3245-0398 B2B Semi-Structured Interview Guide

Attachment B: B2B Semi-Structured Interview Guide

Evaluation of B2B Introduction Course

Guide for Instructor Interviews

Introduction

My name is Oswaldo Urdapilleta, and I am a Principal Research Associate with Optimal Solutions Group. [Introduce anyone else on the call.]

Optimal Solutions Group is working with the U.S. Small Business Administration to examine the implementation of the Boot-to-Business “Introduction to Entrepreneurship” course in its virtual format. You recently received an e-mail from the B2B program manager, Mark Williams, regarding your participation in a 30-minute interview for this study.

Is this a convenient time for the interview about your experiences with the B2B courses?

IF NOT: When would be a good time to call you back?

IF YES: Thank you for participating in this study. Your participation in this study is voluntary, and the information you provide will be kept strictly confidential from everyone outside of our research team. You also can stop participating at any time, and you do not have to answer any question that you do not want to.

We will ask questions about how the B2B “Introduction to Entrepreneurship” course could be most effectively implemented in a virtual (synchronistic online) environment and any suggestions on best practices for delivering virtual training. Do you have any questions before we begin the interview?

1. How did your organization transition to online training during the pandemic?

1. What were the issues with the transition to online delivery and how were they mitigated?

2. Based on your recent experience, what would you say are best practices for transitioning in-person delivery of a training program to online training?

2. How does your organization choose online systems, tools, and applications for online B2B classes?

1. What were the difficulties for choosing online systems? What were the decisive factors for choosing one platform over another?

2. What human (instructors experience with online tools), technological (flexibility to engage individuals), logistical (instructor and military bases) issues should be considered in selecting technology platforms for online delivery?

3. What issues, difficulties, or problems have you or your organization had in providing B2B online courses?

1. How were you or your organization able to address or mitigate these issues?

4. Describe how your organization works to meet the needs of B2B participants in a virtual environment?

1. How is engagement with B2B participants encouraged/motivated in the online courses?

2. Does your organization provide referrals to B2B participants for other business training programs or coordinates with other resource partners to offer additional business training?

5. How does your organization choose instructors to provide online B2B training? [If the interviewee was not involved in instructor selection, follow-up with their perspective on the two issues below]

• What are difficulties (if any) for recruiting B2B instructors for online classes?

• What are your recommendations for the recruitment of B2B instructors for online classes?

6. How is your organization supporting or training B2B instructors to conduct online classes?

• Is your organization proving training for the use of systems, tools, and applications for online classes?

• Is your organization conducting or using any assessments to measure B2B instructors’ efficacy in using systems, tools, and applications for online classes?

7. What procedures for coordination with resource partners could be useful for improving B2B online classes?

The following questions compare different modalities of B2B training delivery to each other. The objective of the comparison is to gauge your judgement of the relative effectiveness of the B2B training modalities in B2B participant outcomes. This is objective is different from the instructor’s perspective on their own effectiveness of the delivery (how in-person training may allow instructors better engage with participants, for example). The outcomes of interest are entrepreneurship knowledge, skills, and abilities; confidence in abilities to successfully start or own a business; and interest and motivation to start or own a business.

8. How do you think online and in-person B2B classes compare with respect to participants’ outcomes?

• Why do you think online and in-person B2B classes are different with respect to participants’ outcomes?

9. How do you think one-day and two-days B2B classes compare with respect to participants’ outcomes?

• Why do you think one-day and two-days classes are different with respect to participants’ outcomes?

10. How could you or your organization improve online classes delivery to obtain better B2B participant outcomes?

• How can the B2B curriculum be modified to attain better outcomes?

• What kinds of additional support from the SBA would be beneficial for improving B2B participant outcomes?

The following questions compare different modalities of B2B training delivery to each other relative to their effectiveness in engaging B2B participants; for example, increasing their interest and motivation to participate in ongoing and additional B2B and other business training classes

11. How do you think online and in-person B2B classes compare with respect to engaging participants?

• Why do you think online and in-person classes are different with respect to engaging participants?

12. How do you think one-day and two-days B2B classes compare with respect to participants’ engagement?

• Why do you think one-day and two-days classes are different with respect to participants’ engagement?

13. How could you or your organization improve online classes delivery to facilitate (more) engagement of B2B participants?

• How can online classes curriculum be improved to better facilitate engagement of B2B participants?

• What kinds of additional support from the SBA would be beneficial for facilitating more engagement of B2B participants?

14. What is the process for tracking online class attendance?

1. Is there a registration list available to instructors? How do you know who should be in your module?

2. Does your online platform allow tracking course attendance for the entire course (all modules)? Does your organization use other tools for tracking course attendance?

3. What difficulties did you encounter tracking attendance? How are these difficulties mitigated?

4. Any recommendations for tracking online attendance?

5. How are you aware of participants entrepreneurship interests when you start your module?

15. Do you have any other issues or suggestions for B2B training improvements?

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