Robert Campbell

Qualitative research routinely requires expert practitioner knowledge to be elicited. However, effectively eliciting tacit or implicit knowledge can be problematic. This chapter presents a method in which pedagogy and infographics were combined to elicit the knowledge of expert professionals. During interlocutions, using a progressive series of infographics accompanied by explanations, research participants were quickly taught new topics. Then as the learning occurred, they were asked to reflect on their experience using their new knowledge as a lens. Deployed with Information Systems practitioners, the approach was effective, bringing forth 130,000 words of relevant and advanced discourse. Although details of the Information Systems research are presented in the chapter as an illustration, the chapter’s foci are the method’s underpinning principles and deployment. It is believed that this approach could be easily transferred into a range of qualitative research domains. Given the ambiguity surrounding the term, the concepts of expert and expertise are also discussed along with the challenge of establishing definitions for a given domain.

Qualitative research routinely requires expert practitioner knowledge to be elicited. However, effectively eliciting tacit or implicit knowledge can be problematic. This chapter presents a method in which pedagogy and infographics were combined to elicit the knowledge of expert professionals. During interlocutions, using a progressive series of infographics accompanied by explanations, research participants were quickly taught new topics. Then as the learning occurred, they were asked to reflect on their experience using their new knowledge as a lens. Deployed with Information Systems practitioners, the approach was effective, bringing forth 130,000 words of relevant and advanced discourse. Although details of the Information Systems research are presented in the chapter as an illustration, the chapter’s foci are the method’s underpinning principles and deployment. It is believed that this approach could be easily transferred into a range of qualitative research domains. Given the ambiguity surrounding the term, the concepts of expert and expertise are also discussed along with the challenge of establishing definitions for a given domain.