Sharing interview questions in advance: Methodological considerations in applied linguistics research

Sharing interview questions in advance: Methodological considerations in applied linguistics research

2024 | Åsta Haukås* and Therese Tishakov
This article explores the methodological and ethical considerations of sharing interview questions with participants in advance, a practice that is underexplored in applied linguistics research. The authors argue that sharing interview questions can enhance participant engagement, reflexivity, and the quality of responses, while also reducing interview anxiety. However, this practice may introduce risks such as participant bias and predetermined answers. The article reviews existing practices in research on language teacher ideologies and beliefs and discusses the ethical dimensions involved. It also presents the experiences of six Norwegian English teachers who were given access to all interview questions in advance to prepare for interviews about their teaching beliefs on multilingualism. The study concludes that sharing interview questions in advance can benefit both participants and the quality of research, suggesting that it should be a standard practice in qualitative research.This article explores the methodological and ethical considerations of sharing interview questions with participants in advance, a practice that is underexplored in applied linguistics research. The authors argue that sharing interview questions can enhance participant engagement, reflexivity, and the quality of responses, while also reducing interview anxiety. However, this practice may introduce risks such as participant bias and predetermined answers. The article reviews existing practices in research on language teacher ideologies and beliefs and discusses the ethical dimensions involved. It also presents the experiences of six Norwegian English teachers who were given access to all interview questions in advance to prepare for interviews about their teaching beliefs on multilingualism. The study concludes that sharing interview questions in advance can benefit both participants and the quality of research, suggesting that it should be a standard practice in qualitative research.
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