I know I don’t read enough or even pick up a book in the baby room sometimes

3.8.2. Practitioner interviews

The practitioner semi-structured interviews carried out in November and December 2015 produced interesting qualitative data. The interview questions are presented in Appendix M. The qualitative data was analysed by entering into NVivo Pro 11, creating category nodes and coding themes. It was also analysed using “the six phases of thematic analysis” (Braun and Clarke, 2006, p. 81) and QCA (Schreier, 2012). After listening to each audio recording, I worked through the transcript from the beginning, noting and highlighting anything that seemed of potential interest and significance, as well as any impressions, thoughts, and ideas developing that linked to the research questions. I endeavoured to include synchronous communications, but found these to be quite difficult to read and primarily noted pauses. One of the interviews required explicit detail of mannerisms as this had become fundamental to the overall interview. The transcripts were read, analysed and coded to identify emerging themes. Braun and Clarke (2006) describe a theme as “capturing something important about the data in relation to the research question, which represents some level of patterned response or meaning within the data set” (p. 83). This was initially challenging as many aspects of the data were deemed important. I analysed responses to each question across the five participants and identified emerging themes. After analysing the survey data of the experiences of the practitioners supporting early reading development, I used the same approach with the interview data to continue the thread of gathering those experiences, both manually and using NVivo to check and align the data. The initial QCA coding frame illustrates that similar themes emerged alongside new themes:

Figure 3.7: Initial coding frame ‘Interviews’

After conducting the interviews with participants and returning the transcripts for approval, I experienced a great sense of anxiety and uncertainty, as all participants reflected upon their transcripts and requested to change sections of their conversations. I went back to the reading and literature surrounding interviews to develop further confidence in my approach and ability as a researcher. The process of “unknowing” as explained by Vasudevan (2011, p. 1154) happened at pertinent points across this research study. I often revisited ethical considerations proposed by Bertram et al., (2016), ensuring that I adhered to the “ethical standards for participants, which guarantees participants their rights, choice and opportunity to express their views freely on all matters concerning them” (p. vii). The five interviews presented me with the opportunity to review the initial survey questions, as well as the ability to add some context to some of the comments raised in the survey. A sample interview transcript is included in Appendix I. An overview of the interview participants is included below:

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