Rules, Roles and Communicative Performance in Qualitative Research Interviews

Denzin has noted that the interview is a ‘conversational production, anticipated in the investigator's mind and imagination, but realised only in the world of conversational interaction’ (1970:188). This article aims to examine the processes involved in the production of a sociological interview especially, although not exclusively, at the level of conversational interaction. By focussing attention on to one specific piece of empirical work,(1) I hope to provide a balance to other more general appraisals of the interview method (eg. Richardson, 1965; Denzin, 1970; Brenner, 1978). The article attempts to further our understanding of the contextual production of sociological data.