Reflection on ‘The Great Interview: 25 Strategies for Studying People in Bed’ by Joseph C. Hermanowicz.

Interviews are a common research method whereby you ask people questions but, Hermanowicz suggests that while the method is quite simplistic, it is a method that can really look into understanding a person because you can get them to explain themselves. I’ve always found interviews to be quite basic but Hermanowicz points out the reason behind this I because researchers “remain bound to conventional norms of behaviour” (2002: 479).  People are more than happy to adopt an informal approach to interviews to help themselves and the participant relax, but all this does is slowly morph the interview into a basic form that will give you limited data. Hermanowicz points out that ‘in good interviews, there is little, if any, sense of having come close, let alone having touched, someone’s “essence” or inner core’ (2002: 481) The interviewer/researcher needs to understand that a great interview is looking in depth at someone, and that a different approach is needed to collect this information.

A useful part in this reading was step 10: sequencing your moves. This is a valuable step of information because it gives an understanding of how to structure the interview for the best results. The opening questions should be ‘introductory, easy to answer, and nonthreatening’ (2002: 488). The best way to get people to open up, is to make sure they are feeling comfortable and relaxed. By phrasing the questions in the way described, it creates a friendly atmosphere and lets the interviewee know that this isn’t going to be a scary interview, that they will not be judged or humiliated by their answers. Following this should be the more difficult questions, the ones that are going to encourage emotional responses. If step 1 went as intended, the interviewee should be ready to start digging deep and revealing more personal information.

Overall, interviews are possibly one of the most successful research methods, because if used correctly, they can unearth detailed and extensive amounts of information. They also leave room for the change to expand your research because you can always ask more questions. You as an interviewer have the power to immediately expand on certain aspects by simply asking another question. It really is a beneficial research method.

Bibliography:

Hermanowicz, J. (2002) ‘The Great Interview: 25 Strategies for Studying People in Bed’ in Qualitative Sociology, Vol 25, No. 4,