Qualitative research interviews

Abstract

This essay explores a question crucial to the role of qualitative researchers: Is there therapeutic value in the research interview process? I use interviewees' responses to participating in in-depth interviews, along with a discussion of theoretical and empirical research, to build and evidence an argument that the qualitative research interview (QRI) process can be therapeutic and should be acknowledged as such. Challenges to researchers and ideas for strengthening the value of QRIs are discussed. KeywordsIn-depth interviews, qualitative research, qualitative research interviews Researchers across disciplines have pondered this question: What is the value of our research? Two journals, Communication Monographs (2009Monographs ( , 2010 and Journal of Applied Communication Research (2009), recently published a joint forum with researchers' reflections on whether or not communication research has made a difference. Their conclusions have implications for all social science disciplines. Some claimed that researchers make a difference via translational research (i.e., making results available to others) and through offering guidance, advice, or interventions (Frey, 2009;Hummert, 2009;Seeger, 2009). These perspectives are focused on the content and outcomes of research as well as how what we learn through research can produce societal, institutional, relational, and personal change.

“I Look at You and See You Looking at Me”: Role Boundaries in a Dynamic Research Relationship in Qualitative Health Research With Refugees

“…A Clinician: "You Must Be a BV" Scholars in the field of qualitative research have increasingly highlighted the similarities and convergences between recent developments in the aims and objectives of qualitative in-depth research interviews on the one hand, and therapeutic encounters on the other (Bondi, 2013;De Haene et al 2010;Dickson-Swift et al, 2006;Rossetto, 2014). In our case study, this convergence may have been further exacerbated by the researcher's active position as a clinician in clinical work.…”

Examining the Usefulness of a Family Empowerment Program Guided by the Illness Beliefs Model for Families Caring for a Child With Thalassemia

“…In fact, opportunities for “assessment” with skilled advanced practice family nurses may not only have been a useful data collection for program development of the FEP sessions, they may have been useful therapeutic interventions in themselves. Rossetto (2014) argued that the qualitative research interview process can be therapeutic and should be acknowledged as such. Family caregivers were invited to tell their illness narrative of living with a child with thalassemia that may have invited opportunities to explore and acknowledge their illness suffering—both powerful interventions of the Illness Beliefs Model (Wright & Bell, 2009).…”

Straying from breadwinning: Status and money in men's interpretations of their wives' work arrangements

“…In addition, men often made deeply personal disclosures (e.g., marital problems), suggesting that they were not threatened by me. Many referred to our interviews as ‘therapeutic’; one possibility is that I functioned for them as an ‘empathetic listener’ (Rossetto, ). Different interviewers, of course, with different identities, may have elicited other sorts of disclosures.…”