Interviewing Women, LGB, and Gender-Nonconforming/Transgender Persons: A Guide

Step 1: Identify an Interviewee

If you elect to do the interview (and report), you will undertake a much differentset of assignment activities. Instead of doing secondary research (i.e., readingabout research done by others), you will do primary research by gathering firsthand information from the woman, lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) person,and/or gender-nonconforming/transgender person you interview. In addition toarranging for and conducting the interview, you will need to prepare a writtenreport of the interview.

Follow these steps to prepare your interview and written report:

1. To begin, identify a woman, LGB person, and/or gendernonconforming/transgender person who would be able and willing toparticipate in an interview. They might be someone in your own family, afamily friend, or someone suggested by a friend or colleague. Ideally, theperson you interview should have extensive experience working for payand/or working at home and be able to talk comfortably and in some detailabout their current work situations.

2. Once you have identified a potential interviewee, contact that person todetermine if they would be willing to participate in an interview.

3. Complete the Recruitment Form for Assignment 2B. The recruitment formwill help you explain the interview process to your interview subject. Besure to describe the purpose of the interview and let the subject know thatthis activity is part of an AU course assignment.

4. Review the ethical obligations you have as a researcher. First, tell theinterviewee that you will guarantee their anonymity, which means that yowill not write up the interview in any way that would reveal theinterviewee’s name or any personal details that would allow them to beidentified. Second, assure the interviewee that you will treat allinformation they provide as confidential, which means that you will not share thisinformation with family members, friends, or coworkers. Finally, tell theinterviewee that they have the right to refuse to answer any question asked.Should the subject then agree to an interview, you can arrange for a timeand place that is convenient for them. When you begin the interview, reiterate your promises on these three points.

5. Complete three copies of the Consent Form for Assignment 2B. Review thecontent of the form with your interview subject and, if they agree to theinterview, have them sign and date all copies. Leave one copy with them,mail the hard copy or email a scanned copy to your tutor (contact yourtutor for a mailing address), and keep a copy for your files. Do not conductthe interview until you have a signed consent form.

6. Before the interview, prepare a list of questions that you intend to ask thesubject about their work experience. You may want to discuss their workhistory, how they moved through different jobs, and how they havecombined their paid and unpaid work, or you might want to focus on theircurrent work situation by exploring what they do now and how they feelabout it. You will need to decide if you want to do a structured interview, inwhich you prepare 15 to 20 specific questions that you ask in a particularorder, or a semistructured interview, in which you prepare 5 to 10 broadquestions to which the interviewee can respond at greater length and forwhich the order is less important.In developing your interview questions, reflect on the assigned readings forUnit 2 and on the current situation of women, LGB people, and/or gendernonconforming/transgender people working in Canada. You may want toask questions that touchonthefollowingissues:The interviewee’s education and trainingChallenges that the interviewee has had in gaining access topostsecondary education of their choiceHow the interviewee found their current job and how it relates totheir past employmentThe interviewee’s current paid jobThe interviewee’s reasons for working, and their feeling about theirworkThe interviewee’s working conditions (e.g., hours of work, place ofwork, health and safety, stress)The interviewee’s experiences in nontraditional jobs, masculine workenvironments, and expectations about gender performanceThe interviewee’s experiences with disability and accessibility ineducation and their workplace(s)The interviewee’s experiences as a single parent, and unpaid and paidwork