Table 2.

The interview schedule

Focus area	Questions
About you	Age, sex, how came to live and work where you do? Rural background
	What is your background (skills, quals and why you did a PhD)?
	What was your PhD about and when did you complete it?
	What are your main research skills (quant, qual etc.)?
	How did you come to work in rural health? (motivations)
	What is your current main research focus with respect to “rural health” (people, places, workforce, services, outcomes, Indigenous etc.)
	If your main research focus is different to your PhD research how/why did this come about?
	Where is your total full-time equivalent (FTE) currently divided now (research FTE, other FTE, interests)?
	What are the most enjoyable things about researching rural health?
	What are the hardest things about it?
	What other responsibilities do you have in your community, whether that be for family, community, other roles?
	What are the practical challenges you face, if any, as a rural or remote person?
The unit	Tell me about the ‘rural health’ research culture in your unit (who employs you, how much active research is happening around you, do you have a research plan)?
	How long have you worked here?
	What are the main stakeholders you work with, where?
	To what extent is your work meaningful and why?
Research careers	Now I am going to talk about some factors common to research careers and ask you to reflect on some of the challenges or enablers you experience with these in the rural setting and why?
	Security of employment?
	Access to supervision of a more senior academic?
	Sustainable workload?
	Attracting small pots of grant money to tie you over?
	Attracting larger grants?
	Attracting PhD students?
	Publishing, in high quality (Q1) or international journals?
	Writing protocols and ethics?
	Conference attendance?
	Research translation?
	Research infrastructure (data available, internet, library support, ethics online, human resources systems)?
	Research support staff?
	Connections with health services, organisations?
	Collaborating with others?
	Demonstrating leadership in your field?
	Of these things, what are the main factors affecting your research career progression right now?
	What would most help you and why?
Intention to stay	How long do you think you will be able to sustain yourself working in this research role in this location?
	Are you currently or considering looking around for a new job? If so, in what sort of field and why?
	What would you miss about rural health research if you were not doing it?
	What would others miss if you did not do the role you did and it was not back-filled?
	Overall, how would you describe your overall job satisfaction as a researcher in rural health?
	Where do you want to be in the next 5 years?