RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

372 INTERVIEWS
Box 16.8
Clusters of relevant meaning
I. The tremendousness of the looking at Mary
ALookingatMaryinawaytotallydifferentthanhe
had ever looked at anyone in his life. 1,3
BHiseyeswerejuststaring. 4
C Realized it was tremendous when she said ‘What
are you doing’ 5
DWas(just)lookingather. 6
E A lot was going on. 13
F Just wanted to continue looking at her. 16
II
Realization
A A sudden realization 2 (Almost like it breaks in).
BRealizedhowtremendousitwas(throughher
question). 5
CAlotwasgoingonandhedidn’trealizewhatwas
going on 13,14 (rhythm of awareness).
III Continuation of what was happening
A Both just (continued) to sit there. 7
BHecontinuedtosit. 15
IV Inability to move
A Couldn’t move 16 (issue of volition).
BDidn’twanttomove 17 (didn’t desire to move).
V
Interpersonal dimension
A Was looking at Mary in a way he had never looked
at anyone in his whole life. 1,3
BHerquestionelicitedtherealizationofhow
tremendous it was. 5
CHejustsaid‘I’mlookingatyou.’ 6
DBothjustsatthere. 7
Source:Hycner1985
the essence of the phenomenon being investigated.
‘Such a composite summary describes
the ‘‘world’’ in general, as experienced by the
participants. At the end of such a summary
the researcher might want to note significant
individual differences’ (Hycner 1985).
Issues arising from this procedure are discussed
in some detail in the second part of Hycner’s
(1985) article.
Verifying
Chapter 5 has discussed at length the issues of
reliability, validity and generalizability of the data
from interviews, and so these issues will not be
repeated here. The reader is advised to explore not
only that section of Chapter 5, but also the whole
chapter. Kvale (1996: 237) makes the point that
validation must take place at all seven stages of
the interview-based investigation, set out earlier
in this chapter. For example:
the theoretical foundation of the research must
be rigorous and there must be a logical link
between such theory and the research questions
all aspects of the research design must be sound
and rigorous
the data must be accurate, reliable and
valid (with consistency and reliability checks
undertaken)
the translation of the data from an oral to a
written medium must demonstrate fidelity to
the key features of the interview situation
data analysis must demonstrate fidelity to the
data
validation procedures should be in place and
used
the reporting should be fair and seen to be fair
by readers.
One main issue here is that there is no single
canon of validity; rather the notion of fitness for
purpose within an ethically defensible framework
should be adopted, giving rise to different kinds
of validity for different kinds of interviewbased
research (e.g. structured to unstructured,
qualitative to quantitative, nomothetic to
idiographic, generalizable to unique, descriptive
to explanatory, positivist to ethnographic, preordinate
to responsive).
Reporting
The nature of the reporting will be decided to
some extent by the nature of the interviewing.
For example, a standardized, structured interview
may yield numerical data that may be reported
succinctly in tables and graphs, while a qualitative,
word-based, open-ended interview will yield
word-based accounts that take up considerably
more space.
Kvale (1996: 263–6) suggests several elements
of a report: