“This Person is Safe”: An Exemplar of Conducting Individual Interviews in Qualitative Research with Black Women

Significant conceptual and empirical evidence has been found through qualitative research about the benefits, limitations, and uses of individual interviews. However, there is scant research illustrating how researchers use specific techniques that center participants’ intersecting identities to bui...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Quenette L. Walton, Priscilla P. Kennedy, Olubunmi B. Oyewuwo, Phylicia Allen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2022-12-01
Series:International Journal of Qualitative Methods
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221147776
_version_ 1797978338283749376
author Quenette L. Walton
Priscilla P. Kennedy
Olubunmi B. Oyewuwo
Phylicia Allen
author_facet Quenette L. Walton
Priscilla P. Kennedy
Olubunmi B. Oyewuwo
Phylicia Allen
author_sort Quenette L. Walton
collection DOAJ
description Significant conceptual and empirical evidence has been found through qualitative research about the benefits, limitations, and uses of individual interviews. However, there is scant research illustrating how researchers use specific techniques that center participants’ intersecting identities to build rapport, trust, and authentic connections during individual interviews, and especially during interviews with Black women. We illustrate how we used eight empirically grounded techniques in our qualitative individual interviews with Black women. Through our analysis of the interviews, the concept of safety emerged. “This person is safe” reflects the combined stories the women reported regarding their experiences engaging in individual interviews. In this article, we provide a brief background on individual interviewing in qualitative research, followed by the framing of our work. Thereafter, we provide context about the exemplar study, outline techniques shown to be effective in the literature, and provide examples from the exemplar study to show how each technique was used. Further research is needed to examine how researchers use various techniques in qualitative individual interviews in general, but with Black women more specifically.
first_indexed 2024-04-11T05:21:26Z
format Article
id doaj.art-2fadf49245e5465e9106164151f6557a
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1609-4069
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-11T05:21:26Z
publishDate 2022-12-01
publisher SAGE Publishing
record_format Article
series International Journal of Qualitative Methods
spelling doaj.art-2fadf49245e5465e9106164151f6557a2022-12-23T17:36:10ZengSAGE PublishingInternational Journal of Qualitative Methods1609-40692022-12-012110.1177/16094069221147776“This Person is Safe”: An Exemplar of Conducting Individual Interviews in Qualitative Research with Black WomenQuenette L. WaltonPriscilla P. KennedyOlubunmi B. OyewuwoPhylicia AllenSignificant conceptual and empirical evidence has been found through qualitative research about the benefits, limitations, and uses of individual interviews. However, there is scant research illustrating how researchers use specific techniques that center participants’ intersecting identities to build rapport, trust, and authentic connections during individual interviews, and especially during interviews with Black women. We illustrate how we used eight empirically grounded techniques in our qualitative individual interviews with Black women. Through our analysis of the interviews, the concept of safety emerged. “This person is safe” reflects the combined stories the women reported regarding their experiences engaging in individual interviews. In this article, we provide a brief background on individual interviewing in qualitative research, followed by the framing of our work. Thereafter, we provide context about the exemplar study, outline techniques shown to be effective in the literature, and provide examples from the exemplar study to show how each technique was used. Further research is needed to examine how researchers use various techniques in qualitative individual interviews in general, but with Black women more specifically.https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221147776
spellingShingle Quenette L. Walton
Priscilla P. Kennedy
Olubunmi B. Oyewuwo
Phylicia Allen
“This Person is Safe”: An Exemplar of Conducting Individual Interviews in Qualitative Research with Black Women
International Journal of Qualitative Methods
title “This Person is Safe”: An Exemplar of Conducting Individual Interviews in Qualitative Research with Black Women
title_full “This Person is Safe”: An Exemplar of Conducting Individual Interviews in Qualitative Research with Black Women
title_fullStr “This Person is Safe”: An Exemplar of Conducting Individual Interviews in Qualitative Research with Black Women
title_full_unstemmed “This Person is Safe”: An Exemplar of Conducting Individual Interviews in Qualitative Research with Black Women
title_short “This Person is Safe”: An Exemplar of Conducting Individual Interviews in Qualitative Research with Black Women
title_sort this person is safe an exemplar of conducting individual interviews in qualitative research with black women
url https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221147776
work_keys_str_mv AT quenettelwalton thispersonissafeanexemplarofconductingindividualinterviewsinqualitativeresearchwithblackwomen
AT priscillapkennedy thispersonissafeanexemplarofconductingindividualinterviewsinqualitativeresearchwithblackwomen
AT olubunmiboyewuwo thispersonissafeanexemplarofconductingindividualinterviewsinqualitativeresearchwithblackwomen
AT phyliciaallen thispersonissafeanexemplarofconductingindividualinterviewsinqualitativeresearchwithblackwomen