Interview-based Qualitative Research

This stream will focus on the challenges of using various kinds of qualitative interviewing as a primary method of data generation, whether in the form of unstructured and semi-structured interviewing, narrative methods, oral and life history interviewing, focus groups, creative interviewing methods or other elicitation techniques.

As well as considering the practical and ethical challenges of working with such methods, the stream will also focus on the analytical challenges of working with qualitative interview data. Topics of interest to expand upon include (but are in no way limited to) the following:

  • researcher positionality and insider-outsider research;
  • the use of creative and sensory methods in interview-based fieldwork;
  • epistemological and practical challenges of working with interview data;
  • combining interview data with other forms of data;
  • different approaches to analysis;
  • the use of qualitative data analysis software.

Academic lead for 2021/22: Dr Rose Pritchard rose.pritchard@manchester.ac.uk

 

Dr Rose Pritchard is Research Fellow in Social-Environmental Systems in the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. A lot of my research focuses on the social implications of forest change, both in terms of deforestation and forest restoration. I’m also really interested in the increasing use of ‘big’ environmental data in forest restoration and other forms of conservation. My work is very much mixed methods, including both quantitative survey approaches and the kinds of qualitative interview methods which are the focus of this MNW stream