Interviewing in Social Science Research: A Relational Approach

135 Pages·2018·1.4 MB·English

by  Lee Ann Fujii

INTERVIEWING IN SOCIAL SCIENCE
RESEARCH
What is interviewing and when is this method useful? What does it mean to
select rather than sample interviewees? Once the researcher has found people
to interview, how does she build a working relationship with her interviewees?
What should the dynamics of talking and listening in interviews be? How do
researchers begin to analyze the narrative data generated through interviews?
Lee Ann Fujii explores the answers to these inquiries in Interviewing in Social
Science Research, the latest entry in the Routledge Series on Interpretive Methods. This
short, highly readable book explores an interpretive approach to interviewing
for purposes of social science research. Using an interpretive methodology, the
book examines interviewing as a relational enterprise. As a relational undertak-
ing, interviewing is more akin to a two-way dialogue than a one-way interro-
gation. Fujii examines the methodological foundations for a relational approach
to interviewing, while at the same time covering many of the practical nuts and
bolts of relational interviewing. Examples come from the author’s experiences
conducting interviews in Bosnia, Rwanda, and the United States, and from
relevant literatures across a variety of social scientific disciplines. Appendices
to the book contain specific tips and suggestions for relational interviewing in
addition to interview excerpts that give readers a sense of how relational inter-
views unfold.
This book will be of great value to graduate students and researchers from
across the social sciences who are considering or planning to use interviews in
their research, and can be easily used by academics for teaching courses or work-
shops in social science methods.
Lee Ann Fujii is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of
Toronto, Canada.
Routledge Series on Interpretive Methods
Edited by:
Dvora Yanow,Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, University of Utah, USA
The Routledge Series on Interpretive Methods comprises a collection of slim volumes,
each devoted to different issues in interpretive methodology and its associated
methods. The topics covered establish the methodological grounding for interpre-
tive approaches in ways that distinguish interpretive methods from quantitative and
qualitative methods in the positivist tradition. The series as a whole engages three
types of concerns: (1) methodological issues, looking at key concepts and processes;
(2) approaches and methods, looking at how interpretive methodologies are
manifested in different forms of research; and (3) disciplinary and subfield areas, demon-
strating how interpretive methods figure in different fields across the social sciences.
Interpretive Research Design: Concepts and Processes
Peregrine Schwartz-Shea and Dvora Yanow
Interpreting International Politics
Cecelia Lynch
Analyzing Social Narratives
Shaul R. Shenhav
Elucidating Social Science Concepts: An Interpretivist Guide
Frederic Charles Schaffer
Interviewing in Social Science Research: A Relational Approach
Lee Ann Fujii
International Advisory Board
Michael Agar, University of Beate Littig, Institute for Advanced
Maryland, College Park (emeritus) Studies, Vienna
and Ethknoworks LLC, Joseph Lowndes, University of
Santa Fe, NM Oregon
Mark Bevir, University of California, Timothy W. Luke, Virginia Tech
Berkeley Cecelia Lynch, University of
Pamela Brandwein, University of California, Irvine
Michigan Navdeep Mathur, India Institute of
Kevin Bruyneel, Babson College Management
Katherine Cramer, University of Julie Novkov, State University of
Wisconsin, Madison New York at Albany
Douglas C. Dow, University of T exas, Ido Oren, University of Florida
Dallas Ellen Pader, University of
Vincent Dubois, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Strasbourg Frederic C. Schaffer, University of
Raymond Duvall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Minnesota Edward Schatz, University of
Martha S. Feldman, University of Toronto
California, Irvine Ronald Schmidt, Sr., California
Lene Hansen, University of State University, Long Beach
Copenhagen (emeritus) and Davidson College
Victoria Hattam, The New School James C. Scott, Yale University
Emily Hauptmann, Western Samer Shehata, University of
Michigan University Oklahoma
Markus Haverland, Erasmus Diane Singerman, American
University, Rotterdam University
David Howarth, University of Essex Joe Soss, University of Minnesota
Patrick Thaddeus Jackson, American Camilla Stivers, Cleveland State
University University (emerita)
Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, John Van Maanen, Massachusetts
Whitman College Institute of T echnology
Bernhard Kittel, University of V ienna Lisa Wedeen, University of
Jan Kubik, University College Chicago
London and Rutgers University Jutta Weldes, Bristol University
Praise for Interviewing in Social Science Research
In this important text, Lee Ann Fujii shows how qualitative researchers gather
high-quality data through field research. In this inherently social and relational
process, she shows how the researcher and subject together produce narratives
and other kinds of data, and argues for why analysis should focus on the data’s
underlying logic rather than merely the reconstruction of facts. These themes are
rarely given such clarity and emphasis—Fujii’s is a very wise text.
Elisabeth Jean Wood, Yale University, USA
This is a little gem of a book about the process of interviewing. Lee Ann Fujii
skillfully weaves together a critically reflexive relational philosophy with helpful
examples and good practical advice.
Rosalind Edwards, University of Southampton, UK
In Interviewing in Social Science Research, Lee Ann Fujii promotes a logic and ratio-
nale for relational interviewing, explicitly accounting for the duality in power
dynamics and discourse between interviewer and subject. In the course of an
interview, each party continuously attempts to make sense of the other and to
feel secure in their midst. Consequently, Fujii argues that an interviewer’s ability
to properly analyze the “data” rests in their reflections on the mutual agentic
acts unfolding during the conversation: moments of silence, reverse questioning,
abrupt refusals to talk about issues that are then talked about, and other such
behaviors. This important book gets to the heart of the messiness and the revela-
tion of the research-interviewing endeavor, to uncover how people make mean-
ing in the social world.
Alford A. Young, Jr., University of Michigan, USA
A fascinating and thought-provoking read, Lee Ann Fujii’s new book has particu-
lar value in making reflexive ethics integral to the relational approach. Fujii offers a
practical guide to interviewing, combining accounts of real-life (but rarely shared)
challenges from a range of studies from across the world, with advice about how
to manage complex issues, including selecting participants and addressing posi-
tionality. A great resource for students and more experienced researchers.
Janet Boddy, University of Sussex, UK
INTERVIEWING IN
SOCIAL SCIENCE
RESEARCH
A Relational Approach
Lee Ann Fujii
First published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Lee Ann Fujii to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without
intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Fujii, Lee Ann, author.
Title: Interviewing in social science research : a relational approach / Lee Ann
Fujii.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge
series on interpretive methods
Identifiers: LCCN 2017009883| ISBN 9780415843720 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780415843744 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780203756065 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Interviewing. | Interviewing in sociology.
Classification: LCC HM526 .F85 2018 | DDC 158.3/9--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017009883
ISBN: 978-0-415-84372-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-84374-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-75606-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK
In memory of Stacia Super, who taught me the power of
listening.

CONTENTS
Series Editors’ Foreword xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xviii
1 What is Relational Interviewing? 1
Methodological Underpinnings 2
Practical Elements 3
Active Listening 3
Acquiring New Lexicons 4
Learning through Missteps 5
Treating People with Dignity and Respect 6
Comparison to Other Approaches 7
Suitable Projects 9
2 Building Working Relationships 12
The Limits of Rapport 12
The Promise and Pitfalls of Positionality 15
Structural Power and Privilege 16
Individual Attributes and Background 17
Social and Theoretical Vantage Points 18
Insiders v. Outsiders 19
Elites v. Non-Elites 20
The Importance of Paying Attention and Respect 22
Minimizing Harm through Meaningful Protections 22
Becoming Mindful of Local Norms and Hierarchies 24