Insider Interviewing: How to Get Good Data When You Are Already Native

Abstract

This case study explores the lessons learned through a project based largely on active interviews with graduate labor union organizers. I conducted this study at a public research university in the United States. While researching, I was an officer in the graduate union under examination. My status as an insider equipped me with knowledge of union activities as well as existing relationships that I drew upon and leveraged in conducting the research. Insider research using active interviews provided opportunities to construct unique understandings of union work by those engaged in it. Although the research was successful, gathering rich data required me to modify my methodology and the initial scope of my research to minimize perceived coercion and move beyond official union discourses. Specifically, I had to refocus my inquiry and interviewing on participants with whom I shared the most experiences and had worked with frequently. Social distance, especially hierarchical distance, proved to be an impediment to the interviewing process. One of the primary lessons I learned is that insider interviewing of this sort works best when it is conducted among peers. Our closeness enabled me to interact with my participants as collaborators and utilize their institutional knowledge as a resource by treating them as experts I was working with rather than objects I was studying. Our shared experiences and frames of reference made reflecting on and examining the research process as it occurred more important.

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