Collecting Qualitative Data: Beyond the face-to-face interview

This short course caught my eye the other day for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, I think interviews are vastly overused in qualitative research and have written about why they are problematic before (see refs), and secondly, because the excellent Virginia Braun from Auckland University is speaking.  Could be worth a visit for those of you in the area.

Collecting Qualitative Data: Beyond the face-to-face interview

Thursday 3 November, 10am-5pm, Exhibition and Conference Centre (ECC), Frenchay Campus, UWE Bristol

Is there more to qualitative data collection than (face-to-face) interviews? This seminar answers with a resounding yes, and introduces delegates to a range of exciting, often novel, techniques for collecting qualitative data in the social and health sciences. This seminar provides a practical and accessible introduction to everything from gathering online forum data to asking participants to write stories in response to a researcher-designed story ‘cue’; the story completion method. The seminar will provide guidance on methods that are under-utilised within qualitative research, or that offer new and interesting angles to qualitative researchers. Speakers from a range of disciplines share their experiences of implementing a particular technique and highlight both its potentials and pitfalls. What unites all the methods featured in this seminar is that they are ideally suited to student projects and other time- and resource-limited research. The seminar is aimed both at researchers new to qualitative research and at established researchers seeking to broaden their methodological repertoire or seeking inspiration to get off of an interviewing treadmill!

The seminar will also feature a book launch for a new book published by Cambridge University Press, Collecting Qualitative Data: A Practical Guide to Textual, Media and Virtual Techniques. The book is edited by Virginia Braun, Victoria Clarke and Debra Gray.

Confirmed speakers and presentations include:

Once Upon a Time…: Qualitative Story Completion Methods – Victoria Clarke and Nikki Hayfield, University of the West of England, Bristol

Short but Often Sweet: The Surprising Potential of Qualitative Survey Methods – Virginia Braun, The University of Auckland

Hypothetically Speaking: Using Vignettes as a Stand-Alone Qualitative Method – Debra Gray, The University of Winchester and Helen Malson, UWE

Type Me Your Answer: Generating Interview Data via Email – Lucy Gibson, Edge Hill University

Online Discussion Forums: A Rich and Vibrant Source of Data – David Giles, The University of Winchester

The fee for the seminar is only £20 thanks to sponsorship from the UWE Social Sciences Research Group. To book, go to the online store.

References

Fadyl, J. K., & Nicholls, D. A. (2013). Foucault, the subject and the research interview: A critique of methods. Nursing Inquiry, 20(1), 23-9. doi:10.1111/nin.12011 (pdf link).