a graduate student of public health, specifically community health. From the response to question 2, it is evident that even before joining Walden University Public Health Community Health graduate program, the interviewee was interested in ensuring that the African American community from which he comes from have improved blood pressure. Consequently, the concept that comes to mind is that the interviewee sees herself as a social change agent. As a social change agent, the interviewee explained that while undertaking his graduate program at Walden University, he developed a program aimed at promoting good diets and exercise among the African American community. Consequently, it can be seen that the interviewee was very keen, even before joining the graduate program, in helping to lower the prevalence of blood pressure-related health complications through exercise and diet.

From the interview, it is also worth noting that the interviewee had an innate conceptual understanding of social change before joining Walden. This is underscored by the fact that social change mission did not necessarily inform his choice of Walden, but the university has helped broaden his understanding of social change. Consequently, it can be inferred that Walden University widened the interviewee's scope and understanding of social change and ways of implementing it at the community level. Lastly, from interviewee's response to the last interview question, it can be inferred that Walden University has helped the interviewer to have better conceptualization and operationalization of social change. Following his enrolment and Walden training, the interviewer describes social change as activities or strategies aimed at improving the living condition of people, e.g., food and exercise programs aimed at lowering the blood pressure in the African American communities.

Second cycle coding. Second cycle coding refers to the reorganization and condensing of the diverse and many initial analytic details into the final categories or into what is usually referred to as the main dish (Bertram, 2016; Cooksey & McDonald, 2019; Friese, 2014; Saldana, 2014; Saldana, 2015). In conducting second cycle coding, it is essential to review the first cycle codes and start reorganizing and subsuming. Also, in second cycle coding, the qualitative data analysis first cycle codes are placed in broader categories. Therefore, second cycle coding can be define as the act of recoding the first cycle codes.From the descriptive first cycle coding above, some categories emerge. One of the categories that emerge is African American community wellness. It is evident that the interviewer is keen to ensure that his African American community realizes the decreased prevalence of blood-pressure-related diseases. The second category that can be derived from first cycle coding is an innate drive for social change. The internal drive to realize social change can be seen in the interviewer's long history of wanting to ensure that appropriate health intervention strategies (e.g., food and physical exercise) are implemented at the community level to realize decreased incidence of high blood pressure. The interviewer was focused on realizing this despite his lack of academic background in social change. The third category that arises from second cycle coding is a better understanding of social change. Following the participant's enrolment at Walden University, he reported having an improved understanding of what social change entails.

References

Aurini, J. D., Heath, M., & Howells, S. (2016). The how to of qualitative research: Strategies for executing high quality projects. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Bertram, M. (2016). The strategic role of software customization: Managing customization-enabled software product development. New York, NY: Springer.

Cooksey, R., & McDonald, G. (2019). Surviving and thriving in postgraduate research. New York, NY: Springer.

Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R., & Jackson, P. R. (2015). Management and business research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Friese, S. (2014). Qualitative data analysis with atlas. Ti. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Klenke, K. (2016). Qualitative research in the study of leadership. Emerald Group Publishing.

Mills, J., & Birks, M. (2014). Qualitative methodology: A practical guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Saldana, J. (2014). Thinking qualitatively: Methods of mind. Thousand Oaks, CA; SAGE Publications.

Saldana, J. (2015). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Salma Patel. (2014). A guide to coding qualitative data. Retrieved from https://salmapatel.co.uk/academia/coding-qualitative-research/