On the Study of Work Process Knowledge: Interviewer Expertise as a Determinant in Semi-structured Interviews

If the analysis and design of work process knowledge is about the professional content of this knowledge and the factors that determine this content, then the respective professional competences of the researchers are challenged. For occupationally organized skilled work, these are the occupational scientists. On the basis of a research project, the concept of guided expert interviews is examined from the aspect of enquire. The interview questions on the “perspective of skilled maintenance work” are divided into the sections (1) formal qualification of skilled workers, (2) technical descriptions of the object of work, (3) auxiliary and work equipment of maintenance, (4) the theoretical and practical reference of skilled workers to the work tasks, (5) troubleshooting, and (6) change of maintenance work. When analyzing the enquiries, this study distinguishes between four types of enquiry: (1) the paraphrasing enquiry, (2) the professionally accentuated enquiry, (3) the social context accentuated enquiry, and (4) the enquiry to verbalize emotional experience content. Researchers who were competent in the field, semi-specialists, and researchers from outside the field took part in the enquiries. The expert interviewer let the nonspecialist interviewer lead the conversation and ask the questions based on it, and took on the role of the expert asking the questions. Here, however, the nonspecialist interviewer is just as clearly reticent. Generalized, this can only mean for VET research that a supervision arrangement is always used when it comes to investigating design-oriented content-related questions.