Skype as a Tool for Qualitative Research Interviews

Abstract

Internet based methods of communication are becoming increasingly important and influencing researchers' options. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technologies (such as Skype and FaceTime) provide us with the ability to interview research participants using voice and video across the internet via a synchronous (real-time) connection. This paper highlights the advantages of using Skype to conduct qualitative interviews and weighs these advantages against any limitations and issues that using this tool may raise. This paper argues that Skype opens up new possibilities by allowing us to contact participants worldwide in a time efficient and financially affordable manner, thus increasing the variety of our samples. At the same time, the use of Skype affects the areas of rapport, non-verbal cues and ethics by creating limitations but also new opportunities. The observations in this paper stem from two different researches, carried out by the authors, on dance (as a form of trans/cultural heritage) and wayfinding (the experience of getting from A to B in various settings). These studies lent themselves to using Skype for qualitative interviews, because of the need to reach an international, varied and purposeful sample. The researchers' experiences, combined with feedback from participants in Skype interviews, are used in this paper. The conclusion is that, although VoIP mediated interviews cannot completely replace face to face interaction, they work well as a viable alternative or complimentary data collection tool for qualitative researchers. This paper argues that VoIP based interviews offer new opportunities for researchers and should be embraced with confidence. KeywordsQualitative interviews, Skype, VoIP, internet research methods, intangible heritage research, wayfinding research, dance research. 2 IntroductionThe Office of National Statistics (2015: 1) VoIP is a system which provides users with a way to send voice and video across the internet via a synchronous (real-time) connection. Currently, the most popular services that use VoIP are Skype and FaceTime. The system that we have used for our qualitative interviews on the topics of dance and wayfinding is Skype, not only because of the researchers' familiarity with it, but also because we were able to employ the EVAER® software, which is recommended by Skype. This software allows the interviewer to record the video conversation, with both parties captured in the recording. Our observations on using Skype/EVAER® for qualitative interviews, stem from the two main authors' different researches. The first research topic is Egyptian raqs sharqi (a dance genre commonly grouped with other Middle Eastern, fusion and Northern African dance genres under the term belly dance) as a form of cultural heritage. The second is on wayfinding 'the cognitive and corporeal process and experience of locating, following or discovering a route through and to a given space' (the definition used by author Paul Symonds in his work to define wayfinding).In the discussi...

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