Who is “I”? The Invisible Interviewer in Archived Data and Beyond
Format Type
Plenary
Format Type
Paper
Start Date
14-1-2021 1:30 PM
End Date
14-1-2021 1:50 PM
Abstract
In our methodological project “Questions in Qualitative Interviews” (headed by Prof. Carsten Ullrich, funded by the German Research Foundation DFG), we carry out secondary analyses of research interviews from 15 studies that have been deposited in 8 archives in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
This presentation reflects on one particular observation we made while working with these data: The interviewer/researcher seems to be “invisible” (Parry & Mauthner 2004) in most interview transcripts and related materials. For instance, few details are provided about the interview set-up and pre-interview communication, including task and role definitions and negotiations. Furthermore, while we find considerable information about the interviewees (e.g. gendered pseudonyms and socio-demographic characteristics), the interviewer remains an almost attributeless, anonymous „I“. Some transcripts even conceal their acknowledgement tokens, „small“ questions or comments.
This invisibility of the interviewer’s work and contribution to the interview runs against the theoretical commitment of many qualitative researchers that context matters and the interview is a co-construction (Mauthner & Parry 2009, Parry & Mauthner 2004). We therefore explore some possible explanations for this gap between principles and practice which encompass, and go beyond Mauthner and Parry’s diagnosis of an implicit foundationalism in the archives.
In doing so, we engage in an “epistemic reflexivity” of archival practices (Mauthner & Parry 2009), contribute to the studies of qualitative interview studies (Rapley 2012, Roulston 2019a), and discuss practical suggestions to overcome the gap.
Keywords
interview studies, co-construction, secondary analysis, data archives
Who is “I”? The Invisible Interviewer in Archived Data and Beyond
In our methodological project “Questions in Qualitative Interviews” (headed by Prof. Carsten Ullrich, funded by the German Research Foundation DFG), we carry out secondary analyses of research interviews from 15 studies that have been deposited in 8 archives in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
This presentation reflects on one particular observation we made while working with these data: The interviewer/researcher seems to be “invisible” (Parry & Mauthner 2004) in most interview transcripts and related materials. For instance, few details are provided about the interview set-up and pre-interview communication, including task and role definitions and negotiations. Furthermore, while we find considerable information about the interviewees (e.g. gendered pseudonyms and socio-demographic characteristics), the interviewer remains an almost attributeless, anonymous „I“. Some transcripts even conceal their acknowledgement tokens, „small“ questions or comments.
This invisibility of the interviewer’s work and contribution to the interview runs against the theoretical commitment of many qualitative researchers that context matters and the interview is a co-construction (Mauthner & Parry 2009, Parry & Mauthner 2004). We therefore explore some possible explanations for this gap between principles and practice which encompass, and go beyond Mauthner and Parry’s diagnosis of an implicit foundationalism in the archives.
In doing so, we engage in an “epistemic reflexivity” of archival practices (Mauthner & Parry 2009), contribute to the studies of qualitative interview studies (Rapley 2012, Roulston 2019a), and discuss practical suggestions to overcome the gap.