Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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day. Finally, the information gathered from the logs is immediate, focussing on the work day that has just finished
and discovering examples of positive events. This is in stark contrast to both the interview and focus group phases
which look for examples of events which have occurred over a longer period of time (Reis & Gable, 2000).
With respect to the interview process, one of the methodological issues relates to the appreciative nature of
the study. The conventional premise of semi-structured interviewing is that interesting and important
developments throughout the process can be investigated in further detail, allowing divergence from the pre-set
agenda. Therefore, despite the interview agenda focussing on the positive aspects of an individual participants’
past experiences, the process would potentially allow the interviews to become an opportunity for individuals to
‘vent their frustrations’. Therefore the role of the interviewer was not solely to ask questions and gather important
data, but to facilitate and control the interview process and maintain the emphasis on the positive where possible.
For researchers without the necessary facilitation skills this would be difficult, although the lead researcher within
the presented study has the skill and experience to ensure good interview outcomes
In a critique similar to this, the utilisation of focus group methodologies within appreciative techniques can
be laced with difficulty. While the premise of focus groups is to generate ideas and knowledge from the
understanding of shared group experiences, an unhappy group of participants can potentially take group
discussions as a chance to be destructive, illustrating problems they may have encountered, rather than
constructive and thus appreciative. Again therefore the skill of the lead focus group interviewer as a facilitator of
the positive, helping to tease together the positive examples and potential improvements, was important within
the process. As such recognition of when the group discussion is becoming negative, and as such not helping to
build on the positive exceptions, is a potential issue which may be difficult for researchers to identify. Also, keeping