App-based textual interviews: interacting with younger generations in a digitalized social reality
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Textual and visual app-based communication is standard everyday interaction. I argue that, as researchers, we have to be better equipped to include various ways of interacting digitally with participants in qualitative research interviews. In this paper, I do a methodological focused analysis of app-based textual interviews (n = 98) with young people selling illegal drugs online. I challenge the earlier skepticism towards interviewing through text, while also placing the interview in a new context of encrypted mobile phone applications. App-based textual interviews prove to be highly flexible and create a socially informal character of semi-structured interviews that interviewees perceive as safe. At the same time, the interviewer’s position is decentered as the interviewee takes full control of the interview context behind the screen. App-based textual interviews proved highly useful when interacting with a younger generation, also on a sensitive topic like illegal drugs. It also introduces several ethical dilemmas for discussion.
Original language | English |
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Journal | International Journal of Social Research Methodology |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 6 |
Pages (from-to) | 631-644 |
ISSN | 1364-5579 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
- digital, ethnography, interview, online, Qualitative
Research areas
ID: 311608838