A growing number of people live in apartments worldwide, and research into these contexts is key to the success of our cities. Recruiting apartment residents as research participants can be challenging, however, especially when using a case study approach. This research note outlines the participant recruitment method developed for case study…

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for social research. However, little is known about the impact of social distancing measures on research with hard-to-reach populations. This paper provides methodological reflections on the efficacy of socially distanced recruitment and interviewing methods for research with disabled…

This article focuses on an investigation of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher (de)motivation in Spain which underwent a methodological transformation from mixed methods to a qualitative approach. Unexpected statistical results from the questionnaire in the piloting phase led to the creation of interview prompts, a dynamic data collection…

COVID-19 has changed the way research can be conducted. The present literature review, based on 29 studies (2008-2020), investigates and compiles existing research to identify possibilities and limitations of using digital interviews within social work, sociology and adjacent disciplines. The results show that digital interviews can enhance…

This paper contributes to the 'future' methods literature by exploring the methodological potentials of material methods in qualitative research on young women's imagined futures. Existing research has demonstrated how producing knowledge about imagined futures remains a challenge, often leading to abstract or generic accounts of such futures.…

This article discusses anonymizing elite interviewees. Based on our experiences with interviewing professional elites and ultra-elites in different research projects, we describe how the types of conflicts involving analysis and publication change when interviewees are not promised anonymity. We discuss how contextualizing the elite positions of…

The current situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic has had huge consequences in all aspects of our lives, including the development of research activities. Studies involving face-to-face interaction with people, such as randomized controlled trials, were the first affected. The objective of this article is to present the insights on challenges…

Obtaining insights on the illicit consumption of endangered wildlife products is challenging, especially when the study objects are the super-rich. This research note draws upon my experience interviewing nearly 1,000 rhino horn consumers in Vietnam. Trust is crucial in such interactions. No interviews could have been conducted without good…

Narrative interviews with young victims of crime can provide information regarding their unique situations and how the victimization has affected their lives. However, the method can be intrusive, and not all young people are able to safeguard their personal integrity. This research note offers reflections on the use of narrative interviews with…

There is an urgent need to understand the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemics on older people's lives. However, conducting qualitative research is challenging, because of the shortage of guidelines and methodological research on how to recruit and interview participants during biological disasters, such as pandemics. This paper documents the…

Reflexivity is a practice through which researchers engage themselves fully in their studies. It opens up different aspects of research that can shed light on important accounts that may otherwise be dismissed. It was through reflexivity that I observed ethical concerns emerge during my fieldwork in Korea. Despite academic ethics being discussed…

This article explores gendered power relations in studies of stigmatized sexual behavior, through a poststructuralist feminist theoretical perspective. Interviews conducted by a female interviewer with twenty men who pay for sex were analyzed using the interpretive constructivist method. We applied the concept "defended subjects" to…

Much care has been paid to reflexivity, including considering emotional sensitivities?in relation to face-to-face interviews. However, less attention has been paid to the impact of sensitivities on the process of data?analysis and the presentation of research findings. This paper focuses on?what constitutes 'the data' to be analysed, who analyses…

Interviews and focus groups are seminal core methodologies in the social sciences. However, how does a researcher elicit meaningful information when interviews and focus groups result in silence? This problem occurs in many settings but is prevalent when engaging youth, hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations, or when asking sensitive questions.…

This article describes methodological and ethical issues?associated with examining?discourses of?'normality'?in the context of?the normalisation of?HIV and relationships. It considers?how sensitivity was anticipated, encountered and managed in the recruitment of participants and during research interviews, discussing the implications of these in…