Donella Meadows said that systems thinking had taught her to trust her intuition more and her rationality less but still be prepared for surprises. She reminds us that our mental models are incomplete; that the world is complex and how much we don't know.
Having just completed the first interview for my thesis this really rings true at the moment.
Was I surprised? Yes. Is my mental model incomplete? Yes Is the system more complex than I assumed? Yes.
Which is ridiculous. As an action researcher who is 'in the system' I had already identified (and written down) that there is a risk that I might let my worldview dominate; I might assume an understanding of the system and let these influence the analysis. The intent is to manage this risk through reflexive practice - specifically by using Meadow's Systems Wisdoms. I had expected the interviewees to have different views to me but had anticipated that these views would relate to an aspect of the system I was aware of. What I hadn't honestly anticipated was that I would be surprised in the very first interview by a colleague expressing a view of an aspect of the system which I was unaware of and had never considered.
What did I learn and what will I do differently next time:
- my zoom only does automatic transcription if you record to the cloud so next time I won't save the recording to my desktop 😞
- In a semi-structured interview have one clear opening question then go with the flow - the additional questions I had as prompts really didn't help the flow of the conversation
- Have some specific points to check - it will make analysis easier if you specifically check these points
- Consider how to help the interviewee follow the flow of the interview - the chat function can provide a visual (written) prompt
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