Hello,
I am working on budgeting for my dissertation, which involves conducting qualitative, one-on-one interviews virtually. I am working on my budgeting plan as part of research grant, and a research grant application that I am completing.
I am wondering what items/factors should I consider in my budgeting plan? I have so far ascribed some of the funding in the plan for honoraria and support with transcription through a Research Assistant.
What are other considerations that I should have? Please share any thoughts or considerations you may have as this will greatly support me.
Many thanks in advance,
Riham A.
Hello!
some thoughts - without any further background informatin of your concrete plans:
Budget for transcription is definitely a good idea. As I do not know if you have experience with interviews - at least think about 1:4 (1h interview ~ takes you 4 hours to transcribe, if you are rather fast).
Do you plan to use open source software for transcription and data analyis / is some software available at your University? Otherwise, I would consider to put it on your budget too.
Another issue: How do you plan to recruit your interviewees? We made the recent experience that - due to COVID 19 - we had to find our interviewees online. And it was helpful that we could offer some incentive - a voucher as a "thank you for participating" in some cases - depending on the topic and the duration of the interview. We did also consider professional recruiting (which is offered, but is also rather expensive).
Finally: Technical equipement for conducting online interviews (which is currently always at least Plan B) - such as headset or else.
In case you plan to conduct face-to-face interviews, travel expenses might be an issue.
All the best,
Eva
I think Eva already answered this very well, so I don't have much to add in terms of how to set up the budget itself, but I do have a general recommendation for recording software in case you are planning on conducting primarily online interviews (which is recommended due to the current pandemic).
Up until now, I have generally used a program called SnagIt to record my interviews, and it is both easy to set up and use. Just make sure that you inform your respondents that you will be using it, and that their informed consent also makes it to the recording. It involves hitting a couple of buttons, and your interview will be recorded as a handy video- and / or sound file of your chosen format. I am unsure about licensing costs, but again - it's good and easy to use. If you decide to get it, you should do a couple of test runs before each interview, to make sure that you are comfortable with the software and that everything works (this also includes the client you will be using to contact your respondents - be it Skype, Discord, Messenger, or others).
I would also consider adding some hours to your transcription budget IF you have decided to use Jefferson-type transcription (featuring unspoken items like hesitation, silence, use of obvious sarcasm, etc.), as that generally takes a lot longer than "regular" qualitative interviews.
Lastly, as Eva also already noted, make sure you have a decent plan B in case of technological difficulties. You'd be surprised at how often "unforeseen" things happen, such as someone remembering an appointment they had when they were supposed to be interviewed, Internet downtime, etc. One way to get around this is to simply send the interview guide to those you cannot interview, and have them fill it out themselves in whatever program they have available. Not ideal, but also not a terrible way of ensuring that you will get good answers. Just make sure to note this in your dissertation, and remember to stay open and transparent on any errors you feel that you have made a long the way.
Good luck!
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