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| Mike Saks and Judith Allsop |
Chapter 5 - Unstructured Interviews
and Health Research
Jacqueline Low |
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| Contributor
biography |
| Jacqueline Low is an Associate Professor
in the Department of Sociology at the University of New
Brunswick, Canada. Her areas of research specialization
include the sociology of health, illness, and health care
(chronic illness, disability, and alternative and complementary
therapies), deviant behaviour; symbolic interactionist
theory, and qualitative research methods. She teaches
a variety of courses including the sociology of the body,
sociology of health, the institution of health care, and
health care in international context; as well as a graduate
seminar in qualitative methods. Her first book, Using
Alternative Therapies: A Qualitative Analysis, was
published in 2004 by Canadian Scholars Press Inc. |
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| Chapter overview |
| This chapter explores the use of unstructured
interview as a research technique. The author describes
issues of data collection and techniques for data analysis
and discusses the issues of validity and reliability.
How to present research findings to enhance credibility
is demonstrated in the final section. |
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| Chapter links |
Chapter
6 - Participant Observation in Health Research
Chapter 15 - Governance and
Ethics in Health Research
Chapter 19 - Involving the Consumer
in Health Research |
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| Suggested
Online Readings |
| Fitzgerald,
M. (1994) ‘Adults' Anticipation of the Loss of their
Parents’, Qualitative Health Research, 4
(4): 463-79. |
| The study used qualitative methods
to discover and explain the experiences of adult children
who anticipate the loss of their parents. A sample of
six adults volunteered to participate, and data were collected
through unstructured interviews. Data analysis was conducted
using the constant comparative method associated with
grounded theory. Adults who anticipated the loss of their
parents engaged in three main processes of reconciliation
to the inevitable loss: discerning life and death; evaluating
relationships with parents; and preparing to outlive their
parents. |
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| Neill,
J. (2005) ‘Health as Expanding Consciousness: Seven
Women Living With Multiple Sclerosis or Rheumatoid Arthritis’,
Nursing Science Quarterly, 18(4): 334-43. |
| The meaning of health as expanding
consciousness is explored through the stories of seven
women who developed multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Using Newman's hermeneutic-dialectic approach, unstructured
interviews were conducted over a 2-year period. The analysis
of narratives showed typical turning points and specific
choice points as well as identifying new ways of living
through: finding simple pleasures, being positive and
gaining self-control. The research supported Newman's
stages of expanding consciousness and there were implications
for theory development and theory-guided practice. |
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| Svanstrom,
R. and Dahlberg, K. (2004) ‘Living with Dementia
Yields a Heteronomous and Lost Existence’, Western
Journal of Nursing Research, 26 (6): 671-87. |
| The study investigates the lived experience
of spouses where one suffered from dementia through unstructured
interviews with both the spouse and the dementia sufferer.
Both partners experienced a lack of control and felt they
had little influence over their situation. |
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| Further Reading |
| Corbin, J. and Morse, J.M. (2003)
‘The Unstructured Interactive Interview: Issues
of Reciprocity and Risks when Dealing with Sensitive Topics’,
Qualitative Inquiry, 9 (3): 335-54. |
| This is a very focused article that
highlights the issues that make aspects of unstructured
interviewing unique in the context of health research. |
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| Gubrium, J. F. and Holstein, J. A.
(eds.) (2002) Handbook of Interview Research: Context
and Method. Thousand Oaks: Sage. |
| This is an accessible and comprehensive
text covering the unstructured interview method in general. |
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| McCracken, G. (1988) The Long Interview.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage. |
| This is a classic book on the unstructured
interview, in which unstructured interview techniques
such as probing are very nicely described and explained. |
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© Sage Publications Ltd.
