Interviewing in social science research: a relational approach

"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 undertaking, interviewing is more akin to a two-way dialogue than a one-way interrogation. 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 interviews 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 workshops in social science methods."--Provided by publisher.

Preface -- Series editors' foreword -- What is relational interviewing? -- Building working relationships -- Selecting, finding, and approaching interviewees -- Strategies for conducting interviews -- I have my data : now what? -- The ethos of relational interviewing -- References -- Index.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Series Editors' Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 What is Relational Interviewing? -- Methodological Underpinnings -- Practical Elements -- Active Listening -- Acquiring New Lexicons -- Learning through Missteps -- Treating People with Dignity and Respect -- Comparison to Other Approaches -- Suitable Projects -- 2 Building Working Relationships -- The Limits of Rapport -- The Promise and Pitfalls of Positionality -- Structural Power and Privilege -- Individual Attributes and Background -- Social and Theoretical Vantage Points -- Insiders v. Outsiders -- Elites v. Non-Elites -- The Importance of Paying Attention and Respect -- Minimizing Harm through Meaningful Protections -- Becoming Mindful of Local Norms and Hierarchies -- Respecting Participants' Knowledge and Boundaries -- Learning from Relationships That Do Not Work -- Working with Research Assistants and Interpreters -- 3 Selecting, Finding, and Approaching Interviewees -- Selecting Instead of Sampling -- Working through Interlocutors -- Funnel Method and Other Strategies of Access -- Navigating Dangers and Risks -- Treating Mistakes as Gifts -- Learning from Interviews That Do Not Happen -- 4 Strategies for Conducting Interviews -- Interview Locations and Timing -- Greetings, Introductions, and Permissions -- Listening With or Without a Recorder -- Questions and Prompts -- Ways to Start an Interview -- Ways to Probe Meanings and Logics -- Ways Out of Impasses or Dead-Ends -- Talking to More Than One Person at a Time -- 5 I Have My Data-Now What? -- Interpretivist and Positivist Approaches to Analysis -- Looking for Patterns -- Making Sense of Different Kinds of Truths -- Decoding Causal Logics -- Analyzing Positionality and Ethics -- 6 The Ethos of Relational Interviewing