[Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data] [Author: Rubin, Herbert J.] [December, 2011]

by Herbert J. Rubin

Click 'Additional Materials' for downloadable samplesQualitative The Art of Hearing Data, 2nd Edition explains how to obtain rich, detailed and evocative information through open-ended depth interviewing. This practical, user-friendly text takes the novice researcher through all of the steps of an interviewing project, beginning with picking a viable and absorbing topic, gaining the confidence of interviewees, preparing questions, and the final analysis and write-up. A core purpose of the book is building confidence in beginning researchers so they can begin to interview right away and experience the excitement of learning about others’ lives and stories. Examples from the authors’ own interviews and those of professional colleagues create an engaging first-hand feel. For more experienced researchers the book examines debates in the literature on what can be learned with what kind of certainty and the appropriate role of the author in the final text. The book accomplishes this without the use of academic jargon.Qualitative Interviewing, 2nd Edition has been totally rewritten to add new examples and to better integrate the presentation of topics. Readers will see how the choice of topic influences question wording and how the questions asked influence the analysis. Authors Herbert and Irene Rubin have improved the presentation of matters that students have most trouble with, such as finding an interesting and viable topic, recognizing concepts, learning when and how aggressively to follow up, and figuring out ways to get published.Key Features* Assumes no prior knowledge or experience, and its light tone reads like a conversation between the reader and the authors* Emphasizes treating interviewees as respected partners in the research process while suggesting ways of working with those who lack understanding of what qualitative research entails* Introduces the idea of responsive interviewing by showing the continuous flow among the choice of a research problem, finding interviewees, wording questions, and data analysis* Provides standards by which novices can judge their initial interviews so that they can grow and improve as they go along, including thoroughness of design, rich and nuanced answers, and balanced reports backed by solid evidence from the interviews* Provides more detail on how to recognize concepts and themes in interview data and suggests ways to word follow-up questions* Includes tips on data gathering, ranging from handling recording devices, setting up appointments, and remaining both relaxed and alert enough to carry out an interview* Explains how to make sure that the overall set of questions asked provides the answers needed by the researcher, while at the same time working on customized sets of questions to obtain the particular knowledge each interviewee has* Strikes a balance among some of the more extreme schools of qualitative methodology, addressing many of their concerns while focusing on the practicalities of gathering data, writing it up, and getting publishedPraise for the First Edition“An informative, needed, philosophically grounded text that clearly conveys the complexities of how qualitative senses or meanings are made from particular data of words and deeds.”—THE JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Genres: Nonfiction, Research Methods, Research, Reference, Textbooks, Social Science, School

Paperback

First published August 2, 1995

Reviews

[Travis Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was fine. Definitely an academic read.

[Maged Zakher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great!

[Naoki Ferrio · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my fave book regarding qualitative interviewing. The author gave some descriptive details on reasons and type of research which should employ qualitative method. Rubin also points out a few general example on interview guide and how to structure your data presentation. After reading this book, i found that social study is about exploring social occurrence in the real world and try to explain it to audience particularly the one who will read your writings. There's nothing wrong and right, thus there's no one size fits all model that could be used. This insight however, somehow makes me edgy and realize that social study is indeed very interesting due to its dynamic and fluidity.

[livewugreactions · Rating 4 out of 5]

For pragmatic purposes I think it's an extremely useful text, looking at how to get good interviews and make your participants feel at ease in the interview. It's a very "interview as research instrument" type of approach though as Talmy would put it and I take a more critical stance, but for most people who aren't linguists it'll be really useful.

[Marine Lim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very insightful book into conducting interviews. I found it easy to read and most of the information given relevant to my tasks. A must-read if you would like to improve your interviewing skills in an academic context

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook for class. Nothing remarkable.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some practical tips here, but some information is now outdated. That’s on me, for reading a book almost twenty years after publication.

[ERBA PUTRA]

i want to read

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was easy to read but very similar to other qualitative research guides I’ve read. I found chapters 9, 10, and 12 to be the most useful.

[Rachel Nicole Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another nice supplemental reading to go along with my classes for this quarter ♥️

~xo,
Rach

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. If you've spent much of any time reading about (or doing) qualitative interviewing, this book will be review, providing limited new content or ideas. If you're new to in-depth qualitative interviewing Rubin and Rubin's book is an easy-to-read introduction providing step-by-step suggestions for framing and conducting your work. On the whole I'm a bit torn because the Rubins provide many examples to demonstrate their points -- which is good -- but I found many of the examples too long or focused on work that I didn't care about and couldn't easily relate to my own work (which is my issue, not the authors'). And, both Herb and Irene's work seems to focus on concrete questions with concrete answers rather than slightly more abstract, conceptual questions. While this may be exactly what some readers need, for my work, which is more ideological, other resources are more helpful in guiding how I frame and conduct my research.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

AKA the art of skewing conversation to hear the data that you want to hear...

Actually, a very good book on objective interviewing. Great book for those of us out there doing customer use cases.