Qualitative Interviews
These pages provide helpful links (see below) to those interested in qualitative interviews. (Updated on 11 January 2024).
If you would like me to link to your web-site or resources that you have found useful regarding interviews, please email me steve.mann@warwick.ac.uk
NEWS
- This new book by Sal Consoli and Sara Ganassin has a number of excellent contributions on reflexivity in interviews:
Consoli, S., & Ganassin, S. (Eds.). (2023). Reflexivity in applied linguistics: Opportunities, challenges, and suggestions.
- Interesting article on 'nexus analysis' by
Amos Dangbie Dordah and Anders Horsbøl (‘Interview as Social Practice: How Can Nexus Analysis Enhance Reflexivity?’)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/16094069211028686
Recent helpful review by Stefanie Reissner and Andrea Whittle to be published in Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management:
- Reissner, S., & Whittle, A. (2022). Interview-based research in management and organisation studies: Making sense of the plurality of methodological practices and presentational styles. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 17(1), 61-83.
New article in Language and Society.
Schrauf, R. W., De Victoria, P. L., & Diaz, B. (2020). Linguistic stance: An integrative paradigm for mixed methods social science. Language in Society, 49(2), 257-281.
This article is a useful contribution on ‘stancetaking’. It examines f ‘everyday’ social stance—(e.g. evaluation, positioning, and alignment). They demonstrate how participants link their stancetaking to wider sociocultural frames via the discursive devices of indexicality, accounting practices, and appeal to norms.
Interesting article arguing that it may not always be a good idea to record interviews:
Conducting in-depth interviews with and without voice recorders: a comparative analysis
Useful new insight into reflexivity in a TESOL Quarterly article:
Rabbidge, M. (2017). Embracing Reflexivity: The Importance of Not Hiding the Mess. TESOL Quarterly (invited research series).
BOOK
My book The Research Interview: Reflective Practice and Reflexivity in Research Processes is available Palgrave website and on Amazon.
The book develops the arguments made in a paper that was published in a special issue of Applied Linguistics (A Critical Review of Qualitative Interviews in Applied Linguistics). It has ten chapters, ranging over issues concerned with interview context, types, analysis and representation. One of the distinguishing features of the book is that it features a great number of 'reflexive vignettes', generously provided by both established and more novice researchers. These vignettes include details of context, a transcribed extract and a reflexive commentary. They offer unique insights into interviewing in action.
This comprehensive list of interview references is a good starting point if you are collecting information about qualitative interviews.
OTHER NEWS
There was a special issue of Applied Linguistics Review published in 2016 . The issue features work by linguistic ethnographers that critically engage with contemporary sociological discussions on reflexivity and late modernity. It is titled Reflexivity in Late Modernity.
INTERVIEW RESOURCES
Qualitative Interviews: recommended reading (here is list of journals that regularly feature methodological comment on qualitative interviews)
Gubrium et al (Eds.). (2012). The SAGE handbook of interview research: The complexity of the craft (Details and full list of references)
Roulston, K. (2010). Reflective Interviewing: A Guide to Theory and Practice. London: Sage.
Richards, K. (2003) Qualitative Inquiry in TESOL. London: Palgrave. (Chapter 2)
Edwards E. and Holland J. (2013) What is Qualitative Interviewing? London: Bloomsbury.
Journal Special Issues
Applied Linguistics (2011) Eds. Richards and Talmy Issue 32 (vol1)
Language and Society (2011) Eds. De Fino and Perrino (Issue 40)
Useful links
Keith Richards talking about analysing interviews (Video resource - filmed at University of Warwick)
How many interviews is enough (Baker and Edwards)
Filming an interview (Shoot Like a Pro Series - Interview Basics), Top Tips, How to film a video with one camera,
ESDS (Economic and Social Data Service) Guide to Qualitative Interviews (provides introductions and example transcripts for a range of different qualitative interviews - including unstructured interviews, feminist interviews, pychosocial interviews and life story interviews).
UK Data Service - Introduction to Qualitative Interviews
Strategies for qualitative interviews (basic but useful guide from Harvard)
What is Qualitative Interviewing (Rosalind Edwards and Janet Holland)
Guardian list of Great Interviews of the 20th Century (some great material for inital training in noticing features of interview interaction - contrasting with the research interview).
Vialogues is good site for seeing examples of practice interviews - you can also comment on the videos once you have registered. it is run by EdLab at Columbia University.
