Skype as a Tool for Qualitative Research Interviews

Internet based methods of communication are becoming increasingly important andinfluencing researchers’ options. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technologies (suchas Skype and FaceTime) provide us with the ability to interview research participantsusing voice and video across the internet via a synchronous (real-time) connection. Thispaper highlights the advantages of using Skype to conduct qualitative interviews andweighs these advantages against any limitations and issues that using this tool may raise.This paper argues that Skype opens up new possibilities by allowing us to contactparticipants worldwide in a time efficient and financially affordable manner, thusincreasing the variety of our samples. At the same time, the use of Skype affects theareas of rapport, non-verbal cues and ethics by creating limitations but also newopportunities. The observations in this paper stem from two different researches, carriedout by the authors, on dance (as a form of trans/cultural heritage) and wayfinding (theexperience of getting from A to B in various settings). These studies lent themselves tousing Skype for qualitative interviews, because of the need to reach an international,varied and purposeful sample. The researchers’ experiences, combined with feedback fromparticipants in Skype interviews, are used in this paper. The conclusion is that, althoughVoIP mediated interviews cannot completely replace face to face interaction, they workwell as a viable alternative or complimentary data collection tool for qualitativeresearchers. This paper argues that VoIP based interviews offer new opportunities forresearchers and should be embraced with confidence.