Slowing Down and Digging Deep: Teaching Students to Examine Interview Interaction in Depth

Abstract

Teaching students to become critical consumers of interviews, which often serve as influential sources for learning and interpreting world events, is important in today’s information-rich world. This paper outlines an approach to teaching in-depth interviewing in which students examine excerpts from interviews (e.g., archival collections, oral histories, or media interviews) using the tools of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis to “slow down” and “dig deep” into the social aspects of interviews. Using two case examples from undergraduate and graduate classrooms, we illustrate how this approach helps students to notice how question-answer sequences unfold and encourages critical consumption and participation in interviews.

Methods Despite or Without Content? Reflections on Teaching Qualitative Research

“…Thus, students interview a peer and are interviewed by a peer. Before completing the interview, students listen to a historical interview conducted by Arnold Michaelis (found on the UGA Special Collections Library’s website), analyze the interview for “good” and “bad” interview characteristics, and discuss how they may apply what they have learned to design their interview guides (Herron & Roulston, 2021; Roulston & Herron, 2022). Students use this analysis and the orientations expressed in their chosen methodological paradigm to create an interview guide exploring the experiences of scholar-practitioners in training.…”