ABSTRACT
An interview is not an ordinary, everyday conversation (Dyer 1995: 56-8). For example, in contrast to an everyday conversation, it has a specific purpose, it is often question-based, with the questions being asked by the interviewer; the interviewer alone may express ignorance (and not the interviewee), and the responses must be as explicit and often as detailed as possible. The interview is a constructed rather than naturally occurring situation, and this renders it different from an everyday conversation; therefore the researcher has an obligation to set up, and abide by, the different ‘rules of the game’ in an interview.
