Interview Protocol

Pre-Interview: Explain how the process of the interview and
de-identification. For example, “Before we begin the interview, I will
read you a short script that I read to every participant to make sure
everyone has the same information. I’ll then ask you if I may begin
recording. If you say “yes,” I will start the recording and proceed
with the interview questions. At the end, I’ll stop recording and
we’ll have time to discuss any additional questions or topics of
your choice.”
De-identification example: “After the interview, the video is
converted to an audio file. Our research assistant will compare the
two and resolve any inaccuracies in the transcript. The transcript
will be deidentified, for example by removing any proper nouns. We
use a list of approximately 17 items to thoroughly de-identify the
transcripts. Before we share the results, we will give each
participant the opportunity to view the results. If you believe you
can still be identified, we will revise the results to ensure
anonymity.”
NOTE: Blue italic text indicates optional questions and phrasing
Black Italic text indicates suggested interviewer script
Thank you for your willingness to discuss your experiences in public safety and incident
response. This interview will take approximately 1 hour. If you are not comfortable answering
any question, we can skip it and move on to the next subject. We can end the interview at
any time.
May I start recording?
Overview of Responses & Training
I’d like to talk to you about your current position and your role in public safety.
1. Could you describe your daily work routine?
e.g., daily tasks, common events, routine calls, other activities.
IF APPLICABLE: Reference questionnaire responses of years of experience, etc.

2. Could you tell me about any training related to these activities?
o Follow up: What about specialized training?

3. Could you tell me about the people with whom you work?
(e.g., partner, team, independently; coordinate, collaborate, communicate)
5. How do you communicate with these people?
(e.g., in person, phone, radio, text)

I’d like to learn more about your incident response experiences, particularly those that involved
apartments, condominiums, or similar settings.
Overview of Incident Response Settings
6. Could you describe an event that involved this type of setting?
(e.g., incident, where the incident took place, who were the people involved)
7. Could you tell me what makes a response inside an apartment, condo, or similar setting
different than other responses?
8. Could you tell me if and how you coordinate with many people on-scene? (e.g.,
incident, where the incident took place, who were the people involved.)
9. Could you describe any communication challenges that occur during an apartment
response?
(e.g., communications challenges in general; with incident command, dispatch,
victims, others)
10. Could you tell me to what extent you consider sensors or other tools part of
communications?
11. What has been the most useful information in response decisions?
[examples might reference information on maps]
○ Follow up: How would you present or disseminate this information to senior/junior
colleagues?
12. Could you talk about the usefulness of internal or external projections? (for example,
about the threat itself, anticipated hospitalizations, expected resources needs,
estimates of time course, or reassessment timing estimates)

13. Could you describe the support you had in this response?
14. Were you surprised by your organization's initial response? What about their ongoing
response?

15. Could you describe any [training/guideline/policy/protocol] your organization relied on or
developed for this response? For example, another organization, a state or other
governmental policy, for another event?
○ How did your organization decide to use that/those
[training/guideline/policy/protocol]?

16. Would you describe your involvement with the development of this
[training/guideline/policy/protocol]?
(e.g.,
· Could you talk about how you became involved with developing this
[training/guideline/policy/protocol]?
· Could you describe your experience developing this
[training/guideline/policy/protocol]?
· How well has the [training/guideline/policy/protocol] performed?
· What was most challenging about developing this
[training/guideline/policy/protocol]?
17. Could you describe areas of decision making that were not covered by your
[training/guideline/policy/protocol] (e.g. topics, situations, decisions)?
18. To what extent do the [training/guideline/policy/protocol]’s objective criteria, for example,
in the context of medicine vital signs, produce reasonable decisions?

19. How did/do you think expertise and experience affect decisions about incident response or
public safety training? Are there situations where expertise and experience should override
guidelines or directions?

20. How confident were you when applying this [training/guideline/policy]? Could you talk
about a time when you were pleased to have the training? A time when you were not
confident applying the [training/guideline/policy]?

21. Could you describe an instance where you wanted more autonomy/ would have preferred to
use your own judgment?

22. Could you describe an instance where you sought input or direction from someone else?
Who or what was this source?

23. Could you describe an instance where you were concerned about applying your own
judgment?

24. Could you describe an instance that changed your understanding of incident response or
public safety training?

Ongoing Preparation
25. Could you talk about how you are preparing for future responses?
(For example, continued training, current efforts, another effort or purpose?)

26. What other thoughts or suggestions would you be willing to share?

SUPPLEMENTARY TRAINING-RELATED QUESTIONS BASED ON PRE-INTERVIEW
SURVEY

Training Content
Now I’d like to ask you about the content of your training.
27. Could you describe the primary goals of the training?
28. Would you describe the timeframe for developing the policy training
e.g., immediate, over a year, stalled, never
29. How well did these trainings function across levels of incident command?

30. What limited the implementation of the training?
o How did you approach these limitations?

31. What enhanced the implementation of the training?
o How did you approach these enhancements?
32. To what extent did you and your colleagues accept the training? What
enabled/prevented
acceptance?

Across Organizational Units
33. How helpful were external organizations, or people, for training, planning, and response?

34. Were there other [training/guideline/policy/protocol] that your organization should have
implemented in addition or instead?

Oversight Groups/Committees
I’m now going to ask you about groups or committees that provide oversight to your
organization.
35. Did this group ever directly see or care for victims? When did the group see or care for
victims?
36. Which specialists or members of public safety played, or should have played, a role in
directing the response?
37. Could you describe the key stakeholders or decision makers who should be included in the
process?
38. How well were decisions documented?
o How well did your organization support this documentation?
o What could your organization or colleagues have done to improve
documentation?