Qualitative Interviewing
Full course description
Interviews are an often-used research method in qualitative-orientated research in the field of European Studies. Interviews with EU officials, national diplomats, members of the European Parliament, lobbyists and others provide scholars with unique data about the processes that take place behind the scenes. They are also an important tool to establish causal inference and connect the dots. Using interviews as a data source is, however, not without problems. Interview data are notoriously unreliable. Conducting interviews is furthermore time-intensive and therefore a costly research method. This skills training course on qualitative interviewing provides students with an in-depth insight into the strengths and weaknesses of academic interviewing. It furthermore provides students hands-on training in conducting interviews. This skills training course will be organised around three hands-on seminars during which students will learn about and practice improve their interview skills. They will read literature in preparation for the seminars and hand in a number of assignments. By conducting an interview, processing and analysing it, students get a practical introduction to qualitative interviewing. The course is assessed through a final portfolio which reflects on the preparation of the interview, selection of the interviewee, the interview process, transcription and potential analysis.
Course objectives
After this course students should be able to:
• understand the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative interviewing as a research method and critically reflect on these;
• know how to conduct a qualitative interview;
• know how to transcribe a qualitative interview;
• know how to manage and analyse data from qualitative interviews;
• understand the ethical rules regarding the collection, analysis and storage of interview data.
Prerequisites
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Recommended reading
Gubrium, J. F. (2012). The SAGE Handbook of interview research: The Complexity of the craft. Second Edition. SAGE Publications.
Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. Third Edition. SAGE Publications.