It is interesting to look closely at some political interviews and think about the strategies that politicians use to avoid answering the question. This video clip features Matt Forde talking about Ed Milliband and Boris Johnson Also have a look at Jeremy Paxman's infamous Michael Howard interview - BBC (the most interesting bit is from 2 mins 30 secs) - also this clip from Matt Forde
American Folklife (StoryCorps Project)
Timescapes ESRC project uses 'walk alongside' interviews to build up a picture of lives in 21C Britain.
Academy of achievement has video extracts and transcripts from interviews with Rosa Parks and Maya Angelou
Sounds - A British Library site covers a wide range of subject areas. The interviews made available here are only a small selection from the many thousands held in the British Library. -
Subjectivity and Reflexivity in Qualitative Research—The FQS Issues (Katja Mruck & Franz Breuer, 2003)
Embedding reflexivity within experiential qualitative psychology (Rachel Shaw, 2010)
The Listening Resource (wide-ranging and some interesting insights). In particular read the interview between Susan Eliot and Richard Krueger. There is also a good interview with Will Wright talking abour recording focus groups
Health Talk ( a wide range of interviews with ordinary people about their health and health care)
Transcribing in Action (an excellent resource if you want to consider aspects of transcribing your interviews)
The effect of an interpreter on interviews: Useful list of references
Useful article on reflexivity in a research project (Atsuko Watanabe)
Mode effects in qualitative interviews: a comparison of semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews (ESRC Project Irvine)
The qualitative research interview (Barbara DiCicco-Bloom and Benjamin F Crabtree)
Tips for interviewers (basic but worth reading)
The use of qualitative interviews in evaluation (Meg Sewell)
Working through the challenges in doing interview research (Kathy Roulston 2011)
Using Skype for interviews; pitfalls and challenges (Susie Weller 2015) and an article that discusses the effectiveness of using video internet technologies, like Skype, for qualitative interviews (Sally Seitz 2016).
Useful article on aspects of Skype interviewing ( Paul Symmons and Valeria Lo Iacono)
Interviewer Bias & Reflexivity in Qualitative Research
Research Methods for Information Management
Lives and Legacies - A guide to Qualitative Interviewing (Ping-Chun Hsiung)
The Qualitative Report (Useful website with useful articles about qualitative interviews and training with an advanced search engine).
International Journal of Qualitative Methods (needs registration)
Qualitative Researcher - Qualitative Researcher provides an interdisciplinary forum for social scientists to share their research and discuss questions arising from their qualitative research
Narrative approaches (Gary Barkhuizen). He has other articles which exploring narrative knowledging.
Forum: Qualitative Social Research
ReStore (ESRC Qualitative Methods)
Guardian (Great Interviews of the 20th Century)
David Frost's best 5 interviews
The six most excruciating interviews of all time
UK 10 most difficult job interview questions (good warm up discussion task)
Stuart Porter (Example interview)
Newspaper piece about interviewing Rob Brydon
How to do a research interview (Graham Gibbs) - contrasts two interviews
Demo qualitative interview with mistakes - youtube video.
Teaching Reflexivity (a useful account from Ping-Chun Hsiung on using data to raise awareness of reflexive issues)
Copland and Creese (2015) has some useful insights into interview use within linguistic ethnography
Focus groups (basic but helpful guide )
Comparative techniques for analysing audio-visual data (QDAs) - useful site at University of Surrey
Mode effects in qualitative interviews: a comparison of semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews using conversation analysis
Working with QDA packages - There are some good on-line ‘how-to’ videos. A quick search on Youtube will reveal a number of tutorials but I would particular recommend the University of Essex’s 10 tutorials on using NVivo 10 and those produced by QSR International. Both demonstrate handling transcription within QDA packages: • University of Essex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaqYC4UGKq8 • http://explore.qsrinternational.com/nvivo-how-to-videos:
Corpus of informal conversations rom the late 1930s (Ivor Timmis). Ivor has recently developed an open access historical spoken corpus with data from the late 1930s. TThe data includes informal conversations among working class people in public places such as pubs, sports grounds, streets and shops.
Hodges' Health Career Model (blog maintained by Peter Jones)
Useful intro video to Applied Linguistics (EU)
Most frequent job interview questions and how to answer them
Useful article on photo elicitation (Borja García et al 2016)
Tutorial materials for developing critical reflection skills (LearnHigher)
Stance in qualitative interviews
Although co-operative development is not interviewing - it is interesting to experience the role of being an "Understander" a particularly concentrated form of active listening. For links see Mariam Attia's site. Also Phil Longwell's recent blog post.