Pilot study from the sifu herself

dateThu, Jan 10, 2008

I see no problem in using pilot interviews as part of the data in the actual study. As you said, sometimes these pilot interviews are wonderful! Part of the reason for doing a pilot study (actually, for my students, it's more likely to be pilot interviews, not a whole small study) is to test how well the questions work in getting information, revising questions and maybe the order of questions, and of course getting some experience doing interviews. However, many students don't do a pilot study/interview and so the first couple of interviews of their actual study function the same way "pilot" interviews do - allowing you to refine the process.
Since qualitative studies are by their nature "emergent" in terms of design, it is expected that interview questions, even who you interview might change somewhat as you move along in your study. This is as it should be because you, the researcher, are being responsive to the data as you collect and analyze it.
Ultimately, though, you have to do what your committee wants! I don't know of any specific reference for this, but you might look at Patton (2002)who is very reasonable in terms of procedures - and of course you can use my email :)! Good luck to you, Sharan