MT355 Unit 8 Qualitative Interview Analysis Example

Being Watched From the Lobby: An MT355 Unit 8 Qualitative Analysis of Interviews With Adults Who Cannot Swim

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT355: Marketing Research and Analytics

Unit 8 Qualitative Analysis

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The swim school, interviewees and excerpts are composite; the methods and sources cited are real.

Method

Eleven semi-structured interviews, each 25 to 40 minutes, were conducted in November. Six interviewees came from the school's parent list, adults whose children take lessons but who cannot swim a length themselves. Five were recruited through a community center's evening classes, to include adults with no connection to the school. Interviews followed a guide with five open questions about swimming history, feelings about water, what would make lessons appealing, practical barriers and the school itself. Each interview was recorded with consent, transcribed and stripped of names.

Braun and Clarke (2006) describe thematic analysis as identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns in qualitative data through a process of familiarization, coding, theme development and review. This analysis followed that process. Willis (2005) recommends probing why a respondent gives an answer, and the interview guide used follow-up probes of that kind after each open question. I read every transcript twice before coding, then coded excerpts inductively, merged similar codes and wrote a codebook with a definition, an inclusion rule and an example for each.

Codebook and Counts

Six codes emerged. The counts below show in how many of the eleven interviews each code appeared at least once; they describe these interviews, not the population.

Fear of deep water or of putting the face in the water appeared in 9 interviews. Being watched from the viewing window appeared in 7. Wanting to swim with one's own children appeared in 6. Needing evenings after children's bedtime appeared in 5. A childhood scare in water appeared in 4. Price, raised without prompting, appeared in 2.

Fear

Fear was the most common theme and the most varied. Some interviewees feared deep water, others only putting their face in. One said, "I can stand in the shallow end all day. It's the moment my ears go under." Several said they would only join a class if they could stay in shallow water for the first weeks. This supports the survey's comfort items and suggests the class's first lessons should be in water where adults can stand.

Being Watched

Seven of eleven interviewees mentioned the school's lobby, where parents watch children's lessons through a large window. Every parent-list interviewee had sat in that lobby. "Everyone would see me hanging on to the wall," one said. Another said she would rather learn somewhere no one she knew could see. The survey's barrier list included embarrassment but not the viewing window specifically, so the survey could not show that a physical feature of the building was part of the barrier.

The interviews found something the survey could not: the barrier is not only feeling embarrassed but being seen, through a specific window, by people the adult knows.

Swimming With Children

Six interviewees, all parents, said they wanted to learn so they could swim with their own children. This was the strongest motive offered and suggests a message for the school's marketing.

Evenings After Bedtime

Five said they could only attend after their children's bedtime, around 8 p.m. This matches the inquiry log's emphasis on evenings and suggests later start times than the 7 p.m. the school had assumed.

Childhood Scare

Four described a frightening experience in water as children. These interviewees were the most hesitant about lessons and the most interested in a small class with a patient instructor.

What Surprised the Interviewer

Two findings were unexpected. First, several interviewees who had grown up near water, on lakes or coasts, were among the most fearful, because they had seen or heard of drownings. Second, interviewees from the community center were more interested in lessons than parent-list interviewees, perhaps because they had already chosen to take an evening class of some kind and had a routine for it. Both observations are based on very few people, but they suggest that the school's best prospects may not be only the parents already in its lobby.

Price

Only two raised price without being asked. This does not mean price is unimportant; the interview guide did not ask about price, and the survey's randomized price item tests it directly.

Second Coder

A second coder, a colleague with no involvement in the interviews, applied the codebook to three transcripts. Of 57 coded segments, the coders agreed on 47, or 82.5 percent. Most disagreements involved separating fear from childhood scare, which the codebook was revised to distinguish more clearly. Agreement at this level suggests the codebook can be applied consistently, though it is a simple percentage rather than a statistic that corrects for chance agreement.

How Far Eleven Interviews Can Go

Eleven interviews can show what matters to some adults and suggest themes worth testing. They cannot show how common those themes are in the population. The counts above are not percentages of anything beyond these eleven people. Malhotra (2019) cautions that qualitative findings should inform quantitative research or decisions, not substitute for measurement. The viewing window finding, for example, should be treated as a strong lead: the school might try covering the window during adult classes, but whether that would change enrollment can only be tested by offering it.

Links Between Themes

These patterns overlap. The interviewees most afraid of putting their face in the water were also most concerned about being watched, because, as one said, the moment of panic is the moment everyone would see. Parents who wanted to swim with their children were often the same parents who could only come after bedtime. Seeing these connections helps the school design one class that answers several concerns at once: a shallow start, a covered window and a late evening slot.

Limits

Interviewees were recruited through two channels and may not represent adults who use neither. All interviews were in English. The interviewer works for the school, which may have made interviewees more positive or more careful about criticizing it. One coder developed the codebook, and the second coder checked only three transcripts.

What the School Can Do

Three actions follow. First, cover the viewing window, or schedule adult classes when the lobby is closed, and mention this in the class description. Second, start adult classes at 8 p.m. rather than 7 p.m. at least once a week. Third, begin the first two lessons in shallow water and say so in advance.

References

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Malhotra, N. K. (2019). Marketing research: An applied orientation (7th ed.). Pearson.

Willis, G. B. (2005). Cognitive interviewing: A tool for improving questionnaire design. Sage.