Research

Interview Protocol - Flying Solo Study

Demographic Questions

1. With what gender do you identify?
2. What is your age? / Age (now and during the time of the solo faculty experience)
3. With what race or ethnicity do you identify?
4. What is your country of origin?
5. Where do you work now?

​Professional Role Questions

1. What is your Program/Department/Division/College?
2. What is your title (or “ was” if the person is describing a past job). 
3. Please describe primary, key, and/or regular duties.
4. How long have you been a faculty member in general? How long have you been in your current position? (If the solo faculty experience occurred in a past job, how long WERE you in that position?)
5. How long have you worked for your institution (or, if the solo faculty experienced occurred in a past job, how long had the person been in that position before becoming a solo faculty member).
6. How many courses do you teach a year? (did you teach if a past job)
7. Do you teach graduate, undergraduate, or a combination of graduate and undergraduate courses?  (did you teach if a past job).
8. Was this your first (as a solo faculty member / contingent faculty / expatriate faculty) experience? How many other such experiences? When? Where?
9. How many other people with similar experiences to yours are there at this institution? In your program/ department/division? (if the person knew of others, we asked for a referral).
10. Do you have a formal or informal leadership function in your program? (or did you have a formal or informal leadership function if the interview is about a past job). 

Isolation Questions

1. For the questions that follow, we will focus on your professional role as [role(s) connected to each researcher’s study]. For this study, we define “professional isolation as undesired feelings of psychological and/or emotional distance from key contributors to our professional role(s).” How would you define professional isolation?
2. Considering your definition, do you ever feel / have you ever felt isolated in your role?
   1. If yes, the person has felt isolated
      1. What are the sources/causes of the isolation?
      2. How does/did isolation impact you personally?
      3. How does/did isolation impact your professional role?
      4. Did you act to overcome the isolation?
      5. If the person did act to overcome the isolation:
         1. What specific action(s) did you take? 
         2. When did you take this action / these actions?
         3.  Why did you take this/these action(s)? (probe deeper, as needed).
         4. Was/were the action(s) successful? 
            1. If yes:
               1. What was the impact of the action(s)
               2. What is the evidence of success of the action(s)?
            2. If no:
               1. Why do you feel the action was unsuccessful?
               2. What is the impact of the action?
      6. If the person did not act to overcome the isolation:
         1. What prevented you from taking action?
3. If no, the person has not felt isolated:
   1. What helps or helped you feel included? (think of specific actions you or others may take)
   2. How does/did feeling included impact you personally?
   3. How does/did feeling included impact your professional role?  

​Recommendations    

1.  Regardless of whether you personally feel/felt isolated, what recommendations would you offer individuals to mitigate isolation?
2. Regardless of whether you personally feel/felt isolation, what recommendations would you offer to institutions to mitigate isolation?