Steinar Kvale

Bio: Steinar Kvale is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Structured interview & Qualitative research. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 13183 citations.

The qualitative research interview

Abstract: BACKGROUND Interviews are among the most familiar strategies for collecting qualitative data. The different qualitative interviewing strategies in common use emerged from diverse disciplinary perspectives resulting in a wide variation among interviewing approaches. Unlike the highly structured survey interviews and questionnaires used in epidemiology and most health services research, we examine less structured interview strategies in which the person interviewed is more a participant in meaning making than a conduit from which information is retrieved. PURPOSE In this article we briefly review the more common qualitative interview methods and then focus on the widely used individual face-to-face in-depth interview, which seeks to foster learning about individual experiences and perspectives on a given set of issues. We discuss methods for conducting in-depth interviews and consider relevant ethical issues with particular regard to the rights and protection of the participants.

Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials

Abstract: Preface - Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln About the Editors About the Contributors 1. Introduction: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research - Norman K.Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln I. Methods of Collecting and Analyzing Empirical Materials 2. Narrative Inquiry: Still a Field in the Making - Susan E. Chase 3. Critical Arts-based Inquiry: The Pedagogy and Performance of a Radical Ethical Aesthetic - Susan Finley 4. Oral History - Linda Shopes 5. Observations on Observation: Continuities and Challenges - Michael Angrosino and Judith Rosenberg 6. Visual Methodology: Toward a More Seeing Research - Jon D. Prosser 7. Performative Autoethnography: Critical Embodiments and Possibilities - Tami Spry 8. The Methods, Politics, and Ethics of Representation in Online Ethnography - Sarah Gaston 9. Analyzing Talk and Text - Anssi Parakyla and Johanna Ruusuvuori 10. Focus Groups: Contingent Articulations of Pedagogy, Politics, and Inquiry - George Kamberelis and Greg Dimitriadis II. The Art and Practices of Interpretation, Evaluation, and Presentation 11. Qualitative Research, Science, and Government: Evidence, Criteria, Policy, and Politics - Harry Torrance 12. Reflections on Interpretive Adequacy in Qualitative Research - David L. Altheide and John M. Johnson 13. Analysis and Representation Across the Continuum - Laura L. Ellingson 14. Post Qualitative Research: The Critique and the Coming After - Elisabeth Adams St. Pierre 15. Qualitative Research and Technology: In the Midst of a Revolution - Judith Davidson and Silvana diGregorio 16. The Elephant in the Living Room, or Extending the Conversation About the Politics of Evidence - Norman K. Denzin 17. Writing into Position: Strategies for Composition and Evaluation - Ronald J. Pelias 18. Evaluation as a Relationally Responsible Practice - Tineke Abma and Guy A.M. Widdershoven, Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln Author Index Subject Index

Sample Size in Qualitative Interview Studies: Guided by Information Power

Abstract: Sample sizes must be ascertained in qualitative studies like in quantitative studies but not by the same means. The prevailing concept for sample size in qualitative studies is "saturation." Saturation is closely tied to a specific methodology, and the term is inconsistently applied. We propose the concept "information power" to guide adequate sample size for qualitative studies. Information power indicates that the more information the sample holds, relevant for the actual study, the lower amount of participants is needed. We suggest that the size of a sample with sufficient information power depends on (a) the aim of the study, (b) sample specificity, (c) use of established theory, (d) quality of dialogue, and (e) analysis strategy. We present a model where these elements of information and their relevant dimensions are related to information power. Application of this model in the planning and during data collection of a qualitative study is discussed.

Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method

Abstract: Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method is a systematic introduction to discourse analysis as a body of theories and methods for social research. It brings together three central approaches, Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory, critical discourse analysis and discursive psychology, in order to establish a dialogue between different forms of discourse analysis often kept apart by disciplinary boundaries. The book introduces the three approaches in a clear and easily comprehensible manner, explaining the distinctive philosophical premises and theoretical perspectives of each approach as well as the methodological guidelines and tools they provide for empirical discourse analysis. The authors also demonstrate the possibilities for combining different discourse analytical and non-discourse analytical approaches in empirical study. Finally, they contextualize discourse analysis within the social constructionist debate about critical social research, rejecting the view that a critical stance is incompatible with social constructionist premises and arguing that critique must be an inherent part of social research.