Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad

In-depth interviewing
Stories give meaning to the present and enable us to see that present
as a set of relationships involving a constituted past and a future. But
narratives change, all stories are partial, all meanings incomplete.
There is no fixed meaning in the past, for with each new telling the
context varies, the audience differs, the story is modified . . . (Bruner,
1986, p. 153).
There are other reasons to be cautious when using in-depth interviews.
No matter how much we try to construct the research process
so that participants control its process, there is always power
inherent in the researcher role. Ribbens expresses concern about
this issue, particularly in relation to the vulnerability of research
participants vis-à-vis the researcher.
The particular paradox that is worrying about depth interviews is that
you give the interviewee the power to control the interview itself, and
yet as a result they put themselves very much in your hands by
exposing themselves in a one-sided relationship. When you come to
depart you take their words away, to be objectified in an interview
transcript. In the end you are very powerful in this style of
interviewing, and the absence of the questionnaire may obscure this
all the more (see Finch, 1984; and Stacey, 1988 on this point) (Ribbens,
1989, p. 587).
Finally, interviews allow access to what people say but not to what
they do. The only way to find out what ‘actually happens’ in a given
situation is through observation (Chapter 4).
The interview process
In-depth interviewing in qualitative research involves much more
than the actual interview interaction. We now consider the stages
involved in setting up and conducting in-depth interviews, from the
selection of participants through to the ending of the interview
encounter. Each of these stages is important and will have an
impact, for better or worse, on how research participants experience
the research process and on the overall quality of the research.
Finding and selecting participants
Experience of the topic under investigation and articulateness
are commonly regarded as essential criteria for the inclusion of
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