ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces two methods of qualitative interviewing, in-depth interviews and life history interviews, and discusses their applications to immigrant and refugee studies. While in-depth interviews aim to understand subjects’ life experiences in depth, life history interviews capture the changes of subjects’ life trajectories and social relations over time. When applying general principles of these interview methods to study immigrants and refugees, researchers are urged to consider several important factors that might affect the proceeding and dynamics of interviews. First, individuals’ structural positions, such as race, gender, age, social class, sexuality, and nationality, construct multifaceted insider-outsider positionalities between the interviewer and the interviewee. They bring varied advantages and disadvantages into the interview encounter, which warrants reflexive considerations. Second, the languages used in interviews, transcriptions, and research reports affect the flow of qualitative interviewing and the accuracy of interpreting subjects’ experiences. Third, researchers’ sensitivity to subjects’ cultures, socioeconomic characteristics, and immigration backgrounds is crucial to producing quality interviews and research. Finally, whether giving gifts or monetary incentives to interviewees is considered proper needs to be assessed based on both research ethics and cultural appropriateness. When choosing to give gifts, researchers should keep the payment small to prevent compelling subjects into participation.
