Doing Interviews (Qualitative Research Kit)

209 Pages·2018·0.877 MB·English

by  Svend Brinkmann, Steinar Kvale

DOING
INTERVIEWS
Doing Interviews by Svend Brinkmann and Steinar Kvale is the second volume in The SAGE
Qualitative Research Kit. This book can be used together with the other titles in the Kit as a com-
prehensive guide to the process of doing qualitative research, but is equally valuable on its own
as a practical introduction to doing interviews.
Fully updated and expanded to ten volumes, this second edition of the Kit presents the most
extensive introduction to the state-of-the-art of qualitative research.
COMPLETE LIST OF TITLES IN THE SAGE QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH KIT
• Designing Qualitative Research Uwe Flick
• Doing Interviews Svend Brinkmann and Steinar Kvale
• Doing Ethnography Amanda Coffey
• Doing Focus Groups Rosaline Barbour
• Using Visual Data in Qualitative Research Marcus Banks
• Analyzing Qualitative Data Graham R. Gibbs
• Doing Conversation, Discourse and Document Analysis Tim Rapley
• Doing Grounded Theory Uwe Flick
• Doing Triangulation and Mixed Methods Uwe Flick
• Managing Quality in Qualitative Research Uwe Flick
MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Kathy Charmaz Sonoma University, USA
Amanda Coffey Cardiff University, UK
John Creswell University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Norman K. Denzin University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, USA
Sonia Livingstone London School of Economics, UK
Joseph A. Maxwell George Mason University, USA
Michael Murray Keele University, Keele, UK
Judith Preissle University of Georgia, USA
Clive Seale Brunel University, UK
DOING
INTERVIEWS
SVEND BRINKMANN
STEINAR KVALE
THE SAGE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH KIT 2ND
EDITION
Uwe Flick
Edited by
SAGE Publications Ltd  Svend Brinkmann and Steinar Kvale 2018
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CONTENTS
List of illustrations vii
Editorial introduction by Uwe Flick ix
About this book and its second edition by Uwe Flick xv
Preface xvii
Acknowledgements xxi
1 Introduction to interview research 1
2 Epistemological issues of interviewing 13
3 Ethical issues of interviewing 27
4 Planning an interview study 39
5 Conducting an interview 57
6 Interview variations 73
7 Interview quality 89
8 Transcribing interviews 105
9 Analyzing interviews 115
10 Validation and generalization of interview knowledge 139
vi doing interviews
11 Reporting interview knowledge 149
12 Enhancing interview quality 159
Glossary 169
References 175
Index 181
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BOXES
1.1 An interview on grading 2
1.2 An interview on teamwork 4
1.3 An interview with two young men 4
2.1 Power asymmetry in qualitative research interviews 18
3.1 Ethical issues at seven research stages 28
3.2 Ethical questions at the start of an interview study 31
4.1 Seven stages of an interview inquiry 40
4.2 Seven stages of a grade study 45
5.1 Demonstration interview 59
5.2 Interview questions 67
5.3 Linguistic forms of questions 69
5.4 Second questions 70
6.1 Piaget’s interview about a child’s dreams 75
6.2 A craftsman’s narrative 82
6.3 An active challenging interview 85
7.1 Hamlet’s interview 90
7.2 Quality criteria for an interview 92
viii doing interviews
7.3 Interviewer qualifications 93
7.4 Crossing interview discourses 95
7.5 Standard criticisms of qualitative interviews 97
8.1 Transcription for conversation analysis 110
9.1 Six steps of analysis 116
9.2 Ad hoc techniques of interview analysis 133
11.1 Investigating with the final report in mind 153
12.1 Learning interviewing by transcribing interviews 161
12.2 An interview practicum 162
FIGURES
5.1 Research questions and interview questions 66
9.1 Categorization of the teacher–pupil relationship 123
TABLES
2.1 Qualitative interviews as research instruments and social practices 21
4.1 From interview statements to questionnaire items 50
9.1 Modes of interview analysis 120
9.2 Meaning condensation 124
10.1 Contexts of interpretation and communities of validation 145
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION
Uwe Flick
INTRODUCTION TO THE SAGE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH KIT
In recent years, qualitative research has enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth
and diversification as it has become an established and respected research approach
across a variety of disciplines and contexts. An increasing number of students,
teachers and practitioners are facing questions and problems of how to do qualita-
tive research – in general and for their specific individual purposes. To answer these
questions, and to address such practical problems on a how-to-do level, is the main
purpose of The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit.
The books in The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit collectively address the core
issues that arise when we actually do qualitative research. Each book focuses on
key methods (e.g. interviews or focus groups) or materials (e.g. visual data or
discourse) that are used for studying the social world in qualitative terms.
Moreover, the books in the Kit have been written with the needs of many different
types of reader in mind. As such, the Kit and the individual books will be of use to
a wide variety of users:
• Practitioners of qualitative research in the social sciences; medical research; mar-
keting research; evaluation; organizational, business and management studies;
cognitive science; etc., who face the problem of planning and conducting a
specific study using qualitative methods.
• University teachers and lecturers in these fields using qualitative methods can use
this series as a basis of their teaching.