The purpose of this article is to relate feminist and narrative traditions with the elite interviewing method, an important missing link. The author describes the evolution of the elite interviewing tradition and reviews feminist interviewing and narrative inquiry as points of departure for rethinking this methodology. In the last section of the article, the author presents a set of principles for conducting transformational elite interviews and describes a set of problems or issues that researchers using this proposed approach might reflect on.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abu-Lughod, L. (1993). Writing women's worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press.
2.
Alcoff, L., & Potter, E. (1993). Feminist epistemologies. New York: Routledge.
3.
Aldridge, A. (1995). Negotiating status: Social scientist and Anglican clergy. In R. Hertz & J. Imber (Eds.), Studying elites using qualitative methods (pp. 171-186). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
4.
Behar, R. (1993). Translated woman: Crossing the border with Esperanza's story. Boston: Beacon.
5.
Bloom, L. (1998). Under the sign of hope: Feminist methodology and narrative interpretation. New York: State University of New York Press.
6.
Briggs, C. (1986). Learning how to ask. New York: Cambridge University Press.
7.
Briggs, C. (2002). Interviewing, power/knowledge, and social inequality. In J. Gubrium & J. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of interview research: Context and methodology (pp. 911-922). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
8.
Collins, P. (1993). Learning for the outsider within: The sociological significance of Black feminist thought. In J. Glazer, E. Bensimon, & B. Townsend (Eds.), Women in higher education (pp. 45-65). Needham Heights, MA: Ginn.
9.
Denzin, N. (1997). Interpretive ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
10.
Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11.
Dexter, L. (1970). Elite and specialized interviewing. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
12.
Earnest, W. (1992). Ideology criticism and life history research. In G. Rosenwald & R. Ochberg (Eds.), Storied lives (pp. 250-264). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
13.
Ellis, C., Keisinger, C., & Tilmann-Healy, L. (1997). Interactive interviewing: Talking about emotional experience. In R. Hertz (Ed.), Reflexivity and voice (pp. 119-149). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
14.
Ferguson, K. (1984). The feminist case against bureaucracy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
15.
Fontana, A. (2002). Postmodern trends in interviewing. In J. Gubrium & J. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of interview research: Context and methodology (pp. 161-176). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
16.
Glassner, B., & Hertz, R. (1999). Qualitative sociology as everyday life. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
17.
Greenspan, H. (1992). Lives as texts: Symptoms as modes of recounting in the life histories of holocaust survivors. In G. Rosenwald & R. Ochberg (Eds.), Storied lives (pp. 145-164). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
18.
Gubrium, J., & Holstein, J. (1997). The new language of qualitative method. New York: Oxford University Press.
19.
Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, cyborgs, and women. New York: Routledge.
20.
Hertz, R. (1997). Reflexivity and voice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
21.
Hertz, R., & Imber, J. (1995). Studying elites using qualitative methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
22.
Herzog, H. (1995). Research as a communication act: A study on Israeli women in local politics. In R. Hertz & J. Imber (Eds.), Studying elites using qualitative methods (pp. 171-186). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23.
Holstein, J., & Gubrium, J. (1995). The active interview. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
24.
Hones, D. (1997, April). Known in part: Transforming the story, the teller, and the narrative researcher. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
25.
Josef, S. (1996). Relationality and ethnographic subjectivity: Key informants and the construction of personhood in fieldwork. In D. Wolfe (Ed.), Feminist dilemma in fieldwork (pp. 107-121). Boulder, CO: Westview.
26.
Kleinman, S., & Copp, M. (1993). Emotion and fieldwork. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
27.
Lather, P. (1987). Feminist praxis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
28.
Lather, P., & Smithies, C. (1997). Troubling the angels: Women living with HIV/AIDS. Boulder, CO: Westview.
29.
Lincoln, Y. (2000, April). The question of rapport. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association conference, Seattle, WA.
30.
Merton, R., Fiske, M., & Kendall, P. (1990). The focused interview: A manual of problems and procedures (2nd ed.). New York: Free Press.
31.
Meyers, D. (1994). Subjection and subjectivity: Psychoanalytic feminism and moral philosophy. New York: Routledge.
32.
Mischler, E. (1983). Research interviewing: Context and narrative. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
33.
Odendahl, T., & Shaw, A. (2002). Interviewing elites. In J. Gubrium & J. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of interview research: Context and methodology (pp. 299-316). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
34.
Ostrander, S. (1995). Surely you're not in this just to be helpful: Access, rapport, and interviews on three studies of elites. In R. Hertz & J. Imber (Eds.), Studying elites using qualitative methods (pp. 133-150). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
35.
Phillips, R. (1998). The politics of history: Some methodological and ethical dilemmas in elite-based research. British Educational Research Journal, 24, 5-19.
36.
Pierce, J. (1995). Reflections of fieldwork in a complex organization. In R. Hertz & J. Imber (Eds.), Studying elites using qualitative methods (pp. 94-110). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
37.
Punch, M. (1986). The politics and ethics of fieldwork. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
38.
Reinharz, S. (1992). Feminist methods in social research. New York: Oxford University Press.
39.
Reissman, C. (1993). Narrative analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
40.
Rosenwald, G., & Ochberg, R. (1992). Storied lives. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
41.
Seidman, I. (1991). Interviewing as qualitative research. New York: Teacher's College Press.
42.
Smith, L. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies. London: University of Otago Press.
43.
Wax, R. (1971). Doing fieldwork: Warnings and advice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
44.
Whyte, W. F. (1984). Learning from the field. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
45.
Wolfe, D. (1996). Feminist dilemma in fieldwork. Boulder, CO: Westview.