The Interview as Apparatus: Moving Beyond Data Collection

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 53
  In Roundtable Session: Thinking Methods With/In/Against Post-Qualitative Research

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to rethink the interview as an inseparable element of a research entanglement rather than a data collection method. Drawing from Barad (2007), I examine the interview as apparatus; I discuss how the interview, as part of the research entanglement, continually produces and deconstructs boundaries, redefining the phenomenon under inquiry. Employing a post-qualitative approach, I draw on interviews I conducted as part of a research project; I identify a core set of methodological dilemmas that I faced, as well as the partial strategies I used to address those dilemmas. This paper raises ethical considerations and provides researchers with practical strategies and new ideas to think with when trying to keep inquiry open and dynamic.

Author

• Meaghan Dougherty, Douglas College