Qualitative Methods Ch7
The Interview as Social Interaction and Speech Event
- The Interview as Social Interaction
1. “Any Interview constitutes a social situation between two individuals; it is a process of continuous, spiral interaction in which one person’s response to the stimulation of another in turn becomes the stimulation for another response(Palmer 1928)”
2. The interview process has been studied as a social situation with a beginning, an unfolding or natural history, and an ending.
- Rapport, Truths, and Telling Accounts
1. Rapport btw interviewer and respondent is very important. Through Rapport truth could be found; without, problems of untruthfulness and evasion may and will occur.
2. Palmer suggests that to much talking from the interviewer may interfere with rapport and instead suggested body language. “ Gestures, the nod of the head, smiles, facial expressions which reflect the emotions narrated are…very important. They also aid the interviewer in escaping pitfalls; if the response is put into language it can more often lead to disagreement and misunderstanding which break the rapport btw the interviewer and his subject.
3. First Impressions are Key… “If the wrong foot is put in the door first, then every step afterward may not follow at all”
4. In using rapport do not “underrapport” for data may be few and lead to untruths, while “overrapport” may be the respondent wanting to fill in data for the interviewer. So try to find a happy medium.
5. “Read… Box 7.1/ 7/2
- Impromptu Prompt-
- Respondent Resistance
- Emotional Content
-The Interview Topic and Participants
The interview, like field research, involves an embodied researcher of a particular appearance, gender, race, and age; one or more respondents with their own social characteristics and a topic that may be of interest to bother participants but a threat to one. No matter what the previous understandings or initial rapport, and no matter who is doing the interviewing, certain topics, or even certain questions or subtopics within a general topic, may stymie the interview process.
Social class, as well as gender, may affect the social situation of the interview as it is read through the bodies of the participants. The social class of the interviewer as well as the respondent has been at issue before…(Kinsey)
-After the Interview
From the interviewer’s point of view, once all questions are asked and the audiotape is turned off, the event is complete and it is time for leave-taking rituals. Some interviewers, however, do recommend a period of what Kvale calls “debriefing” after the interview.
“At the end of the interview there may be some tension or anxiety, because the subject has been open about often personal and emotional experiences and may be wondering about the interview’s purpose and how it will be used. There may perhaps also be feelings of emptiness; the subject has given much information about his or her life and may not have received anything in return.”
From the point of view of the respondents, the end of the interview may be a welcome relief, or something to prolong if possible, and anything in between. Respondents vary from extremely busy people who have squeezed in a half hour to respond hurriedly to questions to elderly or isolated people who are lonely, desire company, and do not want the interviewer to leave. Other respondents sought to continue the conversation with the interviewer once the recorder was turned off rather than proceeding to leave taking rituals. Eventually, however, the interview does have to come to an end.
After the respondent has gone, take notes of your physical environment, body language and context of the interview. This will help spark memory of what was said in the interview. Also information to include is how the respondent was dressed, looked , and behaved before, during, and after the interview, any body language that would not be captured on tape, and your interpretation of the respondent’s appearance, demeanor, and body language.
