ABSTRACT
Interviewing is perhaps the most common of all research methods. We have already seen in Chapter 5 how survey interviewing is frequently used to generate standardised quantitative data which may be subjected to statistical analysis, and in this chapter we will consider a range of approaches to interviewing which yield different kinds of data and require different kinds of analysis. Whilst interviewing is a well-established and tested research tool which many methods books discuss in detail (e.g. Bogdan and Biklen, 1982; Burgess, 1984; Denzin, 1989; Hammersley and Atkinson, 1995; Hollway and Jefferson, 2000; Keats, 2000; Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Mason, 1996; Morton-Williams, 1993; Mishler, 1986; Scheurich, 1997 - to cite only a few of the many), few make the point that interviewing performs many roles in our society. Whilst these roles may be slightly different and the interviews may be conducted for different purposes, they share many similar characteristics.
