Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Preparing for Fieldwork Interviews

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Companion to Peace and Conflict Fieldwork

  • 1336 Accesses

Abstract

Guided by a (fictional) interviewer, the authors take the reader on a conversational tour through the process of preparing and conducting fieldwork interviews. The chapter raises ethical and practical questions and discusses potential problems to be faced—no matter how well-prepared fieldwork interviews are. Drawing reflexively on their own experiences, the authors illustrate that any type of fieldwork interview is influenced by relationships, which researchers are inevitably part of. The conversation begins with the question of when fieldwork interviews are, or are not, necessary. Subsequently, the relevance of the research design and ethical and practical steps taken in ‘the field’ and beyond are discussed. Finally, the authors reflect on the important role of care for self and others in ‘the field’.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For useful guidance on oral consent, see Oxford University: https://researchsupport.admin.ox.ac.uk/governance/ethics/resources/consent#collapse281101. Accessed 11 December 2018.

  2. 2.

    Early career researcher workshop, EISA Paneuropean Conference 2018, Prague.

References

  • Ackerly, Brooke, and Jacqui True. 2008. Reflexivity in practice: Power and ethics in feminist research on International Relations. International Studies Review 10 (4): 693–707.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aradau, Claudia, and Jef Huysmans. 2014. Critical methods in international relations: The politics of techniques, devices and acts. European Journal of International Relations 20 (3): 596–619.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bliesemann de Guevara, Berit. 2017. Intervention theatre: Performance, authenticity and expert knowledge in politicians’ travel to post-/conflict spaces. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 11 (1): 58–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bliesemann de Guevara, Berit, and Roland Kostić. 2017. Knowledge production in/about conflict and intervention: Finding ‘facts’, telling ‘truth’. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 11 (1): 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bliesemann de Guevara, Berit, and Florian P. Kühn. 2015. On Afghan footbaths and sacred cows in Kosovo: Urban legends of intervention. Peacebuilding 3 (1): 17–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bliesemann de Guevara, Berit, and Xymena Kurowska. 2020. Building on ruins or patching up the possible? Reinscribing fieldwork failure in IR as a productive rupture. In Fieldwork as failure: Living and knowing in the (IR) field, ed. Katarina Kušić and Jakub Zahora, 163–174. Bristol: E-International Relations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blok, Anton. 1975. The mafia of a Sicilian village, 1860–1960: A study of violent peasant entrepreneurs. New York: Harper Torchbook.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bøås, Morten. 2020. Unequal research relationships in highly insecure places: Of fear, funds and friendship. In Doing fieldwork in areas of international intervention: A guide to research in violent and closed contexts, ed. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Morten Bøås, 61–72. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clausen, Maria-Louise. 2020. Positioning in an insecure field: Reflections on negotiating identity. In Doing fieldwork in areas of international intervention: A guide to research in violent and closed contexts, ed. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Morten Bøås, 159–170. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Distler, Werner, Elena Stavrevska, and Birte Vogel. 2018. Economies of peace: Economy formation processes and outcomes in conflict-affected societies. Civil Wars 2 (2): 139–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dzuverovic, Nemanja. 2018. Why local voices matter. Participation of local researchers in the liberal peace debate. Peacebuilding 6 (2): 111–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eriksson Baaz, Maria, and Mats Utas (eds.). 2019. Research brokers conflict zones. Civil Wars 21 (2): 157–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fielding, Nigel G., Raymond M. Lee, and Grant Blank (eds.). 2017. The SAGE handbook of online research methods, 2nd ed. London: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, Michelle. 2016. Just methods in revolting times. Qualitative Research in Psychology 13 (4): 347–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujii, Lee Ann. 2018. Interviewing in social science research: A relational approach, Kindle ed. New York and London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gameiro, Sofia, Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Alida Payson and Elisabeth El Refaie. 2018. DrawingOut—An innovative drawing workshop method to support the generation and dissemination of research findings. PLoS ONE 13 (9): e0203197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glasius, Marlies, Meta de Lange, Jos Bartman, Emanuela Dalmasso, Adele Del Sordi, Aofei Lv, Marcus Michaelsen and Kris Ruijgrok. 2018. Research, ethics and risk in the authoritarian field. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goetze, Catherine, and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara. 2014. Cosmopolitanism and the culture of peacebuilding. Review of International Studies, 40 (4): 771–802.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, Alice. 2015. On the run: Fugitive life in an American city. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Göransson, Markus. 2020. The interview as a cultural performance and the value of surrendering control. In Doing fieldwork in areas of international intervention: A guide to research in violent and closed contexts, ed. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Morten Bøås, 49–60. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heathershaw, John, and Parviz Mullojonov. 2020. The politics and ethics of fieldwork in post-conflict environments: The dilemmas of a vocational approach. In Doing fieldwork in areas of international intervention: A guide to research in violent and closed contexts, ed. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Morten Bøås, 93–111. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • HM Government. 2015. Counter-terrorism and security act 2015. Available online: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/6/contents. Accessed 9 August 2019.

