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Qualitative Studies in Psychology Series
Mastering the Semi-Structured Interview and Beyond: From Research Design to Analysis and Publication
Mastering the Semi-Structured Interview and Beyond offers an in-depth and captivating step-by-step guide to the use of semi-structured interviews in qualitative research. By tracing the life of an actual research project–an exploration of a school district's effort over 40 years to address racial equality–as a consistent example threaded across the volume, Anne Galletta shows in concrete terms how readers can approach the planning and execution of their own new research endeavor, and illuminates unexpected real-life challenges they may confront and how to address them.
The volume offers a close look at the inductive nature of qualitative research, the use of researcher reflexivity, and the systematic and iterative steps involved in data collection, analysis, and interpretation. It offers guidance on how to develop an interview protocol, including the arrangement of questions and ways to evoke analytically rich data.
Particularly useful for those who may be familiar with qualitative research but have not yet conducted a qualitative study, Mastering the Semi-Structured Interview and Beyond will serve both undergraduate and graduate students as well as more advanced scholars seeking to incorporate this key methodological approach into their repertoire.
The volume offers a close look at the inductive nature of qualitative research, the use of researcher reflexivity, and the systematic and iterative steps involved in data collection, analysis, and interpretation. It offers guidance on how to develop an interview protocol, including the arrangement of questions and ways to evoke analytically rich data.
Particularly useful for those who may be familiar with qualitative research but have not yet conducted a qualitative study, Mastering the Semi-Structured Interview and Beyond will serve both undergraduate and graduate students as well as more advanced scholars seeking to incorporate this key methodological approach into their repertoire.
262 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 17, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 3, 2021
Excellent guide to read while conducting my Master's research. Useful explanations and examples.
December 19, 2021
A very accessible introduction to semi-structured interviewing. It does a great job of conveying the analytical and interpersonal points that are critical for successful interview-based research, presenting at each turn examples drawn from the author's own research on school desegregation.
July 5, 2015
This is a really great introduction to semi-structured interviewing. Galletta based it around her PhD thesis work, so she gives very in-depth examples of the strengths, limitations, "how to's," and pitfalls of this technique. She stresses the importance of planning and being able to engage your subjects, and of representing their voices faithfully in the analysis.
As an aside, her PhD project was fascinating in its own right. She wanted to understand the process of desegregation on a local public school system in Cincinnati. Her sense was that major social changes like desegregation are often accompanied by compensatory changes that tend to reinforce the status quo. She found that magnet programs and other incentives had offered privileged (Caucasians) an incentive to accept desegregation, and that it had perpetuated a kind of de facto segretation in which Caucasian kids were largely in the advanced courses while African Americans were largely in the academic courses. She might as well have been describing my experience of the public school system in Wake County, N.C. Although these systems did not absolutely prevent minority kids from achieving, they certainly reduced the likelihood that they would identify as academically gifted. Caucasian kids in the academic courses also often felt like outsiders. It's important for us to think critically about how educational structures generate or reinforce stereotypes and identity formation, and to design them to be as constructive as possible.
As an aside, her PhD project was fascinating in its own right. She wanted to understand the process of desegregation on a local public school system in Cincinnati. Her sense was that major social changes like desegregation are often accompanied by compensatory changes that tend to reinforce the status quo. She found that magnet programs and other incentives had offered privileged (Caucasians) an incentive to accept desegregation, and that it had perpetuated a kind of de facto segretation in which Caucasian kids were largely in the advanced courses while African Americans were largely in the academic courses. She might as well have been describing my experience of the public school system in Wake County, N.C. Although these systems did not absolutely prevent minority kids from achieving, they certainly reduced the likelihood that they would identify as academically gifted. Caucasian kids in the academic courses also often felt like outsiders. It's important for us to think critically about how educational structures generate or reinforce stereotypes and identity formation, and to design them to be as constructive as possible.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews