Implications of doing insider interviews: studying geography and geographers
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review
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Implications of doing insider interviews: studying geography and geographers. / Adriansen, Hanne Kirstine; Madsen, Lene Møller.
In: Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift, Vol. 93, No. 3, 2009, p. 145-153.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Implications of doing insider interviews: studying geography and geographers
AU - Adriansen, Hanne Kirstine
AU - Madsen, Lene Møller
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The article addresses the issue of being a ‘double' insider when conducting interviews. Double insider means being an insider both in relation to one's research matter - in the authors' case the making of geographical knowledge - and in relation to one's interviewees - our colleagues. The article is a reflection paper in the sense that we reflect upon experiences drawn from a previous research project carried out in Danish academia. It is important that the project was situated in a Scandinavian workplace culture because this has bearings for the social, cultural, and economic situation in which knowledge was constructed. The authors show that being a double insider affects both the interview situation and how interviews are planned, located, and analysed. Being an insider in relation to one's interviewees gives the advantage of having a shared history and a close knowledge of the context, and these benefits outnumber the disadvantages. Being an insider in relation to one's research matter makes it difficult to contest hegemonic discourses and tacit values and ideas. Recommendations on how to handle the double insider situation are given. The article concludes that for analytical purposes, it is useful to separate the two roles, but in reality they coexist and are intertwined.Keywords: geography, insiders, interviews, positionality, power relations
AB - The article addresses the issue of being a ‘double' insider when conducting interviews. Double insider means being an insider both in relation to one's research matter - in the authors' case the making of geographical knowledge - and in relation to one's interviewees - our colleagues. The article is a reflection paper in the sense that we reflect upon experiences drawn from a previous research project carried out in Danish academia. It is important that the project was situated in a Scandinavian workplace culture because this has bearings for the social, cultural, and economic situation in which knowledge was constructed. The authors show that being a double insider affects both the interview situation and how interviews are planned, located, and analysed. Being an insider in relation to one's interviewees gives the advantage of having a shared history and a close knowledge of the context, and these benefits outnumber the disadvantages. Being an insider in relation to one's research matter makes it difficult to contest hegemonic discourses and tacit values and ideas. Recommendations on how to handle the double insider situation are given. The article concludes that for analytical purposes, it is useful to separate the two roles, but in reality they coexist and are intertwined.Keywords: geography, insiders, interviews, positionality, power relations
M3 - Journal article
VL - 93
SP - 145
EP - 153
JO - Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift
JF - Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift
SN - 0029-1951
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 16834490