PRECIOS Y COSTOS

anyone who possesses a certain asset or capability. SUPPORT

SCALES

Multiple-item instruments to elicit reports about the support received to be available or the support actually received.

“From time to time, people ask for help with small jobs in the house. Who are the people you usually ask for this kind of help?”

By identifying the data needed to answer the research question, tools were selected and brought together into a coherent instrument. The type of instrument was then used to guide the decision on which method to apply in order to optimise data collection. After careful consideration and discussion with experts in SNA, it was decided that two instruments were needed to collect network data for this study: questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Each would serve a slightly different purpose. Questionnaire data were needed to help answer the question of ‘who’ was involved in the PCN and to some extent ‘why’ they were. However, they would not give in-depth information on the latter, nor on ‘how’ they are involved or in ‘what’ way the network functions. Semi-structured interviews were put in place to address these aspects and enrich the data deriving from the questionnaire (see section 2.5.2.2).

The study questionnaire was designed with the intention to provide quantitative information for the PCN in older people with multimorbidity. The majority of questions were close-ended, allowing comparison of the specific data. In the study of egocentric networks, one of the frequently used tools for data collection are name generators. These are questions used to elicit data on the individual relationships in a network. They look for the ‘role’ in relations (e.g. friends or neighbours), aspects of relational forms (e.g. closeness or frequency of contact)

and specific types of resource transfer or exchange (e.g. information). Depending on the research question, different tools can be preferred or added. Name interpreters, for example, can follow name generator questions to gather more information on attributes (e.g. race and age) of alters, property information of the ego alter ties (e.g. emotional closeness) or information on relationships among alters themselves. Other examples of common tools in (egocentric) SNA are given in Table 2.

Further details on sampling, the process of data collection as well as the development and pilot testing of the questionnaire can be found in section 2.6. The analysis process and results are outlined in Chapter Four.

2.5.2.2 Semi-structured interviews

Although interviews could be used as stand-alone method for data collection (Lazar et al., 2010; Silverman, 2011), in this study they added richness and depth to the data and complemented the questionnaire data by providing information on patients’ experiences of interactions in the PCN. In other words, the questionnaires collected data on ‘who’ is involved, whereas the interviews focused on ‘what’ that involvement entailed and ‘how’ those people were involved.

Decision on the structure of interviews

Regardless of the way in which interviews are used, a decision had to be made in terms of the type of interview that would be most suitable. Three main types of interviews have been reported. The terms used to refer to these types differed across the literature, but incorporated: unstructured, semi-structured and structured interviews (Lazar et al., 2010; Preece et al., 2015). The latter comprised a set of questions being asked in a specific order. All participants would be asked the same set of questions, in exactly the same order. Unstructured interviews

would be the complete opposite. Although the area of enquiry would be clear, open questions would be posed to which the answers could go in any direction; the participant interprets the question in the light of their own experience and thus responses would naturally differ greatly. Dependent on those areas the participant discussed, the interviewer would then ask additional questions (prompts) deriving from the content of the interview. Thirdly, semi-structured interviews would use a ‘guide’ that included questions and topics that must be covered during the interview, but the order in which these are discussed varied depending on the flow of the interview. These types of interviews were generally used in research where one sought in-depth information or thorough understanding of a topic (Lazar et al., 2010). To respond to the research question of ‘why the actors indicated in the questionnaire were involved in patients’ PCN’, an open interview structure was necessary to ensure the experiences of the ‘actors’ could be appropriately explored.

Decision on the type of interviews

The topic guide for the semi-structured interviews in this study was developed based on the literature, the initial findings from the social network questionnaire and the patient-centred design framework (see section 2.4.2). Sections 2.6.1.2 and 2.6.2 detail the development of the topic guide and the process of data collection. Chapter Four reports on the analysis and results of the interviews. The topic guide was intended to be used during face-to-face interviews, however the possibility of conducting telephone interviews was not excluded. The rationale behind the decision of face-to-face interviews is outlined below.

Traditionally two main interview techniques dominated the field, namely face-to- face interviews and telephone interviews. However, as new communication technologies expanded, two additional techniques emerged, i.e. e-mail and chat boxes (also see Table 3) (McCoyd and Kerson, 2006; Opdenakker, 2006). Not only

do these techniques differ in terms of ‘location’, they also have considerable differences in terms of ‘time’ (Opdenakker, 2006).

Table 3: Characteristics of different interview techniques (based on Opdenakker, 2006) CHARACTERISTICS Technique Synchronous in time Asynchronous in time Synchronous in location Asynchronous in location FACE-TO- FACE X X TELEPHONE X X E-MAIL X X CHAT BOX X X

The differences between techniques would inevitably bring along some advantages and disadvantages. Techniques that are synchronous in time have, for instance, almost no ‘delay’ between the question asked and the answer given. Depending on the purpose and nature of the research, this can either be an advantage or a disadvantage. Having a ‘quick’ turnaround between questions and answers can yield spontaneous and often rich data. However, this can also provide more ‘noise’ in the answers, i.e. irrelevant information, or make the interviewee feel pressured to answer immediately. Interviews carried out synchronous in space hold for example the risk of ‘interviewer effects’ (e.g. non-verbal communication by the interviewer reflecting a negative attitude from the

interviewer may lead the participant to adjust their answer), but on the other hand allows the interviewer to pick up on social cues such as non-verbal behaviour from the participant (also see Table 4) (Opdenakker, 2006).

Table 4: General (dis)advantages of interview techniques (based on Opdenakker, 2006)

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

FACE-TO- FACE

• Social cues can be picked up • No delay between questions

and answers

• Word for word recording • Possibility to facilitate the

atmosphere of the interview

• Interviewer effects • Double attention needed • Time consuming for

transcription • Use of resources

TELEPHONE • Extended access to participants (e.g. geographical)

• No delay between questions and answers

• Word for word recording of the interview

• Reduction in social cues that can be picked up

• More difficult to facilitate the atmosphere of the interview • Others might be present

without the interviewer’s knowledge

• Double attention needed • Time consuming for

transcription E-MAIL • Extended access to

participants (e.g. geographical)

• Interview transcription has no ‘noise’

• Questions are posed and answered at a time convenient for the parties involved

• Reduced costs

• Interview transcript is directly downloadable

• Answers might be more

• No social cues can be picked up.

• Delay between questions and answers

• No spontaneous responses • Requires familiarity with

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES