Interviewing Methods

This four-and-a-half-hour course delves into three qualitative research traditions, highlighting their significance in psychology, and explaining how interviewing techniques are employed in these traditions.

Phenomenology is a method that captures the essence of human experiences, including questions like “What is the essence of love?” or “What is loneliness?” Through in-depth, iterative interviews and prolonged engagement with a small, homogeneous sample, students learn to evoke deep meanings from lived experiences. Examples from the literature showcase how phenomenology can reveal the intricate nuances of maternal identity development.

Narrative inquiry uses storytelling to understand human experiences. This method is particularly effective in psychology for uncovering the nuances of life through personal stories. For instance, narrative inquirers might study the stories of first-generation college students to gain insights into their unique challenges and experiences. Again, key examples from the research literature highlight how narrative inquiry can promote healing and reclamation through storytelling.

Finally, constructivist grounded theory helps develop theories based on participants' experiences. This method is used to explain social processes such as identity development, resilience-building, and leadership development. Students learn to use semi-structured interviews and other techniques to develop visualizations that explain complex social interactions and processes.

We also explore interviewing techniques tailored to each research tradition. The importance of the researcher’s role as the core instrument of data collection is stressed, emphasizing skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary for effective qualitative research. Best practices in interviewing are introduced, including the use of unstructured and structured interviews, face-to-face and virtual interactions, and the nuances of individual and group interviews.

Learning objectives

• Describe the array of interviewing approaches used in phenomenology, narrative inquiry, and constructivist grounded theory.
• Analyze interviewing techniques.
• Identify the distinctive characteristics of phenomenology.
• Explore the kinds of research questions that phenomenologists seek to answer.
• Identify the distinctive characteristics of narrative inquiry.
• Explore the kinds of research questions that narrative inquirers seek to answer.
• Identify the distinctive characteristics of constructivist grounded theory.
• Explore the kinds of research questions that constructivist grounded theorists seek to answer.