The Practice of Qualitative Research

Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber & Patricia Leavy. (2006). Sage Publications.

Chapter 4. In-Depth Interview (pp. 119-145)

[I chose this chapter to discuss among the VTW research group members. It is written in a plain yet engaging manner with some examples to illustrate the authors' points.]

The authors introduce the significance of in-depth or intensive interview a common method for qualitative research. In comparison with quantitative interview, they argue, qualitative interviews, which are often involved with in-depth interview, should be "knowledge-producing conversation" (p. 128) based upon reciprocal relationships between interviewees and interviewers as well as a sense of shared authority, which regards interviewees as experts.

Similarly, defining the qualitative interview as "co-creation of meaning" (p. 134), the authors call for reflexivity among researchers. In their term:

"The heart of the qualitative interview requires much reflexivity, that is, sensitivity to the important 'situational' dynamics between the researcher and researched that can impact the creation of knowledge" (p. 135)

In the discussion of dealing with difference between researchers and researched, the authors talk about the notions of insiders and outsiders. They argue that one's status as insider/outsider is fluid and prone to change in the course of research. In general, they agree, insiders can bring much in-depth data, yet state the advantage of being an outsider:

"By not belong to a specific group, you may be viewed as more unbiased by your respondent. Likewise, you may be more likely to ask things that you would otherwise take for granted as "shared knowledge" and in fact learn that your participation have their own way of viewing a given issue." (p. 140)

The authors suggest to be mindful of the importance of difference between researchers and researched.

In the discussion of analysis and interpretation of interview data, the authors emphasize the importance of negative cases that do not fit the overall problems, as they are often the most informative. As a way of triangulating data, they suggest to try hard to disprove a researcher's presumed ideas.

The Cinematic Society and The Reflexive Interview

(Norman Denzin. (2003). In J.F. Cubrium & J.A. Holstein (eds.), Postmodernism Interviewing (pp. 141-155). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage)

In writing "we inhabit a secondhand world" (p. 141)where we experience only representations of the world, Denzin names the contemporary society postmodern cinematic society--"the society that knows itself through the reflective gaze of the cinematic apparatus". The birth of cinematic surveillance in the early 20th century, he explains, made the society exceptionally prone to listening and looking, and this tendency brought about interview society as a consequence of the advent of cinematic realism such as color and sound as well as the emergence of journalistic reporting in mid 1920s. He observes expansions of the use of interview in all sectors of social life and studies such that "the interview society has turned the confessional mode of discourse into a public form of entertainment" and "a public commodity".

He categorizes into four formats the machinery of interview that the interview society takes: objectively neutral format, entertainment and investigative format, collaborative or active format and reflective interview format. By reflexive interview format he means careful interpretation of hidden meanings by paying attention to details and deconstructing the interview itself.

In reviewing "technological apparatus that produce truthful statement" from M. Trinh (1991, When the Moon Waxes Red: Representation, Gender and Cultural Politics. NY: Routledge; p.39), he agrees with Trinh on the influences of documentary interview style on the culture of cinematic society: that is, a filmmaker-as-interivewer sculpts the illusion that viewers watch unmediated reality by using the apparatus and this became predominant cinematic practice in American culture, in particular TV commercials and news. Echoing Trinh's emphasis on reflexive reading, Denzin reminds us that reality is socially constructed and writes, "Filmmaking and documentary interviewing thus become methods of "framing" reality".