Beyond Neopositivists, Romantics, and Localists: A Reflexive Approach to Interviews in Organizational Research

Abstract

In this article I develop a framework for thinking about the research interview, and I critique dominating neopositivist and romantic views on the interview. I suggest eight metaphors that offer reconceptualizations of the interview, drawing upon recent theoretical trends on language, the subject, and discourse, and develop a reflexive theoretical framework. The article provides new ways of dealing with interviews, along with implications for fieldwork interaction with subjects, interpretations of empirical material, and research questions possible or suitable to address based on interviews.