I have always enjoyed asking people philosophical questions. I do not remember ever having been asked “what made me happy”, or “what my main regrets are”. These are impressions we hardly ever make, but once we reflect on them, they are capable of eliciting deep and insightful conclusions. Melodic Ideas “Melodic Ideas” is a creative...

All good research methods books will give you guidelines on creating appropriate questions and using appropriate question types (Bryman & Bell, 2015, Saunders et al, 2015) for in-depth qualitative interviews. However, here are a couple of practical points which often arise in supervision meetings, yet aren’t necessarily in the books. 1. Choose interviewees well. If you’re...

RIDDLE: Imagine you arrived home in the middle of the afternoon after being away for three days due to a work trip. Your partner (e.g. wife, husband, dog, PlayStation 4 or whatever you truly love and have a relationship with) is still at work. You walk into the flat with your suitcase, walk into the bedroom to change and have a shower and what do you see? A message written on the...