The book describes in-depth qualitative interviewing from the very beginning to last step, from its underlying philosophy and assumptions to project design, analysis and write up. In responsive interviewing, the stages of research-design, data gathering, and analysis-are intimately linked. Researchers perform analysis throughout their projects, not just at the end, so that as they learn more, they can modify both the research problem they are exploring and the questions they ask. The book assumes no prior knowledge or experience, and the authors' tone is conversational, revealing that interviewers can make mistakes, recover from them and still obtain rich and meaningful information.
Herbert J. Rubin is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Applied Social Research and (with Irene Rubin) four editions of Community Organizing and Development. He has written articles based on in-depth interviewing that explore rural development in Thailand, suburban land-use fights, cooperative housing and economic and community development. Both his monograph on Thailand, The Dynamics of Development in Rural Development and his book on community renewal in the United States, Renewing Hope within Neighborhoods of Despair: The Community-based Development Model, are based on participant observation and hundreds of in-depth interviews. He is currently using open ended in depth interviews as well as participant observation to study organizations that advocate for the poor. Irene S. Rubin is Professor Emeritus of Public Administration at Northern Illinois University. She is the author of Running in the Red: The Political Dynamics of Urban Fiscal Stress, Shrinking the Federal Government, Class Tax and Power: Municipal Budgeting in the United States, and Balancing the Federal Budget: Eating the Seed Corn or Trimming the Herds, all four of which rely extensively on qualitative interviews. She has written journal articles about citizen participation in local level government in Thailand, how universities adapt when their budgets are cut, and fights between legislative staffers and elected and appointed officials about unworkable policy proposals, all based on qualitative interviews. She is in the middle of an interviewing project about how local officials view and use contracts with the private sector and with other governmental units to provide public services.
Title: Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data
Author: Rubin, Irene S.,Rubin, Herbert J.
ISBN: 9781412978378
Binding:
Publisher: SAGE Publications Inc
Publication Date: 2011-12-07
Number of Pages: 288
Weight: 0.4764 kg
The book does a wonderful job of detailing how to develop questions, probes, analyze data, and organizing our data. -- David S. Allen
This book is exactly what I was looking for in that it covers interviewing and analysis in depth. -- Daphne John
The Third Edition will be very useful for graduate students. It appears to seamlessly shift its lens from broad landscapes to close-ups without losing focus on the content. -- Sarita K. Davis
Students leave this book fully informed of the nuances and complexity of interviewing as well as excited about the promise interview research findings offer. -- Hannah Britton
This text is well-written and easy to follow. It follows the natural flow of a qualitative project. -- Cheryl L. Coan
The authors provide a clear and detailed illustration of the nuts and bolts of interviewing in qualitative research. The focus on the reflective process, question development, and procedural steps associated with qualitative research is rich and thorough. -- Tracy M. Lara
This edition is at once simpler, and clearer yet more expansive and richer in content, examples and use. -- Nancy Stanford Blair
[The book] is somehow both more concise and more comprehensive than the Second Edition, providing a rich discussion of philosophy as well as design and analytic methods. The authors also have a very pleasant writing style that is engaging to the reader, and provides both clarity of the concepts discussed as well as a sense of a strong knowledge through the use of personal narrative and sharing of experiences. -- Eileen S. Johnson
