The Interviewee and the Research Interview: Analysing a Neglected Dimension in Research*

L'entrevue de recherche est généralement examinée du point de vue du chercheur. Contrairement à la recherche activiste, qui accorde beaucoup d'carimportance à l'opinion du participant, les constructivistes ont ajouté une nouvelle perspective en démontrant comment l'entrevue de recherche est à la fois collaborative et génératrice de significations. Notre étude livre une analyse plus explicite de l'entrevue du point de vue de l'interviewé. Selon une étude portant sur les Canadiens qui migrent à l'intérieur du pays, la signification pour l'interviewé de l'entrevue qualitative est expliquée plus en détail. Nous discutons la motivation qui pousse à la participation en nous fondant sur les concepts de validation d'carexpériences et sur un processus appelé progression réflexive, qui met en lumière le déroulement d'carune entrevue selon la perspective de l'interviewé. The research interview is usually discussed from the vantage point of the researcher. While activist research has drawn attention to the voice of the participant, constructivists have added a new perspective by showing how the research interview is both collaborative and meaning‐making. Our study provides a more explicit analysis of the interview from the perspective of the interviewee. Based on a study of internal migrants in Canada, the meaning of the qualitative interview for the interviewee is more carefully explicated. We discuss motivation for participation using the concepts of event validation and a process called reflexive progression to illuminate what happens in the interview from the interviewee's perspective.     

The Instability of Response Sets

Researchers who use surveys and long psychological instrumentsassume that response sets are constant over time. Data fromthree studies are presented that challenge this assumption.Questionnaires of different response formats, subjects, andtopics were used. Correlations of the response sets across adjacenttime periods formed a simplex, suggesting that the responsesets across adjacent time periods were more similar than theresponse sets across distant time periods. The implicationsof the instability of response sets for the interpretation ofsocial science findings obtained with long instruments are explored.     

The Cumbrian Reparation Scheme

Correspondence to David Smith, Lecturer in Social Work, Department of Social Administration, University of Lancaster, Fylde College, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF Summary This paper discusses an experimental ‘reparation’scheme run by the probation service in Cumbria. A general contextis provided by an analysis of some varieties of mediation andreparation, and the scheme is then placed within its local organizationalcontext, which meant that it drew its work from juvenile liaisonpanels established by the police. The paper argues that thepanels suffered from the lack of a clear commitment to diversionfrom prosecution on the part of the police, and that the reparationscheme was used as part of the probation service's effort toincrease the use of cautions. The practice of reparation andthe experiences victims and offenders had of it are then reviewed.Offenders generally viewed the scheme more positively than victims,but some victims were glad of the opportunity to be involvedin something which might be helpful to young offenders. In conclusion,it is argued that despite the contradictions which were evidentin the practice of reparation in this setting, there may stillbe scope for innovative work by social work agencies in relationto victims of crime.