Research Interviews: Modes and Types

Abstract

Chapter 4 considers different interview modes and types. It is a wideranging chapter, as it aims to introduce important choices that face the qualitative interviewer. The chapter begins with a discussion of ‘mode’ (Halliday 1978: 138). For example, we think about whether an interview is face-to-face or conducted on the telephone or through Skype. This deliberation furthers some of the discussion around the importance of context that was developed in Chapter 3, as whether you are interviewing face-to-face or using some form of CMC (computer mediated communication) can be seen as an important dimension of interview context.