Data collection issues

I've been conducting some interviews for my PhD. I'm hoping to interview each of my particiants three times, so that the first interview is very open and exploratory, and subsequent interviews are more reflective (hermeneutic), even with jointly constructed reflection. That feels so much more of a challenge, and is something I'm struggling to do well. I'm taking this approach from the work of van Manen, whose work has been influential in helping me to visualise how the data collection will work. I also keep returning to Cohen, Kahn and Steeves 'Hermeneutic Phenomenological Research: A Practical Guide for Nurse Resarchers', which offers very good practical advice for carrying out interviews to meet different research needs. They talk about a different questioning approach according to whether you are asking about retrospective experiences or prospective (or ongoing) experiences. I feel I am doing both in my study, which can be a source of confusion for me when justifying my interview techniques.

One thing that is clear is that any time I have tried to experiment with questioning that is at all derived from hunches, say, from the last thing I read (I'll just throw it in and see what happens), it has really killed the flow of the interview and, I think, done some damage to the researcher-participant relationship. I think this is to do with asking a question that the participant cannot answer. It is a good lesson to learn early on. I must keep on telling myself that the best interview data is that which is meaningful and important to the participant. The interpretation and sense-making will be all the richer when participants are free to talk about their experiences on their own terms.

Another thing that I have stumbled over is how to get real narrative and 'anecdote' if participants have a tendency to talk in more abstract ways: 'what I tend to do is this, and sometimes that happens, and it makes me feel....' These are descriptive accounts in terms of general behaviour, but it calls for drilling down for examples. Sometimes, I don't know when to stop asking for examples, and I did push too hard on one occasion. If people are talking energetically, it can be difficult to keep track mentally of what has been illustrated in passing, and calling for further illustration might make it look as though you haven't been listening. I sometimes think I'm trying too hard.

Between the first and second/third interview, I'm asking participants to keep an event diary - just three events that occur in relation to being a mentor. I'm asking for a description of the event and a score on well-being scale. I hope that this will maintain a focus on feelings that can be reflected on in a subsequent interview. I'm also trying out rich pictures as a way of facilitating emotional expression (awareness and articulation).