2014
Evaluators read, write, collect data, think, make judgments, and... listen a lot. But, how well do we listen? Richard Kreuger (author of the classic Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research, Sage) talks about Qualitative Listening in this interview he gave to Susan Eliot, who published it on her blog The Listening Resource.
Qualitative listening requires "preparation, mindfulness, discipline, concentration, and strategies for capturing the data". For instance, the research interviewer needs to "make eye contact in such a way that the individual gets the feeling that you think what they are saying is important". He needs to be aware of his "hot buttons", which may spark an unwanted emotional reaction. He should talk slowly and make pauses, to let interviewees engage. Kreuger and Eliot's conversation is worth reading, to learn or refresh our know-how. And this blog has a lot of other interesting resources to build one's listening and researching skills.