scholarly journals Theoretical Considerations in Qualitative Interviewing

Author(s):  
Robin Cooper

You might expect a book on interviewing in qualitative research to focus solely on the procedures of conducting interviews; however, in Reflective Interviewing: A Guide to Theory & Practice, Kathryn Roulston (2010) offers this perspective and much more. In particular, her new book addresses ways in which the researcher's theoretical perspective can inform not only the interview but also each stage of the research process. This thoughtful, well-written text also includes at the end of each chapter helpful suggestions of further reading and activities that relate to the chapter's topic.

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-45
Author(s):  
Katharina Inhetveen

This paper suggests how translation processes can be integrated in qualitative interviews in multi-lingual research fields. While theoretical and methodological problems of language and translation have been thoroughly reflected upon from different perspectives in qualitative research, the literature provides little guidance for the practical gathering and handling of multi-lingual material. As a contribution to filling this gap, the paper suggests a systematic, comparative combination of oral and written translations of interviews, which would serve both a diagnostic and a heuristic function. Based on an ethnographic study in Zambian refugee camps and conceptual distinctions between schemes of translation, I identify, in oral translations, five forms of translator’s decision to depart from the literal wording in favor of a pragmatic translation intended to aid continuation of the conversation. As an important element of the suggested procedure, the comparison of the translation modes is systematically discussed with the translating research assistant, leading not only to reflection on further translation practices, but, most importantly, to an awareness of important substantial aspects of the material. This heuristic function of the comparative combination of translation modes thus leads to an enhancement of the research process.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 1090-1101
Author(s):  
Melissa Speight Vaughn

This article demonstrates how liminality provides methodological possibilities that consider affective, social, and cultural knowledge domains in interdisciplinary qualitative research. Arguing that researching perspectives of liminal citizens whose intellectual traditions exist outside the bonds of the most liberal citizenship conceptions requires liminal ontological space for researchers to un think the research process. In this blues poetic narrative, I recount how Black Studies liminal concepts of alterity, blues epistemology, and forms of life twisted in my research praxis informing a critical culturally appropriate methodology which is the blues methodology. The methodology is a social inquiry designed to use community knowledge to identity and address issues of democratic governance, spatial displacement, and educational equity. Situated within the Black Studies theoretical perspective, blues methodology employs cultural tools to create liminal ontological space for historically marginalized Black epistemologies to challenge and recreate citizenship knowledge and practices from the alterity vantage point.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692110258
Author(s):  
Constance Iloh

Memes are a prominent feature of global life in the 21st century. The author asserts that memes are significant to current and future qualitative research. In particular, the text establishes memes as: (a) part of everyday communication, expression, and explanation, thus useful in qualitative research; (b) valuable cultural units and symbols; (c) forms of rapport building and cultivating relational research; (d) approaches that bolster and sustain remote data collection; (e) methods that infuse agency, humor, and creativity into the research process. The author then showcases distinctive ways memes can be effectively incorporated in qualitative research pursuits and publications. The article concludes with the necessity of data collection and representation approaches that advance the meaningfulness and cultural-relevance of qualitative inquiry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692110161
Author(s):  
Syahirah Abdul Rahman ◽  
Lauren Tuckerman ◽  
Tim Vorley ◽  
Cristian Gherhes

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen the implementation of unprecedented social distancing measures, restricting social interaction and with it the possibility for conducting face-to-face qualitative research. This paper provides lessons from a series of qualitative research projects that were adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure their continuation and completion. By reflecting on our experiences and discussing the opportunities and challenges presented by crises to the use of a number of qualitative research methods, we provide a series of insights and lessons for proactively building resilience into the qualitative research process. We show that reflexivity, responsiveness, adaptability, and flexibility ensured continuity in the research projects and highlighted distinct advantages to using digital methods, providing lessons beyond the COVID-19 context. The paper concludes with reflections on research resilience and adaptation during crises.


Field Methods ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1525822X2198948
Author(s):  
Adeagbo Oluwafemi ◽  
S. Xulu ◽  
N. Dlamini ◽  
M. Luthuli ◽  
T. Mhlongo ◽  
...  

Transforming spoken words into written text in qualitative research is a vital step in familiarizing and immersing oneself in the data. We share a three-step approach of how data transcription facilitated an interpretative act of analysis in a study using qualitative data collection methods on the barriers and facilitators of HIV testing and treatment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana G. Raskind ◽  
Rachel C. Shelton ◽  
Dawn L. Comeau ◽  
Hannah L. F. Cooper ◽  
Derek M. Griffith ◽  
...  

Data analysis is one of the most important, yet least understood, stages of the qualitative research process. Through rigorous analysis, data can illuminate the complexity of human behavior, inform interventions, and give voice to people’s lived experiences. While significant progress has been made in advancing the rigor of qualitative analysis, the process often remains nebulous. To better understand how our field conducts and reports qualitative analysis, we reviewed qualitative articles published in Health Education & Behavior between 2000 and 2015. Two independent reviewers abstracted information in the following categories: data management software, coding approach, analytic approach, indicators of trustworthiness, and reflexivity. Of the 48 ( n = 48) articles identified, the majority ( n = 31) reported using qualitative software to manage data. Double-coding transcripts was the most common coding method ( n = 23); however, nearly one third of articles did not clearly describe the coding approach. Although the terminology used to describe the analytic process varied widely, we identified four overarching trajectories common to most articles ( n = 37). Trajectories differed in their use of inductive and deductive coding approaches, formal coding templates, and rounds or levels of coding. Trajectories culminated in the iterative review of coded data to identify emergent themes. Few articles explicitly discussed trustworthiness or reflexivity. Member checks ( n = 9), triangulation of methods ( n = 8), and peer debriefing ( n = 7) were the most common procedures. Variation in the type and depth of information provided poses challenges to assessing quality and enabling replication. Greater transparency and more intentional application of diverse analytic methods can advance the rigor and impact of qualitative research in our field.


2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Pechurina

This article discusses ethical decisions in the qualitative research of homes, with particular focus on a situation, in which a researcher studies his/her own migrant community. While exploring more common topics, such as negotiating access and receiving permission to photograph within participants’ homes, this article will also highlight issues that occur specifically within community-based ethnographic studies among Russian migrants. Using examples from the study of Russian immigrants’ homes in the UK, this article raises important questions of social positioning and power distribution within studied community. It will demonstrate the complexities of ethical decision making at different stages of the research process, which reflects the constantly changing relationship(s) between the cultural and social backgrounds and identities of researchers and participants. The insider and outsider role of the researcher is relative and the constant need to balance it, while simultaneously creating difficult ethical dilemmas, often reveals rich data and moves the whole research process forward.


Author(s):  
Perttu Salovaara

Purpose It has recently become more acknowledged that there is a quality of “messiness” to the qualitative research process. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the fieldpath approach—a hermeneutically inspired framework—to account for the non-linearity, uncertainty and ambiguity of the research process. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper reviews how the scope of hermeneutics has been partly misunderstood. The paper discusses how the scope of hermeneutics has lately been expanded by works such as Günter Figal’s (2010) Objectivity: The Hermeneutical and Philosophy. Findings The fieldpath approach proposes that a heightened relation to materiality enables the messiness of the process to be preserved, while at the same time offering a way to find one’s footing in the midst of ontologically incomplete phenomena that are still—in a processual fashion—forming and becoming. Research limitations/implications This is a conceptual paper. In addition to the research mentioned here, more studies would be needed to legitimise, test and refine the approach. Practical implications Objectivity provides an additional criterion for researchers to lean on when facing the non-linearity and unexpected turns inherent in the qualitative research process. Social implications The stress on materiality involves an ethical dimension. Post-human ethics are concerned with the future environmental consequences and sustainability of the material world. The way that matter matters in our methodologies is of primary importance. Originality/value First, the paper emphasises that hermeneutics, contrary to the common perception, does offer criteria for evaluating between interpretations. Second, it introduces the notion of hermeneutic objectivity, which stresses the importance of materiality for interpretations. Third, it introduces the fieldpath approach, which, based on the previous criterion of hermeneutic objectivity, allows for the messiness of the research process, while also preserving a tight grip on the hermeneutic imperative of “understanding in a new way”.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 883-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen de la Cuesta Benjumea

ABSTRACTThe objective of this paper is to emphasize the importance of quality in the research process instead of its valuation afterwards, an issue the literature has given extensive attention to. In addition, it is a reflection on the debate about the quality of qualitative research and presents the assessment of quality as a situated practice. Reflexivity is presented not as a criterion to assess the research quality but as an instrument to achieve it. There are three characteristics of qualitative research that researchers need to pay reflexive attention to. The first is that qualitative studies deal with human experiences; the second that these experiences are subjective; and the third that qualitative knowledge is ideographic and constructed during the study. Beyond these characteristics, issues are signaled that are constantly repeated in the studies and that unknowingly are a threat to their quality are addressed in this paper.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha B. Meyer ◽  
Belinda Lunnay

Abductive and retroductive inference are innovative tools of analysis which enable researchers to refine and redevelop social theory. This paper describes and demonstrates how to apply these tools to strengthen sociological theory-driven empirical research outputs. To illustrate how abductive and retroductive inference work for the benefit of enhanced qualitative analysis we present the findings of a qualitative study that investigated heart disease patients’ trust in medical professionals (n=37). We outline the research process using a six-stage model developed by Danermark et al. (1997) that will guide researchers doing exploratory research in how to use abductive and retroductive inference in qualitative research design and analysis. A snapshot of the study findings are provided for illustration purposes. The reader will learn how the application of these under-utilized methodological tools provides a novel way of analyzing sociological research.


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