37 The interviews with the 25 interviewees (16 persons in phase 1 and 9 persons in phase 2) were conducted either at the interviewees’ home or in the research project office, depending on the interviewees’ respective wishes. ① As a principle, the interviews were carried out in a one-to-one situation between researcher and interviewee; however, if specifically requested, a research assistant provided help with the technical procedure. As the interviews were designed as ‘open narrative interviews’, they did not follow previously prepared and prestructured questions, but were conducted in a way as unstructured as possible. Through the technique of unstructured interviews, we tried to invite the interviewees to narrate their experiences as freely as possible. The interviews were thus conducted in a way that should allow for an interpretation of the mutual relationship between narrative structure and factual structure, the flow of narration with regard to how the interviewees talk about and reconstruct their experiences of reality, and the conditions that make this possible. ② Before commencing the interviews, the research purpose, aim, and the principle of confidentiality of interview data were explained in detail. The interviewees were also asked for their consent to the interviews being audio-recorded; those who expressed their approval were then asked to sign both an interview consent and authorization of use form. After the conclusion of the interviews, interviewers filled in an ‘identity card’ for each interviewee and completed an interview log. (cf. <Annex 1>) ③ Each recorded interview was transcribed under specific protective precautions by the research assistants respectively responsible. Furthermore, to warrant the transparency of interview situations during interview phases 1 and 2, drafts of transcripts were, in the order of their completion, internally disseminated to allow all researchers to read them. This enabled the research team to mutually verify, compare, and examine the adequacy of questions asked.