Interviews and Focus Groups

CHASR has the capability, capacity, and expertise to conduct and support a variety of interview and focus group techniques:

  • One-on-one interviews
  • Dyadic (two-person) interviews
  • Multi-participant methods of data collection:
    • Group interviews (conducting one-on-one interviews with more than one person at a time)
    • Focus groups (interaction between participants is encouraged)
    • Sharing circles
    • Workshops and events
  • Moderating and/or co-moderating
  • Note-taking

Data may be collected either:

  • Synchronously: (Live) Through face-to-face data collection, over the telephone, or online via virtual platform (i.e., Zoom, Microsoft Teams).
  • Asynchronously: Through access to several virtual platforms available through the University of Saskatchewan.

CHASR has a 16-seat focus group room located on the University of Saskatchewan campus. Catering may be offered and arranged for any CHASR-supported focus group, regardless of whether the group is held on-campus or off-campus. If CHASR is responsible for data collection (i.e., an employee of CHASR is conducting the interviews or focus groups) then data recording services are included.

The qualitative specialists at CHASR have a combined 20 years’ experience in qualitative data collection ranging from small interview projects to large-scale focus group projects. The variety of data collection methods we have available allows us to adapt to changing study needs.

Studies have ranged from exploratory to evaluative, and have involved populations including youth, practitioners, patients, faculty, administrators, government officials, industry operators, consumers, senior citizens, and members of Indigenous communities. Topics of study we have collected data on include sexual harassment, online learning, bullying, patient experiences, educational satisfaction, feasibility testing, sustainability, ALS, mental health, cancer survivorship, strategic planning, among many others.

Although we have interview and focus group spaces on campus, our mobility is vast as past studies have included a variety of settings including schools, residential homes, community-based organizations, and northern communities. Virtual capabilities also facilitate online inter-provincial and pan-Canadian data collection via online focus groups or teleconferences.

Transcription

Available to researchers and clients who are accessing other CHASR research services or supports (i.e., interviews or focus groups), CHASR provides quality, timely, and cost-effective transcription services of interviews, focus groups, meetings, lectures, and other digital and analog audio recordings.

Our transcription services include AI-supported transcription through Rev. Rev is highly accurate and through the critical quality review phase, we can quickly generate a transcript that precisely reflects the audio, and can be adapted to meet the project’s needs.

  • Clean transcription: In a clean transcript, we remove repetitive utterances deemed not meaningful to the data (i.e., um’s, uh’s, yeah, so, like, you know).

  • Full transcription: We type absolutely everything audible; every impartial thought, every cough, sneeze, etc.

  • Identified or De-identified

  • Secure methods of data transfer and storage: University of Saskatchewan managed systems/secure servers.

  • Trained university students: Each quality reviewer signs confidentiality/ethical adherence forms and have their TCPS2: CORE ethics certificate.

  • Accuracy: A level of accuracy surpassing other automatic transcription modalities (quality control via veteran lab personnel).

  • Quick turn-around: Typically, hour-long files can be delivered within two to three business days of receiving audio.