Autobiographical questionnaire and semi-structured interview: comparing two instruments for educational research in difficult contexts

Autobiographical method is spreading a lot among Italian and foreign research and studies, about adult education in lifelong learning view. In fact, above all in adulthood, it is possible to think about themselves in a more critical and conscious way, reworking mentally their own life and past experiences. Promoting the mobilization of introspective thought from childhood it is very useful to make gradually acquire the ability to learn by themselves, to learn from relationships with the others and from the experiences in lifetime. In fact, self-learning is one of the pedagogical objectives underlying the biographical survey. The moment when we feel the need to tell about ourselves is a sign of a new stage of our lifelong and life-wide growth process. During autobiographical narrative, pleasant and unpleasant memories are evoked. In this context, the research has focused on the analysis of two survey instruments: a format / autobiographical questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Both the main events of the analyzed autobiographical subjects, the emotional-affective and relational areas as well as the reasons that led teachers and educators of the sample to carry out this profession were collected through both instruments. The choice of those instruments has been ensued by a particular interest in people who are induced to communicate and share attitudes, feelings, perceptions and expectations, being solicited by open-ended questions. The author / actor of autobiographical writing, thanks to the help of the format, is guided, supported and facilitated not only to bring out the recollections to the memory but also in giving sense and meaning to their own experiences. He/she is sustained as well as in identifying and managing a range of emotions and mixed feelings, being in a situation of intimacy and with relaxed and subjectively adjusted time. One of the most characterizing elements of the semi-structured interview was the inter-subjective relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee due to an intimate environment, peculiar emotions and feelings which have been proved to be beneficial for both performers involved. In this segment of the research will be analyzed and compared elements proceeded through the two instruments used. As regards the methodology, quantitative and qualitative analyses derived from an original grounded theory model had been used. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.