Appendix B Example Qualitative Interview Guide

Community Responses to Violent Sex Offenders

Interview Guide for Residents

I want to assure you that anything you say during this interview is confidential. Any time I report data from my research, I will not reveal your name or any other identifying information. With your consent, I would like to record this interview so that I can have a record of what we’ve talked about today.

Is it okay with you if I use the recorder?

[Turn on the digital recorder if the respondent consents.]

Overview of the Community: What kind of community is this from R’s perspective?

Let’s start by talking about your neighborhood in general. What kind of place is it?

[Do you know your neighbors? Do people look out for each other?

How? How often do you do things with people in the neighborhood? How does your neighborhood compare to others in the surrounding community?]

[What about the local police? How do they deal with problems in the area? Example (what kind of problems have you had to deal with in the neighborhood?). Do you think they’re sensitive to the needs of the community? Example? Tell me about your last interaction with the police. How did it go/What was it like?]

[What about the local government (i.e. board of supervisors, city council)? How sensitive are they to the needs of the community? How well do you think they handle issues that arise in the area? Example?]

How has the neighborhood changed since you’ve lived here?

What do you like best about your community and neighborhood?

What would you like to see changed about the neighborhood and/or community?

Overview of the Response: R’s understanding of the placement and community response.

Like I said earlier, I’m particularly interested in a specific issue, the placement of Mr. ______. Let’s talk about what happened there. I’d like to get as much detail as you remember, so let’s start at the beginning.

Tell me about how you first heard about Mr. ____. [keep probing for what happened next.]

[What did you think? What did you do when you first heard? Did you talk to other people about it? What did they say? What did they do? How did finding out about this make you feel? Did you contact local officials? What did they say or do?]

[What did you think during the community notification meeting? How did it go from your perspective? What happened in the days immediately after the notification meeting? What did you do? What did others do (residents and officials)?]

[After he moved in, what did you think? What were your feelings? What did other people say? What did you do? What did other people do?]

Personal Involvement in the Response: How did R react to the placement? What did R personally do before, during, and after the placement?

I want to get a better picture of the protests [or other activities that R mentions being involved in like meetings, etc]. Can you describe the scene to me?

[How many people were out there with you? What about law enforcement and/or local officials? What kinds of things did you do (signs, yelling, etc.)? What kinds of slogans did you chant or have written on signs? Did you personally chant or hold signs? What did you say/what was written on your sign?]

[What was the general feeling when you were there? What kind of mood were you in while you were there? How did that compare to the general mood of the group in general?]

[What kinds of responses did you get from passersby?]

Were there times when you felt you had to take action on your own?

Example.

[Why did you feel like you had to act alone? How did you try to get other people involved? What kinds of things did people say in response to your efforts?]

Did you ever talk to anyone who didn’t want to get involved? Anyone who wondered why you were doing what you were doing?

How did your involvement in these events change over time?

[Did you devote more/less time to the issue as time went on? Did you do different things in the beginning than you did in the end or vice versa?]

Why did your involvement change?

Purpose and Goals of the Response: What did R expect would happen? What exactly was R trying to achieve? How did R’s goals contrast with others’ goals?

Why did you personally get involved in this issue?

[What were you trying to achieve? What did you expect would happen as a result of your actions? Have you been involved in community events like this in the past?]

Why do you think this became such a big issue in the community?

[What were the general goals of the community’s response? In what ways did the community achieve its goals? How did it fail?]

In what ways did you achieve your goals? In what ways did you not realize your goals?

[When did you realize that your goals wouldn’t be met? How did that affect your involvement in the issue?]

Creating, Maintaining, and Breaking Down Community: What does the community look like now, and what did it look like before the placement?

Earlier we talked about what kind of place your neighborhood and community are. Let’s talk a bit about how the response to Mr. _____ affected these places.

How did the community’s response to Mr. ___ affect your community? [Get positive and negative.]

[Do you feel closer now to your neighbors than before? Did you meet people you didn’t know before? Have you kept in touch with people you worked with more than you used to? Example?]

[Do you feel better or worse about local law enforcement now? Why? What did they do that made you feel like this?]

[What about local officials like the county supervisors or city council? What’s your feeling about them now? Why?]

[What about the general mood and feeling about the community? Do you feel better or worse about it now than before? Why?]

Has the community ever had to deal with similar issues in the past? Can you tell me about that issue?

How did the response then compare to what happened with Mr. ____?

[What was similar? What was different? Compare on level of neighbors, police, officials]

Looking Toward the Future: R’s plans to continue reactions, and what R thinks of the whole issue now.

Tell me about the most recent time you thought about Mr. _____. What went through your mind? What were your feelings? How much do you think about him now?

Have you done anything recently about Mr. ____?

As far as you know, do others have any plans to continue their response to this sex offender?

[How likely do you think it is that the response to this sex offender will continue in the future?]

What would you do differently, if this happened again in your community? What should others (neighbors, law enforcement, officials) do differently?

Demographic Info

• Age
• Race
• Last school level completed
• Family: Married? Children?
• Approximate household income
• Time lived in the community

I appreciate the time you’ve taken to answer my questions today.  If you have any questions, please call or email me.  [Give the respondent your business card.]