Reflecting on the Reflectivist Approach to Qualitative Interviewing

Abstract

This study aims to reflect on qualitative interviewing with a particular emphasison semi-structured interviewing (SSI), with the purpose of guiding students andyoung scholars of International Relations and Political Science who will usethis method in their research. This study begs to differ from both radical postpositivist’sdeep scepticism which makes any scientific inquiry almost impossibleas well as from positivism’s unreflective, unproblematized, instrumental approachto interviewing. It proposes a reflectivist approach to qualitative interviewingthat emphasizes the political nature of the interviewing process with variouspolitical, ethical and even social consequences. The reflectivist approach requiresresearchers to be self-critical at all times, in particular concerning their role andinfluence on the interview setting and the interviewee. This article proceeds asfollows: It first addresses my own research on the nexus between civil societyand the Kurdish question in Turkey, where SSI has been operationalized as themain research method. It then addresses the positivist and post-positivist debateson qualitative interviewing as well as the reflectivist approach that this studypromotes. The article then engages in SSI in three distinct stages: pre-interview,interview and post-interview phases. Finally, the concluding part introducessome works utilising interviewing in Turkish IR and wraps up the theoretical/methodological arguments disseminated throughout the study at hand.