1. About this resource
This teaching pack provides instructors and students with materials designed to assist in teaching
qualitative interviewing. ESDS Qualidata's aim in creating this pack is to illustrate interview methods
using its extensive data collection held as part of the UK Data Archive holdings, and, in particular,
to assist instructors who have limited research materials of their own. The pack provides brief summaries
of several different interviewing techniques and each summary is accompanied by full transcripts or excerpts
and the interview schedule (or guidance notes). It concludes with selected references and practical
suggestions for how to use the materials for teaching.
While every effort has been made to include many types of interview, the final selection of categories
was determined by holdings in the ESDS Qualidata archive. ESDS Qualidata has also used its judgement on
which examples should be used for each type of interview style. Determining interview styles from a transcript
is a rather tricky process as interview categories are not always discrete and, while ESDS Qualidata recognises
that the original researchers may have more complex or different views on their methodology, it has attempted
to reflect the original researchers' classifications, and all the researchers have consented to have their
materials placed in the categories it has chosen.
There is an extensive body of literature on qualitative interviewing and its strengths, nuances and
controversies. ESDS Qualidata makes no claim to be comprehensive in its descriptions of the different
types of interviews. However, a selection of references is provided to enable further exploration of
these debates. For a good introduction to qualitative interviewing, Seale et al. (2004) and Plummer (2001)
are particularly recommended.
Acknowledgements
ESDS Qualidata would like to thank the depositors who agreed to make their materials available
for this resource: Maggie Mort, Gill Green, Jenny Hockey, Wendy Hollway, Tony Jefferson, Peter Robbins, and Paul Thompson.
Their editorial comments on the interview guide and interview extracts are especially appreciated.
ESDS Qualidata would also like to thank several current and former members of the Sociology Department at
the University of Essex for their suggestions.
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