Interview Methodology

The Community Research Fellows from the Center of Experiential Learning at Loyola University Chicago were looking to tell the stories of immigrants who are a part of Chicago’s community. We as fellows, believe that these stories provide valuable life insights, and deserve to be shared with the community in Chicago with consent. Chicago is made up of many populations and that is what makes the city so rich in culture, food, art, music, and lifestyles. To begin community research, we reached out to Taller de Jose and composed information and photo release forms for the interviewees. Confidently is crucial to research and building trust the community, therefore we asked interviewees for permission to use name, image, and their story. Unlike traditional quantitative research, there is scheduling conflicts, and language barriers. Community research is a collaboration between the researcher and the community, each depend on each other. The process included scheduling, interviews, transcribing, composing narratives, translating narratives, and lastly compassing a final product.