Method and stance
Why qualitative research; where the research interview comes from and the schools that shaped it; fields and settings; mixed designs; the guide and its blind spots; reflexivity, preparation, relational ethics.
Dedicated offer
Facilitating and training for the one-on-one interview
A research interview is not a conversation, and it is not learned in theory alone. This offer comes out of the field: more than 500 qualitative interviews, and training programmes built for real teams before being formalized into a reusable framework.
01
The epistemological foundation
Five principles that hold the whole programme together — and explain why a well-written guide is not enough.
Qualitative work explores, it does not verify
The interview is not there to confirm a hypothesis. If you already know what you will find, you are running a questionnaire, not an interview.
Objectivity does not exist — aim for objectivation
Naming your subjectivity, owning it, putting it to work. Objectivity is subjectivity properly stated.
Invite the story, invite the feeling
Questions that let narrative thinking emerge, rather than imposing an analytical frame on the person in front of you.
Non-directivity as a discipline
“You must not lead the conversation.” Open questions, silence welcomed, reformulation in the respondent’s own words.
Rigour through documentation
What makes qualitative work defensible is the trace of the process — memos, a research journal — not a fixed protocol.
Active listening as technique, not intention
Reformulating, following up on what was just said rather than your own list of questions, holding silence: precise moves that are trained, not just willed.
02
A modular programme
Seven modules of 45 to 90 minutes. We keep what your team needs and drop the rest — the sequence below is the most common one.
Practice scenarios
In pairs: short interviews, observed and debriefed. Live constraints are introduced to surface the directive reflexes you thought you had outgrown.
On your real interviews
Once you are in the field: feedback on your first recordings, review of your guide, and help with the post-interview memos that carry the analysis.
03
The tools you keep
Five deliverables reworked for your sector, your audience and your topic. Nothing is delivered generic.
01The training deck
Structured in thematic blocks, with full facilitation notes on every slide — usable in a led session or for self-study.
PowerPoint · bilingual FR/EN
02The preparation checklist
Equipment, setting, consent, file naming: what must be settled before the recorder is switched on.
Word · bilingual FR/EN
03The question and probe bank
Opening, follow-up and exploration questions, reworded to avoid institutional jargon and framing bias — with the closed questions to avoid alongside.
Word
04The post-interview sheet
To be filled in immediately: what was said, what was not, what surprised you. The material that will not come back later.
Word · bilingual FR/EN
05Memo templates and tracking tools
Reflexive memos on yourself, on the respondents, on the guide — plus the tracking grid that turns a set of interviews into an analysable corpus.
Word · bilingual FR/EN
04
How it runs
Remote or in person. The role-plays work as well by videoconference — one room, rotating roles, camera off for whoever observes — as they do in a classroom.
Short, modular formats. Three hours of method, three hours of practice, then support. Ten to fifteen hours in all to be genuinely field-ready.
Bilingual. Every tool exists in French and English, with terminology aligned across both versions.
Tailored. Every guide and every scenario is reworked for the client organization’s sector, audience and topic.
05
Who it is for
·Research teams and research assistants about to start data collection
·Research assistants in initial training for interviewing
·Graduate students conducting their first interviews
·Health and social services professionals gathering the experience of users or partners
·Community organizations and teams working in culturally diverse settings
·Any team that has to interview people in vulnerable situations
What sets this approach apart
Theory is not enough
Every programme includes a concrete test, with constraints designed to surface the directive reflexes you thought you had outgrown.
The interview does not end with the recording
Post-interview memos, the writing of field notes, preparing the corpus: this is where most training stops, and where the analysis actually begins.
25 years of fieldwork
Over 500 qualitative interviews, in health sociology, with people in vulnerable situations. The training passes on a tested practice, not just a theoretical frame.