Open AccessFrom the Outside Looking in: How an Awareness of Difference Can Benefit the Qualitative Research Process
Author(s) -
Claire Tinker,
Natalie Armstrong
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2008.1605
Subject(s) - interview , qualitative research , process (computing) , psychology , social psychology , epistemology , applied psychology , sociology , social science , computer science , philosophy , anthropology , operating system
While much has been written on the problems that can arise when interviewing respondents from a different social group, less attention has been paid to its potential benefits for the research process. In this paper we argue that, by being conscious of one’s outsider status , an interviewer can use it as a tool through which to elicit detailed and comprehensive accounts from respondents, and ensure rigorous and critic al analysis of the data produced.