Interviewing injured New Zealanders for paired longitudinal studies: a qualitative exploration of interviewers’ experiences

There is a growing body of literature outlining the influence of interviewers on the success of research studies, yet a paucity of research has focused on understanding the experiences of interviewers themselves. Considering this knowledge gap, this opportunistic qualitative study examined the experiences of interviewers conducting structured telephone follow-up interviews for the paired longitudinal cohort studies of injured New Zealanders, ‘The Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study 10 years on’ (POIS-10) and ‘POIS-10 Māori: Outcomes and experiences in the decade following injury’ (POIS-10 Māori). Based in Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu/New Zealand (NZ), this paper aimed to examine interviewers’ experiences of contacting participants after a 10 year interval, conducting long-term follow-up interviews, and interviewing during a global pandemic. Interviewers employed for POIS-10 and/or POIS-10 Māori were invited to take part in a group interview. With interviewers’ permission, interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed. Nine interviewers participated in the study. Three key themes (with several related sub-themes) were identified: ‘reconnecting’, ‘sustaining balance’, and ‘the pandemic—the ordinary amongst the extraordinary’. This study provides useful insights about interviewers’ experiences of working on two paired national longitudinal studies engaging with participants who have had a long connection to the research projects. It is hoped that these findings, and the strategies that interviewers reported, may be useful to other researchers and interviewers undertaking longitudinal research.