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DOI: 10.1177/1094428106290196

2007; 10; 184 Organizational Research Methods

Kathy Lund Dean Volume Review: Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data

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184

Book Review

Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (2005). Qualitative Interviewing: The Fine art of

Hearing Data (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

The dorsum comprehend and preface of Qualitative Interviewing position the book conspicuously: This

is an introductory, field-based guide for the "novice" qualitative researcher with little or no

hands-on experience. One of my goals for the review was to define the extent to which

this positioning was in fact operationalized, and I feel confident in reporting that the

authors have obtained their goal. The authors take a consistently enthusiastic viewestward of inter-

viewing equally a data-gathering technique, indicating in the front of chapter 1 the vast array of

questions and issues that may be examined with interviewing. They compare conducting

qualitative interviewing to having "night-vision goggles" (p. vii) that enable examination

of unseen, complex phenomena.

Herbert and Irene Rubin offer their extensiveastward, decades-long field experience with

"depth" interviewing by liberally punctuating factual points with examples from their own

work. Their credibility is articulate. What also appears clear is their genuine wish to help inex-

perienced interviewers avoid some common pitfalls, as they utilize both successful and unsuc-

cessful examples. Throughout the book, there is an unmistakably normative tone. The

authors charge the interviewer with responsibilities not enumerated often enough in inter-

view-methodology texts, including honoring the feel of generating knowledge as

building a reciprocal relationship, honoring interviewees with unfailingly respectful behafive-

ior toward them, reflecting on ane's own biases and openly acknowledging their potential

issue, and owning the emotional effect interviews might have on respondents besides as on

the interviewer. Thus, this book seems to me to serve dual and related purposes: to offer

nuts-and-bolts methodological help and to norm new researchers into best practices

that will serve them not only in interviewing situations but in academic life equally a whole.

There is a denoting flow to the chapters that represents a roughly chronological sequence

of an interviewing-research project. In chapters one and 2, the Rubins offer readers their phi-

losophy of scientific discipline that serves equally a conceptual grounding for the "how-to" remainder of the

volume. Chapters 3 and 4, detailing research pattern, are among the most nitty-gritty of all the

chapters, but such grit is essential for novice researchers. Helping new researchers cull

appropriate inquiry questions and anticipate questions of actuality and brownie, for

example, is invaluable. Capacity 5 to 9 become to the heart of interviewing itself. The Rubins,

using numerous examples, follow their assertion that interviews are partnerships between

researcher and interviewee and offer vicarious experiences of being face-to-face with an

interviewee. Chapters 10 to 12 have the reader through data analysis and results presenta-

tion, including coding integrity through publication.

The Rubins assert that the volume'south value-add is the introduction of and reliance on what

they telephone call the "Responsive Interviefly" model. They offer it equally an overarching philosoph-

ical compass that is specially helpful to new researchers who demand more foundation than

practice experienced ones. In easy-to-read terms, the authors discuss of import assumptions of

the model, including philosophical orientation (interpretivist, constructionist) and the role

of both interviewer and interviewee (interactive and mutually dependent for meaning mak-

ing). Essentially, the book is a description of forging a conversational partnership in which

Organizational

Enquiry Methods

Volume 10 Number 1

January 2007 184-187

10.1177/1094428106290196

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Lund Dean / Book Review 185

researcher and respondent share in discovering meaning. The interviewer as keeper and

interpreter of knowledge is dispensed with immediately in the volume; questions about the

"how" of forging this human relationship are covered in later chapters.

I would have liked to have seen more than give-and-take most the inherent social construction of

interviewing during the discussion of research philosophies. The authors do include a critique

of positivism, asserting that quantitative information-gathering methods (such as surveys) "intellec-

tually dominate" respondents (p. 24), merely they offering less of a critique of interviewing itself every bit

having some of those aforementioned potentially dominating effects. Although the authors desire to be

more than balanced than some of the "extreme schools" of thought in interviewing (back cover)

and they want to take an eye on the practicality of getting published, the increasingly com-

monday recognition of uneven power, context, and social grounding inherent in interviewing per-

haps should push that envelope a lilliputian further. If this book is to socialize novice researchers

into all-time practices, which I believe it is, the authors demand to discuss this critique. One of my

favorite pieces about this is Fontana and Frey's (2005) excellent essay in Denzin and

Lincoln'south tertiary edition of the Handbook of Qualitative Research (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005).

