2008 Entries and Abstracts
David Eaton
LBJ School
Groundwater
One of my teaching priorities is to help graduate students learn methods to prevent public policy disputes over environmental issues. I have developed an approach using “narratives” that elicits from stakeholders their beliefs, preferences and knowledge which can be compared with the views of other stockholders to identify both common ideas they share as well as differences. The approach begins with interview questions, such as: (a) what is the environmental problem; (b) What is its cause; (c) what are possible solutions; (d) What barriers exist to prevent solutions; (e) What factors aid such solutions; (f) what are ideal outcomes; and (g) what performance measures indicate success of failure? In my applied research classes [called Policy Research Projects (PRPs)] I have wanted to teach student how to elicit individual narratives that contribute to group narratives.
Students coming into the LBJ School program rarely have experience interviewing the public. This presents a problem because it is not easy to teach students how to interview. Even if a student has some interview experience, there are a special set of steps to help them learn how to draw a narrative from an interview. In a semester course there is not time for in-depth training in the art of interviewing. The ‘Narrative Interview Training Module’ (or ‘the Module’), developed as part of the FASTEX program, allows students to teach themselves about basic interview skills, with a concentration on drawing on a narrative. Students are able to watch the module on their own time and observe the skills necessary to conduct an effective interview. This allows the class to spend more time collecting usable data for the research.