Doing Qualitative Interviews

Face-to-face interviews are used to collect a wide range of information in the social sciences. They are appropriate for the gathering of information on individual and institutional patterns of behaviour; complex histories or processes; identities and cultural meanings; routines that are not written down; and life-history events. Face-to-face interviews thus comprise an appropriate method to generate information on individual behaviour, the reasons for certain patterns of acting and talking, and the type of connection people have with each other.

The first session provides an overview of interviewing as a social research method, then focuses on the processes of organising and conducting qualitative interviews. The second session explores the ethics and practical constraints of interviews as a research method, particularly relevant when attempting to engage with marginalised or stigmatised communities. The third session focuses on organisation and analysis after interviews, including interpretation through coding and close reading. This session involves practical examples from qualitative analysis software. The final session provides an opportunity for a hands-on session, to which students should bring their interview material (at whatever stage of the process: whether writing interview questions, coding or analysing data) in order to receive advice and support in taking the interview material/data to the next stage of the research process.

Topics:

1. Conducting qualitative interviews

2. Ethics and practical constraints

3. Practical session: interpretation and analysis

Number of sessions: 3

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• Bryman, A. 2004. Social Science Research Methods. 2nd edition. Oxford UP.
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• Flowerdew, R. & Martin, D. (eds) 1997 Methods in human geography. Longman, London.
• Gilbert, N. (ed.) 2001 Researching social life. Sage, London.
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• Gubriam, J.F. & Holstein, J.A. (eds) 2002 Handbook of interview research: context & methods. Sage.
• Guillemin, M. & Gillam, L. (2004) “Ethics, Reflexivity and ‘Ethically Important Moments’ in Research” in Qualitative Inquiry. Vol. 10, No.2 pp. 261-280
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• Hay, I. (ed.) 2000 Qualitative research methods in human geography. Oxford University Press.
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• Hollway, W. & Jefferson, T. 2000. Doing qualitative research differently: free association, narrative and the interview method. SAGE.
• Holstein, J. A. & Gubrium, J. F. (1995) The Active Interview. London: Sage
• Kitchen, R. & Tate, N.J 2000 Conducting research into Human Geography: theory, methodology, and practice. Prentice Hall, London.
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• Mullings, B. 1999 Insider or outsider, both or neither: some dilemmas of interviewing in a cross-cultural setting. Geoforum 337-50.
• Punch, K.F. 2005 Introduction to social science research: quantitative and qualitative approaches. Sage, London.
• Sayer, A. 1992 [1984] Method in social science: a realist approach. 2nd edition. Routledge.
• Sidaway, J. 1992 In other worlds: on the politics of research by ‘First world’ geographers in the 'Third World Area 24: 403-8.
• Silverman, D. (ed) 1997 Qualitative research: theory, method and practice. Sage.
• Spradley, J.P. 1979 The ethnographic interview. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
• Valentine, G. 1997 ‘Tell me about….: using interviews as a research methodology’, IN Flowerdew & Martin (eds) Methods in human geography. Longman.
• Taylor, S. (ed) 2001 Ethnographic Research. Sage, London.
• Spradley, J.P. 1980 Participant observation. Holt, Rinehart & Winston. New York

This module is not assessed

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