We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
PUHUVA RYHMÄ: ESIMERKKITAPAUS RYHMÄHAASTATTELUN KÄYTÖSTÄ SOSIAALITIETEELLISESSÄ TUTKIMUSASETELMASSA.
- Authors
Heikkilö, Riie
- Abstract
The writer of the article aims at characterizing the group interview as a data collection method, and to point out suitable uses for it. So far, the method has not been widely used in Finland. The article first goes through the history and different uses of the group interview and maps its strengths as an interactional context opening up new prospects for studying an entire social microcosmos. Focusing on three topics, the article introduces different perspectives on the method. The topics are: the recognition of one's own cultural competence, the skill of focused speech, and the possible emergence of consensus. The materials drawn on consist of group interviews from a more extensive study. The article ends up showing that the group interview is an economical research method because a number of people can be interviewed at a time; on the other hand, it necessarily foregrounds certain discourses and silences others. The pros and cons of group interview materials crystallize in the fact that they consist of discourse produced by one group for one specific purpose, which means that a discourse may either stick to a certain intended topic or distract from it. However, the irregularities, too, may make up the most fruitful materials for the inquiry: the group interview may provide us with answers to the question how a group can and will address a certain topic. At the end, the writer reconsiders the applicability of group interviews in light of the analytical examples.
- Subjects
FINLAND; INTERVIEWING; SOCIAL groups; CONSENSUS (Social sciences); DISCOURSE analysis; SOCIAL interaction; INTERVIEWER characteristics; SOCIOLOGY methodology; SOCIAL participation
- Publication
Sosiologia, 2008, Issue 4, p292
- ISSN
0038-1640
- Publication type
Article