Doing Interviews

Svend Brinkmann is professor of psychology in the Department of Communication and Psychology at the University of Aalborg, Denmark, where he serves as co-director of the Center for Qualitative Studies with Lene Tanggaard. His research is particularly concerned with philosophical, moral, and methodological issues in psychology and other human and social sciences. He is author and co-author of numerous articles and books, including John Dewey: Science for a Changing World, Qualitative Inquiry in Everyday Life, and Qualitative Interviewing.Steinar Kvale (1938-2008) was professor of educational psychology and director of the Centre of Qualitative Research at the University of Aarhus, and adjunct faculty at Saybrook Institute, San Francisco. He was born in Norway and graduated from the University of Oslo. He continued his studies at the University of Heidelberg with an Alexander von Humboldt scholarship and was a visiting professor at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and West Georgia University, Carrolton, and the University of Bergen. His long-term concern was with the implications of such continental philosophies as phenomenology, hermeneutics, and dialectics for psychology and education.

• 1. Introduction to interview research2. Epistemological issues of interviewing3. Ethical issues of interviewing4. Planning an interview study5. Conducting an interview6. Interview variations7. Interview quality8. Transcribing interviews9. Analyzing interviews10. Validation and generalization of interview knowledge11. Reporting interview knowledge12. Enhancing interview quality