Interviewing in Social Science Research: A Relational Approach

Interviewing in Social Science Research: A Relational Approach by Lee Ann Fujii is an engaging book aimed at introducing relational interviewing and demonstrating its use in research across different disciplines. Relational interviewing is described as a collection of data from the interaction between interviewer and interviewee, consisting of a 2-way dialogue rather than a 1-way interrogation. Although the intended audience includes graduate students and researchers from the social sciences considering using interviews in their research, this can be broadened to include medical professionals wishing to pursue qualitative research with an interpretivist perspective, which views research as something that requires interpretation of the researchers’ own interactions and beliefs. This approach is useful when exploring topics such as pain, postoperative nausea and vomiting, awareness under anesthesia, and anesthesiologist burnout. The author, Lee Ann Fujii, is an associate professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, whose experiences in relational interviewing allow her to fill the book with rich examples to illustrate fundamental points, with emphasis on populations that have undergone traumatic experiences, such as those affected by the Rwandan genocide. Dr Fujii provides a clear and concise book that introduces complex theory to learners and demonstrates how to use the relational interview in a practical manner, all of which can be digested in 1 or 2 sittings. The text contains 6 chapters that are logically organized, beginning with a description of what relational interviewing is and contrasts it with positivism, which is the view that scientific knowledge can only come from the scientific method, which seeks to uncover an objective “truth” in the universe. Next, she explains how to build a working relationship, where both interviewer and interviewee arrive at mutually agreeable terms for interacting, listening, and conversing with one another, and convincingly makes an argument for its benefits in qualitative research. This working relationship differs from the rapport that anesthesiologists are often required to expediently establish with vulnerable patients as a matter of clinical care; this type of care does not necessarily require mutual trust, rather simply a mutual understanding between interviewer and interviewee. She then guides the reader through deciding who to interview, strategies for conducting interviews, and suggestions for analyzing data. The appendix consists of excerpts of interviews discussed throughout the book, which allow the reader to understand the concepts presented in the book based on source data. A digital version of the book is available as a pdf but does not include special features beyond a linked table of contents. This easy-to-read text is not excessively dense with epistemological theory, and the author does a great job in providing examples from her own research, rendering each point very clear. In addition to using her own experiences, Dr Fujii also cites a variety of other authors, demonstrating the wide variety of topics that relational interviewing can capture. Outside of Dr Fuji’s book, relational approaches have been successfully used in a variety of other populations including immigrants, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations, and even yoga students.1 An important point made throughout the book is the emphasis on providing the interviewee with dignity and respect, treating them as an end in itself, not a means to a greater “truth.” This objective is important for medical professionals used to extracting information in search of an objective “truth” rather than regarding the interview of the patient, with all its inconsistencies and complexities, an important act in itself. To that regard, the emphasis on self-reflection captures the significance of knowing how our own positionality affects the interview and interviewee. Although the text is well written, it does have some limitations. One such limitation is that it does not provide enough guidance to readers new to qualitative research on data analysis. Another limitation is that the text often criticizes the positivist research position without a clear explanation of circumstances when an interpretivist research technique might be superior. Readers might be interested to also examine thematic analysis,2 which can produce a rich data set without completely rejecting the positivist framework. Interviewing in Social Science Research serves as a helpful resource for those new to relational interviewing, and this interview method could be beneficial for anesthesiologists exploring subjects such as chronic pain, obstetrical analgesia, medical education, ethics in anesthesia, awareness under anesthesia, and anesthesiologist burnout. For example, a recent, survey-based study identified physician burnout as a common problem among anesthesiologists and recommended further research into the multidimensional effects of burnout that were not captured by the survey.3 Using relational interviewing in this regard would acknowledge that anesthesiologists conducting the interviews will have their own perspectives, which may add to the richness of the data, rather than detract from the objective “truth” of it. This text would not be recommended to those who wish to learn about a variety of interview and qualitative analysis techniques, in which case a more generalized, in-depth qualitative research methods textbook might be more helpful.4 In summary, Interviewing in Social Science Research is an engaging book that serves as a useful introduction to the relational interview and would be recommended for those interested in using the interview in their qualitative research, including medical research. Angelina Marinkovic, MDMD Undergraduate ProgramFaculty of MedicineUniversity of British ColumbiaVancouver, British Columbia, Canada Susan M. Lee, MAS, MD, FRCPCDepartment of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and TherapeuticsUniversity of British ColumbiaVancouver, British Columbia, Canada[email protected]