Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences

by Irving Seidman

This popular text, now in its fifth edition, provides step-by-step guidance for new and experienced researchers who want to use interviewing as a research method. This user-friendly guide explains the rationale for interviewing and the complexity of selecting interview participants, important interviewing techniques, and how to work with the results of interviews. Appropriate for individual and classroom use, this expanded edition a revised assessment of the utility of Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis systems; contributions by Julie Simpson, the Director of Research Integrity Services at the University of New Hampshire, about preparing research for local Institutional Review Boards; and guidance for obtaining informed consent when using technology to interview, when interviewing abroad, and when hoping to include children as participants. Book

Genres: Research, Nonfiction, Research Methods, Education, Reference, Academic, Textbooks

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1991

About the author

Irving Seidman is a professor emeritus of qualitative research and secondary teacher education at the School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of Oswald Tippo and the Early Promise of the University of Massachusetts (2002), The Essential Career Guide to Becoming a Middle and High School Teacher with Robert Maloy (1999), In the Words of the Faculty (1985), and articles published under the name Earl Seidman.

Reviews

[Zoey]

Oh you bet I’m counting my textbook towards my Goodreads goal.

[Lyndsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you need to conduct in-depth interviewing for qualitative research, this book is great. If you have trouble sleeping, this book would help. Otherwise, just nope.

[Tena Edlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another very useful resource for qualitative research.

[Ran Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chapter 5 of the book is a quite good guideline for researcher.
It give some very good suggestions.

[Shonell Bacon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, concise, clear book on interview research. Like the method that he discusses as its three-interview process is one that allows the researcher to truly connect with, learn from, and establish context with the interviewee and the topic being analyzed.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

ES:

Este manual sobre técnicas de la entrevista en ciencias sociales me ha parecido muy completo y ameno de leer. Si eres investigador en este campo y te gustaría aplicar esta metodología en concreto este manual es muy claro a la hora de abordar cómo hacerlo y, además, te da ejemplos de investigaciones en las que los consejos que da funcionaron a la hora de hablar con los sujetos.
Me ha gustado especialmente porque aborda aspectos de las entrevistas que normalmente se suelen obviar en otros libros de este estilo (prestar atención a determinadas palabras usadas por los entrevistados y que pueden dar pie a nuevas preguntas que ahonden más en el tema que se está tratando, por ejemplo).

EN:

I had to read this for work but it was very interesting and insightful, as it approached interviewing from a practical point of view and giving clear examples with previous research where interviews were used as methodological techniques. In addition, this work also covered certain aspects that, in my experience methodological non-fiction books did not covered before (the fact that you can contrast what is been said with the non-verbal communication and, if it does not match, enquiring about this could lead to extra information if the person is willing to talk about it, for example).
I think is a good book for researchers.

[Drjudy Staveley · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those interested in interviewing as a method of research, I highly recommend this book by Seidman. Interviewing as qualitative research is a great book for scholarly researchers. I loved the two profiles in the appendix and the book lays out a step by step process for doing interviewing as qualitative research. If you look on google you may find an older version for a free download.

[Apostolos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a good read on conducting interviews as part of educational research. It does seem to focus on phenomenological interviews, where the interview is the one and only approach, but it might be useful for other cases where interviews are one of many ways of data gathering.

[Rania · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start for researchers embarking on their first interview research,specially in the field of education.

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent how-to book if you plan on using interviewing as your primary or sole form of conducting your research project.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful manual for interviewing.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not terrible academic reading and helpful to what I am currently doing so I was interested. Wouldn't recommend it to non-professionals, but it's good if you need these skills.

[Stephany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helped me through IRB.

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I may deviate from the strict three-interview structure, I plan to draw heavily from the concepts of this book for the methodology chapter of my dissertation.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this an excellent book for anyone exploring interviewing as a method for social science research. Seidman synthesized the full process of interviewing within the research process in a relatively easy read. Please note this book focuses on in-depth phenomenological interviewing. In other words, the book focuses on interviewing as a method to research the experience of individuals. Regardless of that focus, I think this is a good book to cover various issues around interviewing (even for ethnographic, case study, or grounded theory research). A key benefit of this book is that Seidman synthesizes key references for the various issues an interviewer needs to consider. These include ethical, data collection, gender, or racial considerations. In short, Seidman introduces the reader to the three interview series through which a research conducts three separate interviews of the same participant. Each interview is 90 minutes. The first interview covers the life history of the participant. The second concentrates on the current details of the participant's experience. The third interview covers the meaning of the experiences to the participants. Seidman recommends taking 2 to 3 weeks to interview each individual; the three interviews should be spaced between 3 days to a week apart.

[Mirjam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about interviewing skills from a very practical perspective. It is intended as a guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. But.. it is more than that. Chapter 6 about Technique and chapter 7 about the relationship are broadly applicable. For example in business when you are leading a change program, or when you want to research the organizational culture.
This book is not for beginners: it assumes you already have a basic skill set in interviewing, like for instance listening, asking open-ended questions, summarizing.

[Bahia · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a research methods book this was a really easy read. Seidman weaves personal experiences and narrative into the description of his phenomenological interview technique that involves 3 interviews of 90 minutes each. This is a good read for any qualitative researcher, whether you are conducting phenomenological research or not, though it is particularly helpful for those considering phenomenology.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really readable and encouraging book on interview research. It details a specific approach to phenomenological life history interviews, but if you skip the parts that are devoted to that particular approach (which I did), it's relevant to anyone who does interviews for research. And as is usually the case with these books, I wish I'd read it about 6 months ago.

[lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

v. helpful, but i disagree with some recommendations (such as limiting backchannels in an in-person interview; seidman views this as "reinforcing," but i view it as necessary and a source of comfort for the participant)

[Reuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my dissertation research.

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little outdated, but an excellent practical guide to phenomenological interviewing as qualitative research . . . if you're into that sort of thing.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for anyone wanting to embark on phenomenological interviewing or those wanting to tweak their technique.

[Nathalie]

A decent book on the method of in-depth interviews. It focusses on the phenomenological approach - which is an interesting one - but it is also relevant on in-depth interviews in general.

[Spacek Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brings to light how interviewing can be done for qualitative research.

[Dr. Rana Alabdan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this for Amazon for the high rating but when I read it I don't like it. It is not worth to read and not helpful in research at all.

[Dev Scott Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise, yet contemplative - a great introductory text that doesn't get bogged down in minutiae