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Expert Interviews are research interviews that you hold with recognized experts in the field you are researching.
What it is: After you have completed your initial secondary research on your topic, it is time to contact experts in the field to help you answer the questions you have about the company, industry, or process you are researching. Experts can bring context to your research and help you identify additional factors, trends, etc. to consider in your research. The most critical parts of expert interviews are developing the questionnaire you will use in the interviews and identifying and contacting the experts you will interview.
What it does: Experts allow you to ask questions that will bring clarity to the research topic. They can give you new directions to search and add richness to your understanding. The experts can keep you from drawing incorrect conclusions from the research, give you new directions to consider, and help you identify the implications of what you have learned.
How it is used: Expert interviews are used to further your secondary research before you try focus groups or surveys. They help you understand the implications of current trends and factors you are facing. They help give direction to efforts in focus groups and surveys. They are great consultants for the conclusions you have already drawn and an ideation focus for further conclusions.
Where: You can find experts with knowledge about companies, industries, processes, etc. Whatever you are researching, there have people who have gone before you and know more than you do on the subject. You can look to executives, researchers, consultants, academics, keynote speakers at conferences, attendees at conferences, retired experienced individuals, and many others. Watch the Three Phone Call video and read that page in the Experiential Learning Reference Library to learn about how to find experts on any topic.
Why: Experts can help you avoid pitfalls and historical traps because they have seen them many times before. They can help you focus your research on the most important points. Speak to more than one expert; you do not want to be influenced by one expert’s personal biases on the research topic.
Where it shouldn't be used: Be careful if you are researching something you want to keep confidential.An expert could steal your idea or give it to others. If you are working for a company that does not want others to know they are considering entering a new market, buying a company, etc., then you do not want to represent your organization when you speak with the expert.
Any restrictions: It is possible that an expert may try and mislead you for their own selfish purposes. That is another reason to speak with more than 1–2 experts. Warnings: if you are getting patents on a process,composition, or application for your idea, have non-disclosure agreements (NDA) or other protections for your idea before you talk to experts.
[Videos]
Tips for getting the most out of SME interviews:
What makes a good interview?—Advanced qualitative methods:
5.3 Unstructured, Semi-Structured and Structured Interviews:
Identify what you hope to learn from an expert interview
What are the key findings from your secondary research, such as trends, facts, features, forecasts, pain points, new advances, etc.?
What do you want to confirm from your previous research?
How do you want to clarify and expand your understanding?
What have you missed in the secondary research that the expert can help you find?
What conflicting opinions from your previous research can the expert help you resolve?
What new or additional directions should you consider in your research?
Create a semi-structured interview guide to assist you during the interview.
Identify which experts you will interview (see the Find an Expert: Three Phone Call Rule in the Experiential Learning Reference Library).
Contact the experts and schedule or implement your interviews.
Document key points and determine whether you will need to interview additional experts.
Use codification to consolidate the common information between expert interviews.
Qualitative analysis of interview data: A step-by-step guide for coding/indexing
Standard research note-taking should be sufficient. You will not need a specific template. But it can be helpful to use codification to document the insights from the interviews: Coding Qualitative Data.
The second coding example is shown in the following video:
Qualitative Coding Tutorial: How To Code Qualitative Data For Analysis (4 Steps + Examples)
Keep your original interview notes for future reference. These notes can be included in the report appendix if appropriate. Consolidate the notes with the other expert interviews.
This content is provided to you freely by Ensign College.
Access it online or download it at https://ensign.edtechbooks.org/projectbased_internships/expert_interview.
