Interviewing As Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education And the Social Sciences

by Seidman, Irving

• ISBN13: 9780807746660
• ISBN10: 0807746665
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-01
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

The third edition of this bestselling resource provides clear, step-by-step guidance for new and experienced interviewers to help them develop, shape, and reflect on interviewing as a qualitative research process. While proposing a phenomenological approach to in-depth interviewing, the author also includes principles and methods that can be adapted to a range of interviewing approaches. Using concrete examples of interviewing techniques to illustrate the issues under discussion, this classic text helps readers to understand the complexities of interviewing and its connections to broader issues of qualitative research. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Irving Seidman is a professor of qualitative research and secondary teacher education at the School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction: How I Came to Interviewing	1	(6)
1. Why Interview?	7	(8)
The Purpose of Interviewing	9	(1)
Interviewing: "The" Method or "A" Method?	10	(2)
Why Not Interview?	12	(2)
Conclusion	14	(1)
Note	14	(1)
2. A Structure for In-depth, Phenomenological Interviewing	15	(13)
The Three-Interview Series	16	(3)
Respect the Structure	19	(1)
Length of Interviews	20	(1)
Spacing of Interviews	21	(1)
Alternatives to the Structure and Process	21	(1)
Whose Meaning Is It? Validity and Reliability	22	(5)
Experience the Process Yourself	27	(1)
3. Proposing Research: From Mind to Paper to Action	28	(12)
Research Proposals as Rites of Passage	28	(1)
Commitment	29	(1)
From Thought to Language	30	(1)
What Is to Be Done?	31	(1)
Questions to Structure the Proposal	31	(5)
Rationale	36	(1)
Working with the Material	37	(1)
Piloting Your Work	38	(1)
Conclusion	39	(1)
4. Establishing Access to, Making Contact with, and Selecting Participants	40	(17)
The Perils of Easy Access	40	(3)
Access Through Formal Gatekeepers	43	(2)
Informal Gatekeepers	45	(1)
Access and Hierarchy	45	(1)
Making Contact	46	(1)
Make a Contact Visit in Person	46	(2)
Building the Participant Pool	48	(1)
Some Logistical Considerations	49	(1)
Selecting Participants	50	(4)
Snares to Avoid in the Selection Process	54	(1)
How Many Participants Are Enough?	54	(3)
5. The Path to Institutional Review Boards and Informed Consent	57	(21)
The Belmont Report	57	(1)
The Establishment of Local Institutional Review Boards	58	(2)
The Informed Consent Form	60	(1)
Eight Major Parts of Informed Consent	61	(14)
1. What, How Long, How, to What End, and for Whom?	63	(1)
2. Risks, Discomforts, and Vulnerability	64	(1)
3. Rights of the Participant	64	(5)
4. Possible Benefits	69	(1)
5. Confidentiality of Records	70	(2)
6. Dissemination	72	(2)
7. Special Conditions for Children	74	(1)
8. Contact Information and Copies of the Form	74	(1)
The Complexities of Affirming the IRB Review Process and Informed Consent	75	(3)
6. Technique Isn't Everything, But It Is a Lot	78	(17)
Listen More, Talk Less	78	(3)
Follow Up on What the Participant Says	81	(3)
Listen More, Talk Less, and Ask Real Questions	84	(1)
Follow Up, but Don't Interrupt	85	(1)
Two Favorite Approaches	86	(2)
Ask Participants to Reconstruct, Not to Remember	88	(1)
Keep Participants Focused and Ask for Concrete Details	88	(1)
Do Not Take the Ebbs and Flows of Interviewing Too Personally	89	(1)
Limit Your Own Interaction	89	(1)
Explore Laughter	90	(1)
Follow Your Hunches	91	(1)
Use an Interview Guide Cautiously	91	(1)
Tolerate Silence	92	(1)
Conclusion	93	(2)
7. Interviewing as a Relationship	95	(17)
Interviewing as an "I—Thou" Relationship	95	(1)
Rapport	96	(3)
Social Group Identities and the Interviewing Relationship	99	(7)
Distinguish Among Private, Personal, and Public Experiences	106	(1)
Avoid a Therapeutic Relationship	107	(2)
Reciprocity	109	(1)
Equity	109	(3)
8. Analyzing, Interpreting, and Sharing Interview Material	112	(21)
Managing the Data	112	(1)
Keeping Interviewing and Analysis Separate: What to Do Between Interviews	113	(1)
Tape-Recording Interviews	114	(1)
Transcribing Interview Tapes	115	(2)
Studying, Reducing, and Analyzing the Text	117	(2)
Sharing Interview Data: Profiles and Themes	119	(6)
Making and Analyzing Thematic Connections	125	(3)
Interpreting the Material	128	(2)
Note	130	(3)
Appendix: Two Profiles	133	(12)
Nanda: A Cambodian Survivor of the Pol Pot Era	133	(7)
Betty: A Long-Time Day Care Provider	140	(5)
References	145	(12)
Index	157	(5)
About the Author	162