Qualitative methods have always played an important role in social research, with the one-on-one interview undoubtedly being the single most common data source. Indeed, the interview may seem so banal as not to require any further explanation. But are all interviews really alike? Is there one best way? More generally, how can social scientists make their interviews more ‘meaningful’ in the light of their research goals?
Read MoreThere is no right way of transcribing interviews or other types of recordings for research in the social sciences. If I were to get interviewed, I would definitely ask the researcher to remove all the ‘ers’ and ‘uhms’ from the transcript. This is exactly what a few researchers asked British sociologist Harry Collins to do, after he transcribed entire conversations on gravitational wave detection verbatim.
Read More