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The Palgrave Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology pp 225–248Cite as

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Interviews and Focus Groups

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Abstract

This chapter presents a philosophical and methodological background for conducting and evaluating interview and focus group research in applied linguistics. It discusses the strengths and limitations of various approaches and deconstructs ‘commonsense’ assumptions about interviewing by examining the influence of two prevalent perspectives: ‘interview as research instrument’ and ‘interview as social practice’. Emphasizing researcher responsibility, ethical conduct, and reflexivity, Prior also gives attention to issues related to rapport, language choice, interculturality, and ‘naturalness’ of interview and focus group data. The chapter concludes by considering recent directions in interview research and provides an annotated list of resources for further reading.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I am primarily concerned here with face-to-face interviews. For other modes, see, for example, Gubrium et al. (2012).

  2. 2.

    This is a necessarily abbreviated history. Oral history interviews and anthropological interviews can be traced back much further. See, for example, Malinowski (1922) and Ritchie (2011).

  3. 3.

    See Rapley (2007) for another perspective on “naturally occurring” data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Matthew T. Prior

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  1. Matthew T. Prior
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sydney School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Aek Phakiti

  2. Department of Linguistics, Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Peter De Costa

  3. Applied Linguistics, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Luke Plonsky

  4. School of Education, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Sue Starfield

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Prior, M.T. (2018). Interviews and Focus Groups. In: Phakiti, A., De Costa, P., Plonsky, L., Starfield, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_11

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