The shift from positivistic to interpretive and critical paradigms within qualitative research entails a certain messiness in its methodology and analyses. This aligns with an entailed abandonment of objectives to arrive at absolute truth. I argue in this article that the same levels of messiness and uncertainty should apply to the definition and characterizations of perhaps the primary knowledge-producing activity within qualitative inquiry, the research interview. Untethering this concept from unnecessary delimitation might, or so I argue, allow for fresh perspectives concerning its uses and analyses, revealing less positivistically “loaded” deployment strategies and opening up vast vistas for future research.
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