Qualitative Interviewing Process

We intend to video interview 100 people (mostly New Mexicans) in these broad and overlapping categories:

  • Parents
  • Prospective Students
  • Current Students
  • Faculty
  • Administrators and Staff
  • State & Local Politicians
  • Business Leaders
  • Elementary and Secondary School Personnel
  • Taxpayers (not using the higher ed system)
  • Researchers and Think Tank Scholars

Each interview will focus on the following broad questions:

  • What should NM aspire to in higher ed?
  • How is the system working now?
  • What do you like? What do you not like?
  • What do you think of the College Competition proposal?
  • How can we improve the current policies and college programming options?

Each interview will be uploaded in its entirety to our YouTube channel and be linked to from this website.

Our goal is to achieve a depth and richness of understanding of the interviewees’ perspectives. There are no preprogrammed right or wrong answers. Interviews could be as few as twenty questions and last no more than 5 minutes, or they might run 20 minutes depending upon whether interviewer and interviewee are finding the conversation productive.  Short interviews may effectively cover the ground in some cases, while a longer interview will be warranted in others.