Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Interactive remote interviews during emergency remote teaching

Christian D. Solorio, Elizabeth Gire, and David Roundy

  • Department of Physics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17, 020114 – Published 3 September, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020114

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has made conducting in-person research a health risk for interviewers and participants. Near the start of the pandemic, many universities pivoted to emergency remote teaching where courses were delivered remotely in observance of safety guidelines. The safety guidelines also necessitated that research be done remotely. We designed a remote interview protocol for a computational physics based qualitative interview. Using Zoom’s features, we created an interview that allowed participants many modes of interacting with the interviewer and the interview task materials. We present the interview methods and evaluate the utility of remote interviews. We then generalize the experiences from designing and conducting remote interviews for contexts outside of computational physics and describe how task design choices were influenced by technology. We find that conducting interactive remote interviews can be an effective method for physics education researchers even outside of the pandemic.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (25)

  1. R. Mirick and S. Wladkowski, Skype in qualitative interviews: Participant and researcher perspectives, Qualitative Rep. 24, 3061 (2019).
  2. L. Gray, G. Wong, G. Rempel, and K. Cook, Expanding qualitative research interviewing strategies: Zoom video communications, Qualitative Rep. 25, 1292 (2020).
  3. M. Sedgwick and J. Spiers, The use of videoconferencing as a medium for the qualitative interview, Int. J. Qualitative Methods 8, 1 (2009).
  4. H. Deakin and K. Wakefield, Skype interviewing: reflections of two PhD researchers, Qualitative Res. 14, 603 (2014).
  5. M. M. Archibald, R. C. Ambagtsheer, M. G. Casey, and M. Lawless, Using zoom videoconferencing for qualitative data collection: Perceptions and experiences of researchers and participants, Int. J. Qualitative Methods 18, 1609406919874596 (2019).
  6. D. R. Johnson, C. P. Scheitle, and E. H. Ecklund, Beyond the in-person interview? How interview quality varies across in-person, telephone, and Skype interviews, Soc. Sci. Comput. Rev. 0894439319893612 (2019), 10.1177/0894439319893612.
  7. P. Hanna, Using internet technologies (such as Skype) as a research medium: a research note, Qualitative Res. 12, 239 (2012).
  8. J. W. Creswell and J. W. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches, 3rd ed. (SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, 2013).
  9. J. K. Cater, Skype a cost-effective method for qualitative research, Rehabilitation Counselors Educators J. 4, 3 (2011).
  10. S. Weller, Using internet video calls in qualitative (longitudinal) interviews: some implications for rapport, Int. J. Soc. Res. Methodology 20, 613 (2017).
  11. C. A. Manogue and K. S. Krane, Paradigms in physics: Restructuring the upper, Phys. Today 56, No. 9, 53 (2003).
  12. L. Williams, R. R. Kessler, W. Cunningham, and R. Jeffries, Strengthening the case for pair programming, IEEE Softw. 17, 19 (2000).
  13. C. McDowell, B. Hanks, and L. Werner, Experimenting with pair programming in the classroom, in Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, ITiCSE ’03 (Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2003), pp. 60–64.
  14. C. McDowell, L. Werner, H. Bullock, and J. Fernald, The effects of pair-programming on performance in an introductory programming course, in Proceedings of the 33rd SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, SIGCSE ’02 (Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2002), pp. 38–42.
  15. L. Williams and R. L. Upchurch, In support of student pair-programming, ACM SIGCSE Bull. 33, 327 (2001).
  16. S. Weatherford and R. Chabay, Student predictions of functional but incomplete example programs in introductory calculus-based physics, in Proceedings of the 2019 Physics Education Research Conference (2013), pp. 42–45, https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=12934.
  17. M. T. H. Chi, P. J. Feltovich, and R. Glaser, Categorization and representation of physics problems by experts and novices, Cogn. Sci. 5, 121 (1981).
  18. A. Kimbrough, P. J. Emigh, J. W. Alfson, and E. Gire, Teaching gravitational potential energy: Student interaction with surface manipulatives, in Proceedings of the 2019 Physics Education Research Conference (2020), pp. 288–293, https://www.compadre.org/per/items/detail.cfm?ID=15288.
  19. C. A. Moylan, A. S. Derr, and T. Lindhorst, Increasingly mobile: How new technologies can enhance qualitative research, Qual. Soc. Work 14, 36 (2015).
  20. V. Lo Iacono, P. Symonds, and D. H. Brown, Skype as a tool for qualitative research interviews, Sociol. Res. Online 21, 103 (2016).
  21. X. Wang, S. Hegde, C. Son, B. Keller, A. Smith, and F. Sasangohar, Subjective well-being of Chinese Sina Weibo users in residential lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic: Machine learning analysis, J. Medical Internet Res. 22, e24775 (2020).
  22. M. É. Czeisler, R. I. Lane, E. Petrosky, J. F. Wiley, A. Christensen, R. Njai, M. D. Weaver, R. Robbins, E. R. Facer-Childs, L. K. Barger, C. A. Czeisler, M. E. Howard, and S. M. Rajaratnam, Mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic — United States, June 24–30, 2020, Morbidity Mortality Weekly Rep. 69, 1049 (2020).
  23. J. Xiong, O. Lipsitz, F. Nasri, L. M. W. Lui, H. Gill, L. Phan, D. Chen-Li, M. Iacobucci, R. Ho, A. Majeed, and R. S. McIntyre, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: A systematic review, J. Affective Disord. 277, 55 (2020).
  24. D. A. AlAteeq, S. Aljhani, and D. AlEesa, Perceived stress among students in virtual classrooms during the COVID-19 outbreak in KSA, J. Taibah Univ. Medical Sci. 15, 398 (2020).
  25. M. M. Husky, V. Kovess-Masfety, and J. D. Swendsen, Stress and anxiety among university students in France during Covid-19 mandatory confinement, Compr. Psychiatry 102, 152191 (2020).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation