Interviewing in Social Science Research: A Relational Approach

Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 2
Title Page......Page 6
Copyright Page......Page 7
Dedication......Page 8
Table of Contents......Page 10
Series Editors’ Foreword......Page 12
Preface......Page 14
Acknowledgments......Page 19
1 What is Relational Interviewing?......Page 22
Methodological Underpinnings......Page 23
Active Listening......Page 24
Acquiring New Lexicons......Page 25
Learning through Missteps......Page 26
Treating People with Dignity and Respect......Page 27
Comparison to Other Approaches......Page 28
Suitable Projects......Page 30
The Limits of Rapport......Page 33
The Promise and Pitfalls of Positionality......Page 36
Structural Power and Privilege......Page 37
Individual Attributes and Background......Page 38
Social and Theoretical Vantage Points......Page 39
Insiders v. Outsiders......Page 40
Elites v. Non-Elites......Page 41
Minimizing Harm through Meaningful Protections......Page 43
Becoming Mindful of Local Norms and Hierarchies......Page 45
Respecting Participants’ Knowledge and Boundaries......Page 46
Learning from Relationships That Do Not Work......Page 49
Working with Research Assistants and Interpreters......Page 50
3 Selecting, Finding, and Approaching Interviewees......Page 56
Selecting Instead of Sampling......Page 58
Working through Interlocutors......Page 61
Funnel Method and Other Strategies of Access......Page 65
Navigating Dangers and Risks......Page 68
Treating Mistakes as Gifts......Page 69
Learning from Interviews That Do Not Happen......Page 71
4 Strategies for Conducting Interviews......Page 74
Interview Locations and Timing......Page 75
Greetings, Introductions, and Permissions......Page 76
Listening With or Without a Recorder......Page 78
Questions and Prompts......Page 81
Ways to Start an Interview......Page 82
Ways to Probe Meanings and Logics......Page 85
Ways Out of Impasses or Dead-Ends......Page 88
Talking to More Than One Person at a Time......Page 90
Interpretivist and Positivist Approaches to Analysis......Page 94
Looking for Patterns......Page 96
Making Sense of Different Kinds of Truths......Page 99
Decoding Causal Logics......Page 102
Analyzing Positionality and Ethics......Page 103
6 The Ethos of Relational Interviewing......Page 111
1. Man with the Black Notebook in Rwanda......Page 114
2. “Old Timer” in Maryland......Page 116
3. Clergyman in Northern Ireland......Page 118
4. Sex Worker in California......Page 120
References......Page 123
Index......Page 132