Researching Aid Workers' Constructions of HIV / AIDS in South Africa using Interview-based Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This case study discusses the design and use of research interviews in conducting a discourse analytic study of the experiences of HIV / AIDS aid workers in South Africa. For many years, research interviews have been a commonly used method of collecting qualitative data. Recently interviews have come to be seen less as a means for the interviewer to elicit information from the interviewee and instead as conversational encounters that are jointly constructed by the interviewer and interviewee. Even on this changing view, however, the use of interviews to collect qualitative data is a contested issue within discourse analytic research. Some writers argue that research interviews constitute a form of interaction that is markedly different from other forms of interaction, while other writers argue that research interviews can be treated as reasonably resembling interactions found elsewhere if the interviewer designs and conducts interviews that allow for appropriate interactional involvement of interviewees. Here we discuss how the interviewer established working relationships with the participants before conducting the interviews. We examine how the design of this project allowed interviews to participate meaningfully in the interview interactions as reflected in the data that were jointly produced. We conclude by discussing the advantages of this project design for exploring the experiences of the participants in this case.