Main Methods:
- Biography / participant observation
- Qualitative interviews
- Focus groups
- Discourse or conversation analysis
- Collection and qualitative analysis of texts or documents
- Case study (can be quantatitive too!)
Qualitative interviews
Interviews are always the product of a relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee.
‘A purposeful conversation between two or more people, requiring the interviewer to establish rapport and ask concise and unambiguous questions, to which the interviewee is willing to respond and to listen attentively.’ (Saunders, Lewis and Thornill, 2016).
- Interviews provide a depth and richness of response that other forms of methods and techniques cannot provide (exploratory)
- Some people more willing to speak than to conduct surveys
- They help you explain, better understand, and explore research subjects’ opinions, behaviour, experiences, attitudes etc
- Data collection is non-standardised so that questions and procedures may alter and emerge during a research process that is both naturalistic and interactive.
Informal interviews
- Everyday conversations
- Lack of structure and control
- Later records notes from memory
- No shortcut – this is hard work
- People generally comfortable but may not realise you are taking notes
Semi-structured interviews
- Driven by an interview guide….but also gives space for open-ended answers in own words
- Allows for comparison between people and rich in-depth data but also compromises both
- More efficient than unstructured
Unstructured interviews
- A formal interview but controlled by interviewee as long as on topic
- Encourage people to open up and explain or tell stories in own words
- Good for getting very rich data and for understanding things in depth
- Tricky to compare between people
Structured interviews
- All interviews respond to exactly same questions so can compare
- Oral or written
- Often analysed quantitatively or using specific forms of analysis like Social Network Analysis or Cultural Domain Analysis
Interviews – How Many do I Need?
It depends! You will need to consider issues such as:
- Nature of the research
- Aims, objectives, research questions
- Number of distinctive groups (to be compared/analysed)
- Approach: exclusively qualitative versus mixed methods.
- Representative samples may not be your goal. One interview may be enough, but it depends upon the question you are asking.
Make sure your questions are:
- Closed question (useful in structured questionnaires, but not semi-structured)
- Unclear or vague question (indicative of poor focus to research?)
- Complex question (break down into manageable chunks)
Think about potential probes:
- Detail-oriented (to get more detail) e.g. can you tell me a little more about that situation? Could you give me some more detail about that?
- Elaboration (encourage to expand discussion) – why do you think that is, can you expand on that more? Could you give me an example?
- Clarification (i.e. used to clear up interviewer’s uncertainties) – e.g. did I summarise that correctly, you said XXX – am I hearing that correctly?
For inspiration why don’t you listen to these brilliant interviewers here? While Jamz Supernova and Annie Mac are not reseachers as radio DJ’s they are experts in getting their interviewees to open up, asking the right questions and follow-ups. We can all learn from listening to their interviewing techniques. Click on the pictures below to go through to their personal podcasts;
Between The Lines with Jamz Supernova and
Changes with Annie Macmanus
Key books using interviews / qualitative methods on women in music
Lucy O’Brien – She-Bop (all editions)
A foundational history of women in popular music built from extensive interviews, ethnographic reflections, and archival work.Lucy O’Brien – Madonna: Like an Icon / Annie Lennox (biographical studies)
Both rely heavily on in-depth interviews and qualitative narrative analysis.Sheila Whiteley – Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity and Subjectivity (2000)
Draws on interviews, textual analysis, and cultural theory to explore women musicians’ lived experiences across genres.Mavis Bayton – Frock Rock: Women Performing Popular Music (1998)
A sociological study based on rich interview material with women musicians in the UK, often cited in feminist musicology.Helen Reddington – The Lost Women of Rock Music (2007/2012)
Built on extensive oral histories with women in the UK punk scene.Helen Reddington – She’s at the Controls: Sound Engineering, Production and Women’s Music Technologies (2019)
Uses interviews and ethnographic approaches to examine women’s work behind the desk.Kristin J. Lieb – Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry (2013/2018 updated ed.)
Draws on interviews with industry professionals about how female artists are shaped and marketed.Catherine Strong & Sarah Raine (eds.) – Towards Gender Equality in the Music Industry (2019)
Edited scholarly volume with chapters using interviews, qualitative case studies, and scene analysis.Catherine Strong – Grunge, Riot Grrrl and the Forgetting of Women in Popular Culture (2011)
Uses interviews and qualitative memory studies to understand women’s erasure.Sara Marcus – Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution (2010)
Blends oral history, interviews and narrative nonfiction.Vivien Goldman – Revenge of the She-Punks (2019)
Based on interviews and journalistic/ethnographic accounts tracing women’s experiences in punk globally.Mia Björkman et al. (eds.) – Gender, Sound and Technology (various editions)
Includes qualitative empirical studies (interviews, observations) on gendered experiences in sound and music work.Bonnie J. Dowd & Susan J. Leonardi – The Gendered Musician (various collections on women in music)
Qualitative essays often grounded in interviews and lived experience.Women Make Music (various edited collections – e.g., Paula Wolfe, 2021)
Paula Wolfe’s work, particularly Women in the Studio, draws on interviews with women producers.Sherrie Tucker – Swing Shift: “All-Girl” Bands of the 1940s (2000)
A major oral-history project reconstructing the careers of women jazz musicians.
