Inner perspectivesInterviewing is r

Inner perspectivesInterviewing is rather like a marriage. Everybody knows what it is, an awful lot of people do it, and yet behind each closed door there is a world of secrets.A. Oakley (1981:41)We interview people to find out from them those things we cannot directly observe. The issue is not whether observational data are more desirable, valid, or meaningful than self-report data. The fact is that we cannot observe everything. We cannot observe feelings, thoughts, and intentions. We cannot observe behaviors that took place at some previous Point in time. We cannot observe situations that preclude the presence of an observer. We cannot observe how people have organized the world and the meanings they attach to what goes on in the world. We have to ask people questions about those things.