[Air-L] IM interviews not interviews?

Sun Aug 18 18:48:52 PDT 2013

Speaking of older sources re: IM interviewing, here's one:

Stieger, S., & Göritz, A. S. (2006). Using instant messaging for
Internet-based interviews. *CyberPsychology & Behavior*, *9*(5), 552-559.

>From the abstract: "On the basis of self-reports, respondent behavior, and
data in the address books, the studies have demonstrated that the risk of
receiving false data in IM interviews is small. Not only is the quality of
the obtainable data satisfying but the contact rate, response rate, and
retention rate as well."

- - - - -
Luis E. Hestres
Ph.D. candidate | School of Communication | American University
More about me at luishestres.com or
LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/in/hestres> |
Follow me on Twitter <https://twitter.com/#!/luishestres/> | My SSRN Author
page: http://ssrn.com/author=1820222

"Theoretical critiques are like sociopaths: Their aggressive drives are
rarely balanced by constructive instincts."
-- From "Caught in a Winding, Snarling Vine: The Structural Bias of
Political Process Theory" by Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper, Sociological
Forum 14(1), 1999

On Sun, Aug 18, 2013 at 7:50 PM, John Campbell <johncampbellphd at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi Jenny,
>
> I would second Annette's comments.  And I would also recommend looking at
> the collection, Internet Inquiry: Conversations About Method (2009) edited
> by Annette and Nancy Baym.  It seems rather odd to me that someone today
> would not see discussions conducted through IM as valid interviews.  It
> would be interesting to learn the reviewer's position on online inquiry in
> general.
>
> Best wishes,
> John Campbell
>
> **********************************************************
> John Edward Campbell, PhD
> Assistant Professor
> Temple University
> Department of Media Studies and Production
> School of Media and Communication
> 219 Tomlinson
> 2020 North 13th Street
> Philadelphia, PA 19122
> phone: 215-204-1926
> "All talk is an act of faith predicated on the future's ability to bring
> forth the worlds called for." -- John Durham Peters, 1999
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 18, 2013 at 3:24 PM, Annette Markham <amarkham at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hmmm.....  It would be a pretty narrow definition of interviewing that
> > would simply dismiss IM as interviewing.  Perhaps the reviewer has an
> issue
> > with how the interview situation or the interview itself is framed in
> your
> > paper.  Hard to say.  I can imagine if a reviewer has a specific
> conception
> > of interviewing as intensive engagement and somehow interpreted your
> > interviews to be mere question/answer sessions, this could cause the
> > reviewer's reaction, rather than the medium through which the interview
> was
> > conducted.  Again, I have nothing to base this on.  I'm just wondering if
> > the reviewer might be asking for something other than simply justifying
> IM
> > as interviewing.
> >
> > In any case, the citations you mention contain good rationale for using
> IM
> > as a suitable interviewing format.  But I would encourage you to include
> > older sources, rather than assuming that the recent works subsume older
> > texts.  These can lend strong support for such methods, not only because
> > they demonstrate to the reader that there is longstanding precedence for
> > such methods, but also because the novelty of the media for interaction
> > forces the authors to articulate many of the strengths and weaknesses of
> > the various media they're communicating with--so there's usually a lot
> more
> > space devoted to explanation and rationale of the method.
> >
> > You might take a look at the 2009 book by Nalita James and Hugh Busher
> > called "Online Interviewing" (Sage) that goes into great detail about
> > various principles, practices, and complications of online interviewing.
> > They refer to a lot of foundational empirical studies in their book,
> which
> > gives further support for the strong history of instant messaging (or
> > similar) media for interviewing.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > annette
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > *****************************************************
> > Annette N. Markham, Ph.D.
> > Associate Professor, Department of Aesthetics & Communication, Aarhus
> > University
> > Guest Professor, Department of Informatics, Umeå University, Sweden
> > Affiliate Professor, School of Communication, Loyola University, Chicago
> > amarkham at gmail.com
> > http://markham.internetinquiry.org/
> > Twitter: annettemarkham
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Aug 18, 2013 at 7:47 PM, Jenny Davis <jdavis4 at neo.tamu.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Alex,
> > >
> > > I am writing for Sociology. I'm aware of several articles that defend
> the
> > > use of Instant Message, and several that point out the weaknesses, but
> > > haven't been able to find one that says they are categorically NOT
> > > interviews.
> > >
> > > Here are some citations I use in the paper:
> > >
> > > Traverse, Max. New methods, old problems: A sceptical view of
> innovation
> > > in qualitative research. Qualitative Research. 9:161
> > >
> > > Enochsson, Ann-Britt. 2011. “Who Benefits from Synchronous Online
> > > Communication?: A Comparison of Face-to-Face and Synchronous Online
> > > Interviews with Children.” Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences:
> 15-22
> > >
> > > Markham, Annette N. 2013. Remix Culture, Remix Methods: Reframing
> > > Qualitative Inquiry for Social Media Contexts. In Denzin, N., &
> > Giardina, M
> > > (Eds.). Global Dimensions of Qualitative Inquiry. Left Coast Press.
> > >
> > > Hesse-Biber, Sharlene and Amy J. Griffin. 2013. “ Internet-Mediated
> > > Technologies and Mixed Methods Research: Problems and Prospects. “
> > Journal
> > > of Mixed Methods Research 7(1):43-61.
> > >
> > > Beneito-Montagut, Roser. 2011. “Ethnography Goes Online: Towards a
> > > User-Centered Methodology to Research Interpersonal Communication on
> the
> > > Internet.” Qualitative Research 11(6):716-735
> > >
> > > I could certainly also include some older stuff (like Hine's virtual
> > > ethnography or Miller and Slater's book), but I the more recent stuff
> > > pretty much subsumes those texts.
> > >
> > > Thanks!!
> > >
> > > Jenny
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Alex Leavitt" <alexleavitt at gmail.com>
> > > To: "Jenny Davis" <jdavis4 at neo.tamu.edu>
> > > Cc: "AoIR-L" <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> > > Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2013 1:03:17 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [Air-L] IM interviews not interviews?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > It'd be helpful to know 1) what you've cited so far in defense of them,
> > > and 2) what disciplinary audience you're working with (eg.,
> anthropology
> > > journal reviewers would react to IM interviews different from
> psychology
> > > journal reviewers).
> > >
> > > There are a number of papers that pop up from a simple Google search –
> > > https://www.google.com/search?q=instant+message+interviews+method –
> that
> > > seem to agree that IM really isn't that different, though it'd seem
> > > adequate to map out the area and cite a fair amount of people in a few
> > > sentences as justification.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Alexander Leavitt
> > > PhD Student
> > > USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
> > > http://alexleavitt.com
> > > Twitter: @alexleavitt
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, Aug 18, 2013 at 6:46 AM, Jenny Davis < jdavis4 at neo.tamu.edu >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > Long time lurker and responder, first time inquirer.
> > >
> > > I am working on an R&R for a paper in which I use both FtF and IM
> > > interviews. I am aware of the literature that talks about the strengths
> > and
> > > weaknesses of IM as an interview mode, but one of the reviewers says
> that
> > > IM does not constitute an interview at all, but merely a
> question/answer
> > > session. I want to address this critique adequately. Is anyone familiar
> > > with specific articles/books that make this argument and/or push back
> > > against it?
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks!!
> > >
> > > Jenny L. Davis
> > > Assistant Professor
> > > Department of Sociology & Anthropology
> > > James Madison University
> > >
> > > email: Davis5JL at jmu.edu
> > > Twitter: Jenny_L_Davis
> > > Blog: Cyborgology.org
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