Last night in Qual Methods, we practiced interviewing each other in small groups. Wow. It is amazingly difficult. Being attentive to the time constraints, what the participant is saying so you can dynamically address topics as they come up, the actual list of guiding questions you have, your behavior and body language, making sure you frame each question well (how questions rather than why questions, etc.),… Each one by itself is something to keep track of and is easy or difficult to varying degrees. Having to do ALL of them at the same time… whew! It's one thing to read about how to do this stuff, and another thing completely actually doing it.