Introduction to Qualitative Interviewing

4 March + 15 April 2026

Elisa Volpi, coordinatrice CUSO

Andrea Barbieri, UNIBE

Dr. Lea Sgier, UNIGE

This two-part workshop aims to provide the participants with a methodological basis for research using interviews as a main (or important) data collection method. The workshop is structured in two parts. Part I (4 March) will give a general introduction to the general principles, practicalities, ethics and epistemology of qualitative interviewing. Part II (15 April) will be devoted to discussing participants' topic guides, ethical reflections and interviewing techniques appropriate for their intended fieldwork (and – ideally – tentative pilot work that they might have done in the meanwhile). 

By the end of the two days, the participants should have a concrete sense of what qualitative interviewing entails and have some concrete tools to work with (and improve through practice, trial-and-error, and further readings). 

Requirements

This workshop is mainly intended for junior researchers intending to carry out qualitative interviews as part of a concrete research project currently under way or in concrete planning. Although different type of interviews will be mentioned and can be discussed, the main focus will be on semi-structured interviews with "ordinary" people .

Participants should ideally be at a stage at which they have already (or will soon) be working on concrete issues such as interview topic guides, recruitment strategies or research ethics documents.

Part I – 4 March

9:00-12:30 

· Introduction to the workshop

· Short presentations by the workshop participants of their projects and intended use of qualitative interviews

· Introduction to qualitative interviewing

o Good, great and bad interviewing

§ Exercise (1) - demo youtube interviews: what are the differences between the 2 interviews and what were the consequences in terms of substance? 

o Phases of interviewing research (preparatory phase; interviewing phase; immediate post-interview phase) and key elements to think about at each phase (such as topic guides, recruitement strategies, interviewing techniques, post-interview note-taking, transcription)

o Interviewing "ordinary" people

14:00-17:00 

· Exercise (2) – interview transcript 

· Key principles of qualitative topic guides and interviewing techniques

· Recruitment and participant selection strategies 

· Research ethics and precautions

· Rapport building 

· Stumbling stones of qualitative interviewing

Part II – 15 April

9:00-12:30

· Introduction to the 2^nd part of the workshop

· Short update by the participants of their progress and concerns since part I

· Practical exercise (3) – interviewing exercise

· Discussion of topic guides and recruitement/participant selection strategies

14:00-17:00

· Interviewing techniques (cdt) and interviewing interactions (interviewer roles, the importance of the frame, etc.)

· The epistemology of interviewing: "how do we know that respondents are telling the truth?" 

· Challenges of data analysis (in general and with interview data in particular). 

· Exercise (4)): analysing transcripts 

Additional readings

For part I: 

o Read a few preparatory texts (see below)

o Watch two short videos

www.youtube.com/watch

www.youtube.com/watch

For part II

o prepare a topic guide for their intended interviews 

o prepare reflections for their recruitment and participant selection strategies, and regarding ethical and practical challenges with their interviews

o If applicable: do some small-scale pilot work and report back ; if not applicable, do 2-3 interview on an ad hoc topic and report back. 

Readings for Part I

General introduction: 

Yeo, Alice et al. (2013). "In-Depth Interviews", in Ritchie, Jane, Lewis, Jane, McNaughton Nicholls, Carol and Ormston, Rachel (eds) (2013). Qualitative Research Practice. A Guide for Social Scienists and Researchers. London: Sage.

Pahl, J.M. and Pahl, R.E. (1971). Managers and their Wives. A Study of Career and Family Relationships in the Middle Class. Harmonsworth: Penguin (Appendix).

More specifically: 

Fujii, Lee Ann (2018). Interviewing in Social Science Research. A Relational Approach. London: Routledge, ch. 2, 3, 4.

Weiss, Robert (1994). Learning From Strangers. The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: The Free Press, ch. 4. 

Research ethics and epistemology: 

Liamputtong, Pranee (2007). Researching the Vulnerable. London: Sage, ch. 2. 

Fujii, Lee Ann (2012). "Research Ethics 101: Dilemmas and Responsibilities". PS October 2012: 717-723. 

Fujii, Lee Ann (2010). "Shades of Truth and Lies: Interpreting Testimonies of War and Violence". Journal of Peace Research, 47(2): 231-241. 

Bern

Instructor's Bio

Lea Sgier is a (part-time) senior lecturer in qualitative methods at the Political Science Department of the University of Geneva (Switzerland). She also has extensive teaching experience at various European, Asian and North American Summer Schools (including a masterclass workshop on qualitative interviewing for the ECPR Winter School and then MethodsNET, 2015-2023). She has also been advisor for research methodology and/or research ethics for various European and national projects and, since 2019, for the Luxemburg Institute of Socio-Economic Research LISER. From 2010-17 she was a professor of qualitative methodology at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest.

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