Research Interviewing: The Range of Techniques

by Bill Gillham

* The most comprehensive book available on methods in research interviewing! * What is research interviewing? * What techniques are used? Exactly what do you do in each technique? * How is interview data analysed and written up? The robust, real-world approach makes this book appropriate for practitioner researchers and postgraduate students up to PhD level. Covers distance and face-to-face interviewing, from the un-structured and naturalistic to the highly structured, focused and time-efficient. Emphasis is placed on using the most appropriate methods for the research purpose and how to identify which method is practicable. Based on over thirty years of teaching and supervising research and postgraduate students, the author anticipates questions and difficulties at a level of practical detail. Practical and easy to use, this book is essential for anyone doing research interviewing.

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Kotryna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very readable and helpful book about interviewing people for one's academic research. It's not about being a journalist, but rather about using an interview as one of the research methods in an academic paper. The author offers a lot of helpful advice on preparing for the interview - picking (and justifying) the right format (face-to-face or from-distance techniques; structured / unstructured), introducing one's objectives to an interviewee, getting a consent, and moving towards the interview itself from there.
I would say it hits the note somewhere between undergraduate or postgraduate levels, and though there are more "academic" and more "in-depth" methodology books, this one presents the interviewing method exclusively and in great practical detail, therefore very useful to a researcher who never interviewed anyone before.

[Guera · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very compact, but introductory, summary of using interviewing techniques in research endeavors. It is generic enough to be used as a business meeting facilitation guide as well. It is written in a layman's language, free from high voluted words. It covers the entire research process for this technique, with enough how-to's to plan the interviews, conduct them, transcribe them and analysing the data.

I was surprised though that it was written for post graduate students. I am sure it can be used in undergrad classes as well.

[Frans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good addition to every researcher's body of knowledge.