Blog #9 Interview Protocol

Because I did not draft an interview protocol during the early parts of the research assignment, I did not have a consistent list of questions  in my interview transcript.
I only wanted to get very basic information from the interviewees about their usage of SMS texting and communication software on their phones and personal computers.  At the time, I thought that whatever I got from the interviewee would 'tell the story', not the interviewees themselves.


I ended up creating two lists of questions.  They went as follows:

First set (used only for the first interviewee)

Q: How many times do you text on the phone on a given day?

Q: Are you texts usually short, or are they long?

Q:Favorite choice of words?

Q: Okay, so would you say when you text people, would you say your language (or style) changes depending on who you're texting to, say for example, coworkers, family members, friends?

Q: I see. Aside from that, how many text messages would you receive, say, on a given week?

Q: Alright....and how long would you say these texts are? Are they usually one sentence in length, or more?

Second set drafted on April 26

1. How many times do you text on the phone on a given day?

2. Are your texts usually short, or are they long?

3. Do you text more than you call?  If so, why?  When you are on your computer, and you're talking to people over the Internet, do you prefer to use instant messaging or videoconferencing services such as Skype?  If you prefer one over the other, why?

4. If you could estimate, how many do you receive in a week?

5. Do you text in the same 'style' with everyone in your contact list?  For example, would you text in short, abbreviated sentences versus longer messages, depending on who you are talking to?   Would you say your 'style' changes depending who you text?

6. What are your favorite words,acronyms and abbreviations?  Do you prefer to use abbreviations, or do you have a preference for writing fuller sentences?   Why?