Meta-Inquiry: An Approach to Interview Success

Abstract

Developing an effective interview strategy presents unique challenges for the novice and master researcher for if the questions one asks are not crucial, then differences in responses are not crucial either (Creswell, 1998, p. 335). To focus qualitative research in the human ecology of the study, our strategy uses an initial interview protocol and preanalysis process, called meta-inquiry, prior to developing our formal interview protocol. Meta-inquiry of initial interview data, obtained in dialogue with key informants in the researched culture, provides us with an inductive tool to assess, modify, enhance, and focus the formal interview protocol. Thus, preparing for the research journey requires a human ecology-based interview protocol to acquire data from which concepts, categories, properties, and theory can emerge.