essential-guide-to-qualitative-in-organizational-research

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE –––––––––– 49statement as reflecting the respondent’s frame of reference. The interviewee will commencehis/her story by recounting one of the events. Some events may be interwoven both in timeand in the mind of the respondent therefore the interviewer must listen carefully and probeappropriately to ensure that he/she has fully grasped the essential details.Controlling the interviewGeneric probes seek answers to the following types of question:What happened next?Why did it happen?How did it happen?With whom did it happen?What did the parties concerned feel?What were the consequences – immediately and longer term?How did the respondent cope?What tactics were used?Such generic probes are translated into specific questions, which relate to the context, languageand rapport of the specific interview. For example, some interjections by the interviewer mayseek clarification: ‘And he came in as a partner?’ They help control the flow of the interview andkeep the interviewer alert. They also give a breathing space to the respondent to gather her/histhoughts. In highly critical incidents with high emotive content the interview could becomea monologue. This is not desirable as the interview may ramble and lose focus. This militatesagainst gaining a genuine understanding by elucidating the nature of the context, which givesthe words their particular meaning. Thus the interviewer may seek further information until theyare satisfied that they do understand. It is important, however, that the interviewer does notdominate the discussion or interrogate the respondent; a balance must be struck.Concluding the interview and taking care of ethical issuesThe interview tends to come to an end naturally as the respondent concludes their account.Usually the interviewer will simply thank the respondent for their time and energy in givingsuch a complete and vivid account of the incidents in question. It may be that the researcheraims to give feedback in a short report or a business seminar. Certainly the researcher mustleave the impression that the interview was valuable and that any revelations will be treatedwith strict confidentiality. Such issues must be addressed before the researcher departs. It isalso a morale booster and valuable for the research if the interviewer can leave with a genuineand realistic feeling that s/he will be welcomed if s/he returns.Analysing the dataThe analytic process is likely to be based on a grounded approach; alternatively the researchermay have developed or adopted a conceptual framework, which he/she wishes to test.Grounded theory assumes that the researcher abandons preconceptions and through theprocess of analysis, builds up an explanatory framework through the conceptualization of the