Politics and IR Research Training

INTERVIEWING AND INTERVIEW ANALYSIS

Elizabeth Frazer

New College, Oxford

tel 2 79516; email: elizabeth.frazer@new.oxford.ac.uk

Sophie Duchesne

Nuffield College, Oxford

sophie.duchesne@nuffield.ox.ac.uk

Hilary Term 2003

Fridays, Weeks 4, 6,7,8, , 4.00-6.00 p.m.

Department of Politics and IR, George Street

In this course participants will be required to design, conduct, transcribe and analyse one or more research interviews. Some participants will in any case be about to embark on interview research and for them this might be part of a serious pilot or pre-pilot study. Others will have to design some interviews specially for the purpose of the course. The sessions emphasise practical exercises on the conduct of interviews and focus groups in the context of Politics and IR research. We also focus on issues of reliability and validity in connection with interview and focus group data and analysis.

Session 1 Interviews and focus groups in politics research design:

Validity and reliability of interview and focus group data

Sampling

In this first session our discussion of the methodological and theoretical issues and difficulties of interview research will be based on some reading from the academic literature, and on some class exercises.

Session 2 Access

Designing an interview or focus group schedule

In this session participants will work in small groups designing interview or focus group schedules

Session 3 Conducting interviews and focus groups

In this session we will conduct, observe, and critically review reasonably long focus group sessions and interviews

Session 4 Interview and focus group transcripts

In this final session transcripts of interviews and focus group sessions from Week 3 will be available for the group’s scrutiny

Reading

Alan Bryman Social Research Methods Oxford University Press 2001

Martin Hammersley and Paul Atkinson Ethnography 2^nd edn Routledge, 1995, ch 3: ‘Access’