Equal Opportunities in the Publishing Industry
1. Case Overview:
Mary, a part-time postgraduate student, concentrated her research project on equal opportunities in the publishing industry, considering career plans incorporation with her interest. With the method of template analysis, she planned to focus on her own company and a similar one in another publishing sector, by interviewing both staff and HR director in each company. Having designed a fairly structured interview schedule with 15 questions, she started her fieldwork, during which she found it was difficult to pin the interviewees down. With the help of her secretary Marlene, all the interviews were arranged, while later most were rearranged. What’s more, interviewees seemed a bit defensive and would not keep to the point in question, consequently Mary’s template couldn’t work and the outcomes of her research might be somehow tainted. Furthermore, when she went to interview the HR Director of her own organization, the Director was clearly unhappy.
2. Case Analysis:
To address the issue of people shifting interview appointments and the hostility from some of the interviewees, Mary should first and foremost be fully considerate by enabling interviewees more choices and disclose more information about her research to make them better informed. She should also be well prepared before the interview and make her questions more flexible, knowing clearly what she wanted to get out. Besides, more personal interaction like inviting people out to have a cup of coffee somewhere with a pleasant environment will definitely help.
When it comes to interviewees’ not keeping to the questions asked, Mary should find out various reasons hidden behind from the perspective of interviewees and then take actions correspondingly. They might be unfamiliar with the previously designed questions; in this case, Mary should reveal more information about her research. As to their concern of running themselves into trouble, Mary could discuss the whole research with the
Mary, a part-time postgraduate student, concentrated her research project on equal opportunities in the publishing industry, considering career plans incorporation with her interest. With the method of template analysis, she planned to focus on her own company and a similar one in another publishing sector, by interviewing both staff and HR director in each company. Having designed a fairly structured interview schedule with 15 questions, she started her fieldwork, during which she found it was difficult to pin the interviewees down. With the help of her secretary Marlene, all the interviews were arranged, while later most were rearranged. What’s more, interviewees seemed a bit defensive and would not keep to the point in question, consequently Mary’s template couldn’t work and the outcomes of her research might be somehow tainted. Furthermore, when she went to interview the HR Director of her own organization, the Director was clearly unhappy.
2. Case Analysis:
To address the issue of people shifting interview appointments and the hostility from some of the interviewees, Mary should first and foremost be fully considerate by enabling interviewees more choices and disclose more information about her research to make them better informed. She should also be well prepared before the interview and make her questions more flexible, knowing clearly what she wanted to get out. Besides, more personal interaction like inviting people out to have a cup of coffee somewhere with a pleasant environment will definitely help.
When it comes to interviewees’ not keeping to the questions asked, Mary should find out various reasons hidden behind from the perspective of interviewees and then take actions correspondingly. They might be unfamiliar with the previously designed questions; in this case, Mary should reveal more information about her research. As to their concern of running themselves into trouble, Mary could discuss the whole research with the