Having said that, I want to emphasize the integrity with which Rubin and Rubin explain

the process of gathering and interpreting respondent vocalization. The function of interviewer reflec-

tion is prominent and is consequent not but with Fontana and Frey's (2005) reminders just

with Husserl's (1969) original conceptualization of responsible phenomenological inquiry

methods. Reviewer responsibilities are reinforced, and the tone could have been quite

heavy considering of that, but in that location are helpful reality checks about all parts of the procedure that

are valuable for beginners also as experienced researchers. One of those is an eastxhorta-

tion to "lighten upwardly" and not worry likewise much about mistakes in questioning (pp. 79–81). The

authors stress that, with a real conversational partnership, there are very few deal-breaking

mistakes that can be made and that the process of shared discovery is organic, adaptive, and

energizing. The onus for gaining and maintaining trust is clearly on the researcher, which

may engender months of effort, but it is also an opportunity to forge significant research

relationships that volition pay off with gems of new information for the field. And the volume

takes some pressure level off of novice researchers by telling them that they exercise not have to be

perfect or omniscient, as can seem the example with the first few research projects undertaken.

In some areas of the volume, the authors' choices virtually details and language may get in the

manner of clarity for the novice researcher. The discussion well-nigh interviews as "extensions of

ordinary conversations" (pp. 12–13) is disruptive and seems to argue from different vantage

points. Another example of this is the discussion of philosophical differences between pos-

itivist data gathering and qualitative information gathering. The authors refer to "interviewer" and

"interviewee" when discussing surveying techniques in the positivist tradition, rather than

a more articulate "researcher" and "respondent." Whereas one may argue the point that survey-

ing people is in fact interviewing them in some fashion, this linguistic communication is unhelpful when

philosophical and technical differences are being explained.

The discussion about telephone interviews is surprisingly brief. Although phone is

not a preferred medium for depth interviewing, and the authors indicate as much, resource

limitations for researchers at the beginning of their career (such as doctoral students) may

necessitate using the telephone. This tangential treatment seems a bit at odds with the

book'south otherwise practical nature. Finally, a cursory segue discussion about coding the data

seems necessary. Upwardly to affiliate 11 ("Analyzing Coded Data"), the authors have been conscientious

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to accolade the individual nature and feel of each interview. In my feel with sub-

mitting research papers using interview information to journals, novice researchers need a bit of

ammunition to respond inevitable questions from editors and reviewers equally to why, at coding

fourth dimension, it is advisable to group individually derived concepts and themes together. A cou-

ple of sources I have institute very helpful in answering those questions are Hycner (1999)

and Groenewald (2004).

Sage little nuggets of operational wisdom are scattered about the book. Examples of

these include the discussion near admission issues and examples of actual letters seeking

interviewees (p. 51; pp. 94–96), metaphorical representations of interview structures (pages

144–146), and managing an Institutional Review Board (pages 104–107). I particularly

enjoyed two of these nuggets that are, based on my academic experience, worth the cost

of the book in and of themselves. The commencement is what to do with an invitation to revise and

resubmit a manuscript for publication (p. 271). The communication that researchers do not take to

accept every comment and change their manuscript thusly and that beingness published means

beingness intrepid and persistent is advice many of my colleagues seem non to take received

early in their careers. The 2d "worth the toll of access" gem is how to deal with

the incidence of suspected respondent lying (starts on p. 72). In my ain feel, this

has been a rare problem merely anguishing when it happens. The Rubins offer tried-and-true

help as to when a researcher might wait distorted or "formalistic" responses and ways to

structure questions to attempt to avoid them, such as request for stories or basing questions

on shared, directly observations.

Some themes throughout the book seem hopelessly redundant to my reading ("Ask rel-

evant questions every bit new information emerges," "Test your understanding through sharing

and paraphrasing with the conversational partner") but may be enormously helpful for new

researchers who demand conceptual repetition to drive dwelling house of import points. I would rec-

ommend, without reservation, the Rubins' work to any novice researcher interested in pur-

suing qualitative piece of work in general. The value of what I would consider to be best practices

and integrity norming offered in this volume is terrific. Serendipitously, a colleague just down

the hallway from me is taking a doctoral-level qualitative research methodology course and

had an interview-based assignment to complete. She enjoyed the book tremendously and

reported that the Design affiliate (chapter 3) and the Standing the Pattern chapter (chap-

ter 4) were excellent. The microlevel of particular that I constitute pedantic was welcome to her.

Because Sue is the audience toward which the book is aimed, her experience with the volume

seems weighty. As a postscript: She ordered a re-create for herself!

Kathy Lund Dean, PhD

Idaho State University

References

Denzin, North. Chiliad., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2005). The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Fontana, A., & Frey, J. H. (2005). The interviedue west: From neutral opinion to political interest. In Due north. K. Denzin

& Y. Southward. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 695–727). Thousand Oaks,

CA: Sage.

186 Organizational Research Methods

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Groenewald, T. (2004). A phenomenological enquiry design illustrated. International Journal of Qualitative

Methods, 3(one), ane–26.

Husserl, E. (1969). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology (Due west. R. B. Gibson, Trans.). Sydney,

Australia: Allen & Unwin.

Husserl, E. (1970). The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology: An introduction to

phenomenological philosophy (D. Carr, Trans.). Evanston: Northwestern University.

Hycner, R. H. (1999). Some guidelines for the phenomenological analysis of interview data. In A. Bryman &

R. Thou. Burgess (Eds.), Qualitative research (Fiveol. 3, pp. 143–164). London: Sage.

Lund Dean / Volume Review 187

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  • Sung won Kim
  • Kari-Elle Brown
  • Vanessa L. Fong

This commodity explores how graduates of a inferior high schoolhouse in Dalian Urban center, Liaoning Province, Prc, chose their high school and college major discipline of report and the extent to which their majors fit with their work trajectories. We found that most interviewees considered the likelihood of a major and degree leading to amend job opportunities more of import than how the major fit with their personal interests. However, the unpredictability of the market economy in Cathay made it difficult to anticipate which majors would lead to more lucrative jobs, and many eventually found work that did not lucifer their majors. © 2016 past the Comparative and International Teaching Society. All Rights Reserved.

The data for this paper were generated during a iii-year, Participatory Activeness Enquiry projection, with 41 15—xix-year-old female co-researchers and activists, within and across the walls of a secondary schoolhouse. The purpose of the larger study was to work with these students to understand and transform their self-identified barriers to physical education (PE) engagement and physical activeness participation. The focus of this paper is on 1 of the transformation sites, the students' formal PE curriculum. Participatory Action Research (PAR) constituted the theoretical, pedagogical and methodological framework for this study. The specific questions we seek to address in this newspaper are what does a negotiated PE curriculum procedure look like, and how does students' increased involvement in curricular controlling impact on their engagement with concrete instruction. Data for this paper were generated through individual and grouping conversations with five student researchers and curriculum designers during the first year of the study. These conversations were guided past participatory research artefacts (e.g. photographs, posters). Findings suggest that participatory approaches to research and curriculum-making tin serve to promote students' meaningful date in the critique and the reimagining of their PE and physical activity experiences. The girls in this study, when provided with guidance and encouragement, rose to the challenge and took buying of their learning, and doing so was a positive, energizing and exciting experience for them and ane in which deep learning occurred and deep insights were produced. Negotiating the curriculum was not without claiming all the same, and both students and adult allies needed support in persevering beyond the transition and the novelty of initial excitement.

  • Thomas Groenewald Thomas Groenewald

This article distills the cadre principles of a phenomenological research design and, by means of a specific written report, illustrates the phenomenological methodology. After a brief overview of the developments of phenomenology, the enquiry paradigm of the specific written report follows. Thereafter the location of the data, the information-gathering the data-storage methods are explained. Unstructured in-depth phenomenological interviews supplemented past memoing, essays by participants, a focus grouping discussion and field notes were used. The data explicitation, by means of a simplified version of Hycner's (1999) process, is further explained. The article finally contains commentary about the validity and truthfulness measures, also as a synopsis of the findings of the study.

  • Richard H. Hycner

This commodity explicates, in a concrete, stride-past-pace way, some procedures that can be followed in phenomenologically analyzing interview information. It also addresses a number of problems that are raised in relation to phenomenological research.

  • Edmund Husserl

Traducción de: Die krisis der europeaischen wissenschaften und die transzendentale pheanomenologie