Essentials of Qualitative Interviewing

Book excerpt: Karin Olson’s brief, accessible guide to the principles and practices of qualitative interviewing is a welcome addition for students and novice practitioners in a wide array of fields. Interview is the most common method for gaining information in the social realm, so there are a bewildering array of techniques and strategies for conducting them. Olson outlines the various options—from formal to highly unstructured, individual and group—and shows how and when to use each. She takes the researcher through the interview process, from design to report, and addresses key issues such as researcher standpoint, vulnerable populations, translation, and research ethics. Exercises, examples, and tables offer a convenient set of tools for understanding. This slim guide is a key resource for any research methods course.