  • Jackson, Richard. 2018. Post-liberal peacebuilding and the pacifist state. Peacebuilding 6 (1): 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Julian, Rachel, Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Robin Redhead. 2019. From expert to experiential knowledge: exploring the inclusion of local experiences in understanding violence in conflict. Peacebuilding 7 (2): 210–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kappler, Stefanie. 2013. Coping with research: Local tactics of resistance against (mis-)representation in academia. Peacebuilding 1 (1): 125–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kostić, Roland. 2020. Shifting identities, policy networks, and the ethical and practical challenges of gaining access to the field in interventions. In Doing fieldwork in areas of international intervention: A guide to research in violent and closed contexts, ed. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Morten Bøås, 23–36. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurowska, Xymena. 2019. When one door closes, another one opens? The ways and byways of denied access, or a Central European liberal in fieldwork failure. Journal of Narrative Politics 5 (2): 71–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurowska, Xymena, and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara. 2020. Interpretive approaches in political science and International Relations. In The SAGE handbook of research methods in political science & IR, ed. Luigi Curini and Robert J. Franzese, 1221–1240. London: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kušić, Katarina, and Jakub Zahora (eds.). 2020. Fieldwork as failure: Living and knowing in the field of international relations. Bristol: E-International Relations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lai, Daniela. 2020. A different form of intervention? Revisiting the role of researchers in post-war contexts. In Doing fieldwork in areas of international intervention: A guide to research in violent and closed contexts, ed. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Morten Bøås, 171–183. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, Audra. 2013. Escaping the ‘field trap’: Exploitation and the global politics of educational fieldwork in ‘conflict zones’. Third World Quarterly 34 (7): 1247–1264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Močnik, Nena. 2018. Sexuality after war rape: From narrative to embodied research. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Močnik, Nena, and Ahmad Ghouri (eds.). 2020. The cost of bearing witness: Secondary trauma and self-care in fieldwork-based social research. Social Epistemology 34 (1): 1–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mwambari, David. 2019. Local positionality in the production of knowledge in Northern Uganda. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 18: 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pachirat, Timothy. 2018. Among wolves: Ethnography and the immersive study of power. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, Nicola, and Michelle O’Reilly. 2013. ‘We are alone in the house’: A case study addressing researcher safety and risk. Qualitative Research in Psychology 10 (4): 341–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, Shailja. 2010. Migritude. New York: Kaya Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penttinen, Elina. 2017. Harmless moments in peace-keeping: The politics of telling stories that do not fit into critical security studies narratives. Critical Studies on Security 5 (2): 131–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, Suda. 2017. Bermuda triangulation: Embracing the messiness of researching conflict. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 11 (1): 42–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poopuu, Birgit. 2020. Dialogical research design: Practising ethical, useful and safe(r) research. Social Epistemology 34 (1): 31–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salter, Mark, and Can Mutlu. 2013. Research methods in critical security studies: An introduction. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd, Laura J. 2018. Activism in/and the academy: Reflections on ‘social engagement’. Journal of Narrative Politics 5 (1): 45–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverman, David. 2013. Doing qualitative research: A practical handbook, 4th ed. London: SAGE. Kindle edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stille, Alexander. 2017. Who murdered Giulio Regeni? In The Guardian, October 4. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/04/egypt-murder-giulio-regeni. Accessed 11 December 2018.

  • Vastapuu, Leena. 2018. Liberia’s women veterans: War, roles, reintegration. London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Way, Amy K., Robin Kanak Zwier, and Sarah J. Tracy. 2015. Dialogic interviewing and flickers of transformation: An examination and delineation of interactional strategies that promote participant self-reflexivity. Qualitative Inquiry 21 (8): 720–731.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanow, Dvora, and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea. 2014. Interpretation and method: Empirical research methods and the interpretive turn. Armonk, NY and London: M. E. Sharp.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK

    Berit Bliesemann de Guevara & Birgit Poopuu

Authors
  1. Berit Bliesemann de Guevara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Birgit Poopuu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Berit Bliesemann de Guevara .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Roger Mac Ginty

  2. School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Roddy Brett

  3. Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Birte Vogel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bliesemann de Guevara, B., Poopuu, B. (2021). Preparing for Fieldwork Interviews. In: Mac Ginty, R., Brett, R., Vogel, B. (eds) The Companion to Peace and Conflict Fieldwork. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46433-2_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation